King's College London

Dr Aggie Hirst has been awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship and a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant to explore how virtual reality platforms, simulations, and wargames are transforming the way the US military trains personnel.

The project, titled Producing Soldiers in a Digital Age: Immersive Training in the US Military, aims to generate new knowledge about the implications of using immersive play as a pedagogical tool to teach and train members of the armed services.

While the use of immersive technologies in weapons, vehicle, and combat training is increasing, little is currently understood about how they work and their impacts on trainee experience. Many commanders continue to view immersive training technologies as frivolous, and some studies question their efficacy. To address this ongoing debate, Dr Hirst will conduct extensive interviews with immersive technologies trainers and trainees at a series of US military-led immersive training events.

Dr Hirst said: 'I am delighted to have been awarded these grants. They will allow me to generate original data on the controversial question of the efficacy of VR, simulations, and wargaming as pedagogical tools in a military context. In a digital age in which the proliferation of technologies is occurring at a remarkable pace, this study contributes to improving our understanding of whether and how cutting edge immersive training technologies work, and their impacts on trainees.'