Biography

Chris uncovered a passion for creating environments at the University of British Columbia, Canada, where he received a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture. He continued his education with a 2-year game art production college in northern Sweden. He broadened his academic scope in a 12-month business program at the Execution Labs game incubator in Montreal. Chris went on to co-found Imaginary Games, a mobile startup in Vancouver. Imaginary Games’ standout achievement was Afterland – an award-winning original IP featured by Apple and Google Play. Today, Chris applies his skill set to create immersive virtual worlds.

Chris´academic work is focused on the emerging field of Immersive Virtual Nature, IVN: a combination of virtual technology and psychology. IVN can deliver potent psycho-physiological health benefits by engaging the senses with biodiversity realism on a VR headset. IVN can effectively supplement existing outdoor activities to increase the frequency of experiencing nature in people’s everyday lives. It is also possible that repeated IVN exposure could improve an individual’s psychological attachment to nature and foster the development of pro-nature behaviours.

Supervisor: Vanessa Cesário