Funded – Official Projects
Current Projects
VRTEACHER
Virtual reality-based training to improve digital competences of teachers
Empowering the personal and professional development of educators/teachers through a novel Virtual Reality (VR) based approach and tool.
Website: vrteacher.eu
Partners: Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), Cyprus; University of Aegean (UAegean), Greece; University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M), Spain; Future In Perspective Limited (FIPL), Ireland; Fundación Siglo22 (Siglo22), Spain; The Commonwealth Centre for Connected Learning (3CL), Malta
Funding Sources: Erasmus+
Duration: 2021-2023 (24 months)
OTHELLOS – Stage 2
Bringing Historic Famagusta to Life for School-Aged Children – Stage 2
Project of VR for Well-Being MRG – CYENS CoE
Othellos-Stage 2 is an extension of the Othellos project, adding new features to the educational game including a new online and multiplayer version.
Partners: CYENS Centre of Excellence
Funding Sources: EU/UNDP
Role: Scientific Coordinator
Funding Amount: 22K EUR – external funding
Duration: 2021
RISE – Phase 2
Research centre in Interactive media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies
Establishment and operation of the RISE Research centre on Interactive media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies, operating at internationally-high standards.
Website: rise.org.cy
Partners: RISE Centre of Excellence, Cyprus; Nicosia Municipality, Cyprus (coordinator); Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus; University of Cyprus, Cyprus; Open University Cyprus, Cyprus; Max Planck Institute for Informatics (MPI), Germany; University College London (UCL), UK.
Funding Sources: EC H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-Teaming Phase 2; Cyprus Government through the Directorate General for European Programmes, Coordination and Development; the European Structural and Investment Funds; multiple other resources including partners’ contributions.
Role: Deputy scientific coordinator & principal investigator
Funding Amount: ∼50M EUR (∼35M cash + ∼15M in-kind) – external funding
Duration: 2017 – 2024 (84 months)
Completed Projects
OTHELLOS
Bringing Historic Famagusta to Life for School-Aged Children
Project of VR for Well-Being MRG – RISE CoE
Development of an educational game for the increase of awareness and appreciation for EU-renovated sites, in the historic walled city of Famagusta.
Partners: RISE Centre of Excellence; Cyprus Institute
Funding Sources: EU/UNDP
Role: Work Packages Leader
Funding Amount: 120K EUR (∼83K cash + ∼37 in-kind) – external funding; 25K EUR cash for the author
Duration: 2020-2021
BrailleBoard
Prototyping a Mid-air Haptics (Braille) Keyboard for Blind People
Project of VR for Well-Being MRG – RISE CoE
Exploration of the mid-air Ultrahaptics device for the development of innovative applications.
Partners: RISE Centre of Excellence
Funding Sources: ULTRALEAP
Role: Coordinator
Funding Amount: 6K EUR in-kind (3 Mid-Air devices) – external funding
Duration: 2019-2020
INTELed
Innovative Training via Embodied Learning and Multi-sensory Techniques for Inclusive Education
Support for special and general education teachers in acquiring knowledge and skills for the use of multi-sensory technology for learning, assessment, and addressing the needs of children in inclusive educational contexts.
Partners: Cyprus University of Technology-Social Computing Research Center, Cyprus; University of Piraeus Research Center, Greece; CESIE, Italy; University of Valladolid, Spain.
Founding Source: EC-ERASMUS+ KA201 – Strategic Partnerships
Role: Consortium member
Funding Amount: 154K EUR for all partners – external funding
Duration: 2017 – 2019 (24 months)
CSRC – Phase 1
Cyprus Science Research Center
Business plan preparation for a Science and Research Center in Cyprus focusing on STEAM.
Partners: University of Cyprus, Cyprus University of Technology, Open University Cyprus, University of Nicosia, European University Cyprus, UCLan Cyprus, Neapolis University, Frederick University of Technology, Etablissement Public Du Palais De La Decouverte et de la Cite Des Sciences Et De l’Indisutrie, France; Fondazione IDIS-Citta della Scienza, Italy; Kobenhavns Universitet, Denmark; Leibniz-Institut Fur Die Padagogikder Naturwissenschaften Und Mathematik An Der Universitat Kiel, Germany; University College London, UK; Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas, Greece.
Funding Source: WIDESPREAD-04-2017: Teaming Phase 1
Role: Consortium member
Funding Amount: 476K EUR for all partners (60K EUR) external funding
Duration: 2017 – 2018 (12 months)
NOTRE
Network for Social Computing Research
Develop a network to strengthen and enhance the research and innovation potential and capability of the Social Computing Research Centre at the Cyprus University of Technology.
