The Center for Civil Society and Governance at the University of Hong Kong and Meta announced the winners of AR/VR Policy Research in the Asia Pacific region, an initiative to help foster solution-focused research on responsible development and application of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies. This includes identifying positive approaches to inform related policy, addressing technical challenges, and ultimately empowering people to build communities and bring the world together. The Request for Proposals (RFP) reaffirms the Meta and Center’s vision of building strong collaborations among policymakers, experts, and industry partners to develop a metaverse for the well-being of society.

The RFP was released in August 2022, and applicants were asked to submit proposals that looked at some key areas of AR and VR, such as economic opportunity, privacy, security and integrity, fairness and inclusion, and new use cases. More than 60 proposals were received from 15 countries and cities in the region, and a selection committee reviewed the shortlisted candidates. The Committee, chaired by Professor Wai-fung Lam, Director of the Center for Civil Society and Governance, and made up of academics and practitioners from diverse backgrounds, has gone to great lengths to select excellent proposals. Grants are awarded to six winners from six countries and cities.

“There was an overwhelming response to the RFP. We have received proposals from technological advancement, ethical application to implications in laws and regulations. This reflects the strong interest of the academic and research community in the region to conduct multidisciplinary research on the wide range of AR/VR topics,” said Professor Wai-fung Lam, Director of the Center for Civil Society and the Governance of the University of Hong Kong.

“While the metaverse promises to unlock a whole new range of economic and social opportunities and is only in the early stages of development. The metaverse is not going to be built by a single company; it requires collaboration between policymakers, experts and industry partners,” said Raina Yeung, director of privacy and data policy, engagement, APAC at Meta. “At Meta, we want to make sure the technologies we use to build the metaverse are safe, secure, and accessible to everyone. We are delighted to have received strong proposal ideas from Asia-Pacific researchers who are eager to explore how we can responsibly build the metaverse. Congratulations to the award winners and thanks to the Center for Civil Society and Governance at the University of Hong Kong for the partnership. We look forward to learning more from the research insights.”

AR/VR Policy Research Winners in the Asia Pacific Region*

• Speech perception and listening effort of older users in virtual acoustics

  Dr. Justine Hui (University of Auckland, New Zealand)

• Federated learning for privacy-preserving AI in the Metaverse

  Dr Edith Ngai (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

• Persuasive Communication of Safety in the Metaverse to Children and Youth

  Dr. Dion Hoe Lian Goh (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)

• Regulation of sexual VCM in the metaverse: an interdisciplinary diagnosis

  Dr. Dyah Pitaloka (Monash University of Malaysia, Malaysia)

• Security and boundary in a shared metaverse: an intercultural investigation

  Dr. JihHsuan Tammy Lin (National ChengChi University, Taiwan)

• Virtual presence beyond the visual: a metaverse for visually impaired people

  Dr. Panote Siriaraya (Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan)

*Only principal investigators are listed

The full list of AR/VR Policy Research winners in the Asia Pacific region is now available at research.fb.com and on the CCSG website. For more details on the research initiative, please visit the website: https://ccsg.hku.hk/meta-ar-vr-policy-research-request-for-proposals-for-the-asia-pacific-region /

There are 4 other research proposals that are funded separately by Meta and the Center and will be implemented together with the winning projects. These include:

• Disability in the metaverse

  Dr Marcus Carter (University of Sydney, Australia)

• The Metaverse: Vehicle for Aboriginal Self-Determination and Digital Wellbeing

  Mr. Jasper Jerome Garay (University of Sydney, Australia)

• Nudges for sustainability behavior through immersive technology

  Dr. Jessica M. Williams (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

• VR Ethics: Expert Assessments and Behavior Insights

  Dr Kwan Nok Chan (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

Several knowledge sharing events are planned, including an online workshop to be hosted by CCSG and the Metaverse Conference to be hosted by SNU AIIS in 2023. These events aim to bring together members of the stakeholders and winners of this Research Initiative to discuss about AR and VR technologies.

CCSG and Meta wish to thank all the entities that submitted a proposal and congratulate the winners.

About the Tech for Good Initiative (TGI)