Catherine Anne Cassidy

Catherine Anne Cassidy is a Research Fellow in the School of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews. Her work focuses on immersive technologies applied to cultural heritage preservation, climate education, and accessibility. She completed her PhD in 2023 with a thesis titled Disruptive technologies for heritage preservation and promotion, supervised by Dr. Andrew Miller.

Key research interests include:

• Virtual Reality (VR) for heritage digitization
• Immersive learning systems for medical education (e.g., cerebral visual impairment simulations)
• Climate change communication through interactive technologies

Recent projects include the HERITALISE initiative exploring cloud-based heritage visualization and the CVI-SIM outreach program developing educational tools for visual impairment. She actively participates in international conferences like iLRN and EuroMed, contributing to both research and outreach activities.

Awards include the European Heritage Awards/Europa Nostra Special Prize (2021) for promoting international cultural heritage collaboration. She organizes public engagement events like Doors Open @ Computer Science and collaborates with museums across Scotland to translate academic research into community-facing initiatives.