Website: notre.socialcomputing.eu
Partners: Cyprus University of Tehnology-Social Computing Research Centre, Cyprus; Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Greece; IMDEA Networks Institute, Spain; MIRALab-Universite De Geneve, Switzerland; University of Dusseldorf, Germany.
Funding Source: HORIZON 2020 – TWINNING – 2015
Role: Work Package Leader
Funding Amount: 1M EUR for all partners (0.5M EUR for CUT) – external funding
Duration: 2015 – 2018
RISE – Phase 1
Research centre in Interactive media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies
Business Plan preparation for the RISE Research centre on Interactive media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies.
Website: phase1.rise.org.cy
Partners: Nicosia Municipality, Cyprus (coordinator); Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus; University of Cyprus, Cyprus; Open University Cyprus, Cyprus; Max Planck Institute for Informatics (MPI), Germany; University College London (UCL), UK.
Funding Source: HORIZON 2020 – WIDESPREAD-2014-1 – TEAMING
Role: Principal Investigator & Overall Deputy Scientific Coordinator
Funding Amount: 476K EUR for all partners (60K EUR for the author) external funding
Duration: 2015 – 2016 (12 months)
Starting Grant
Starting grant provided to newly elected academic staff of the University to facilitate their research activities. The funding of this resource has been exploited to conduct research on VR experiments and 3D simulators.
Partners: GET Lab, Cyprus University of Technology
Funding source: Cyprus University of Technology
Funding: 40K EUR – internal funding
Duration: 2013-2014 (24 months)
This starting grant has funded or partially funded:
Microsoft Sponsorship
Establishment and equipped of a research lab conducting research on Computer Graphics.
Partners: Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
Funding source: Microsoft Cyprus
Funding: 20K EUR – external funding
Establishment: 2012
Other Projects
Hands On App / Virtual Touch Toolkit
collaborators: Bundeswehr University, Cyprus University of Technology & RISE CoE, Liverpool John Moores University and University of Barcelona
Cyprus University of Technology & RISE CoE team:
coordinator: Despina Michael-Grigoriou
researchers: Ali Najm and Christos Hadjipanayi
duration: 2020 (ongoing)
VR Depression
supervisor: Despina Michael-Grigoriou
researcher: Chistos Hadjipanayi
duration: 2019-2020
VR Aspenger’s Syndrome
supervisor: Despina Michael-Grigoriou
researcher: Chistos Hadjipanayi
duration: 2019-2020
Full Body Motion Capture Demo
supervisor: Despina Michael-Grigoriou
researchers: Christos Kyrlitsias, Maria Christofi, Christos Gkoumas and Panayiotis Corneliou
duration: 2019
Virtual Buzzwire Rehab Game
coordinator: Despina Michael-Grigoriou
researcher: Chris Christou
duration: 2018
VR Choirokoitia
supervisor: Despina Michael-Grigoriou
researchers: Maria Christofi, Christos, Zoe Anastasiadou, Maria Michaelidou, Ioanna Papamichael and Katerina Pieri
duration: 2016-2018
Run4All Game
supervisor: Despina Grigoriou (Michael)
students: Christos Kyrlitsias and Maria Christofi
duration: 2017
VR Human Anatomy
supervisor: Despina Grigoriou (Michael)
student: Panayiotis Yiannakou
duration: 2016
Christmas Game
supervisor: Despina Grigoriou (Michael)
student: Christos Kyrlitsias and Maria Christofi
duration: 2016
VR Claustrophobia
Towards designing virtual environments suitable for the treatment of claustrophobia
supervisor: Despina Michael
researcher: Maria Christofi
duration: 2015
Notice Me Detective
Video Game
supervisor: Despina Michael
students: Valentina Chrysostomou, Maria Christofi and Kyriakos Georgiou
duration: 2015
VR Ethical Dilemma
coordinator: Despina Michael
researchers: Marios Kleanthous and Marinos Savva
duration: 2013-2014
Aliens VS Humans
Do avatars make a difference in how we play the game?
researchers: Chris Christou and Despina Michael
duration: 2013-2014
VS-Games 2014 – Best Paper Award
Augmented Reality Book
Learning through AR Books and Mobile Devices
student: Konstantinos Koumi (BA thesis)
supervisor: Despina Michael
duration: 2013-2014
3D Diving Simulator for Zenobia Wreck
student: Kalia Aristidou (MSc thesis)
supervisor: Despina Michael
duration: 2013-2014
Microsoft Imagine Cup 2014 – Local Finals Winner
VR Astronomy
Virtual Tour in our Solar System
student: Marios Kleanthous (BA thesis)
supervisor: Despina Michael
duration: 2013-2014
Aerophobia and Chromatotherapy through Virtual Reality
student: Marinos Savva (BA thesis)
supervisor: Despina Michael
duration: 2013-2014
3D Driving Simulator
City Reconstruction, Real-time Interactivity, VR Integration
coordinator: Despina Michael
researchers: Smaragda Christodoulou, Marios Kleanthous and Marinos Savva
duration: 2012-2013
‘Kalikantzaros’
A Game to Promote Cypriot Tradition
supervisor: Despina Michael
researchers: Marios Kleanthous, Konstantinos Koumi, Andreas Pavlou and Marinos Savva
duration: 2013
Microsoft Imagine Cup 2013 – Local Finals
Before GET Lab
Despina's participation in research projects with other affiliations
Traverse
Transcending Reality - Activating Virtual Environment Responses through Sensory Enrichment
The far reaching aim of this project is to provide the means for ‘transcending reality’: to use virtual reality to transcend the self, whereby participants in an immressive virtual reality (IVR) may have the strong illusion of transforming their bodies, and therefore have experiences in virtual reality that are not possible in physical reality.
Funded by:
European Research Council (under the Advanced Grant scheme)
Project website:
www.traverserc.org
Affiliated with:
University of Barcelona, Event-lab
Role:
Researcher
Duration:
2009 - 2014
Virtual Tour
A virtual tour of Nicosia in 19th century
The virtual tour is based on a description of a british traveler that visited Nicosia in 1850. Through the virtual tour, the user can visit several landmarks in Nicosia. The interaction with the system is performed through a touch screen.
Funded by:
The Leventis Municipal Museum
Affiliated with:
University of Cyprus
Role:
Co-coordinator
Duration:
2009 - 2010
Nicosia Walls
A multi-touch table application for the Walls of Nicosia across the centuries
The fortifications of Nicosia are displayed for several historical periods. The user can interact with the application through the multi-touch surface. He can choose a specific historical period or change the viewpoint from where he watch the 3D models using intuitive gestures. Both software and hardware were developed in this project.
Funded by:
The Leventis Municipal Museum
Affiliated with:
University of Cyprus
Role:
Co-coordinator
Duration:
2009 - 2010
E-museum
An e-museum of Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Arts
This is an online graphics application that has two parts:
- the 3D representation of the museum where the user can virtually navigate and see the exhibits and their associated information.
- an online computer game-like application where the user can build his own virtual museum. The user can choose from a pool of 3D objects (representing the existing exhibits of the real museum) and place them according to his preferences in the virtual gallery.
Funded by:
Ministry of Finance, Greece
Project website:
www.mmca.org.gr
Affiliated with:
University of Cyprus
Role:
Co-coordinator (for UCY part - design and development of virtual museum)
Duration:
2008
Tonemap
High fidelity images for a virtual reality system with application to military training
The aim of this project is two fold:
- Development of a computer game/system for military training. It is a multi-player collaborative game that runs over a network. The aim of the game is to train soldiers and their team leader in residential areas where the training of soldiers in reality is very difficult. Each virtual soldier is controlled by a real soldier. The soldiers can communicate over the network. The game has been also integrated with a Virtual Reality system thus the navigation of a virtual soldier can be done using the tracking system of the VR and the shooting is performed using a data glove.
- Development of a framework for applying tonemapping in real time applications. This is necessary in the system described above due to high dynamic range that exists in such situations e.g. an explosion in the night.
Funded by:
Research Promotion Foundation, Cyprus
Project website:
www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/tonemap
Affiliated with:
University of Cyprus
Role:
Researcher
Duration:
2005 - 2007
Scoliosis
Automatic photogrammetry methods for diagnosis and follow-up of scoliosis
This project aim is the development of a system with which doctors will be able to diagnose and follow-up scoliosis without using x-rays. The topology of patient's back will be captured using cameras and photogrammetry methods. It will be transformed on a 3D model using computer graphics techniques. Doctors will be able to process the 3D model and make measurements related to this disease.
Funded by:
Research Promotion Foundation, Cyprus
Affiliated with:
University of Cyprus
Role:
Researcher
Duration:
2005 - 2007
Create
Constructivist Mixed Reality for Design, Education, and Cultural heritage
A mixed-reality framework that enables highly interactive real-time construction and manipulation of virtual worlds based on real data sources, resulting in experiences that couple realism and interactivity.
Funded by:
EU - Fifth Framework (IST) Programme (FP5)
Project website:
www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/create
Affiliated with:
University of Cyprus
Role:
Researcher
Duration:
2002 - 2005
NavSav
Navigation du Savoir
A web portal development with material about history and culture of Mediterranean countries.
Funded by:
EU - Euromed Heritage II
Project website (local copy):
www.despinamichael.net/navsav
Affiliated with:
University of Cyprus
Role:
Researcher
Duration:
2003 - 2005
