Nigel spent over 20 years at the BBC, leading teams to produce unique digital projects including: explaining 30 years of the Northern Ireland Troubles in 3 minute motion graphics, strapping heart monitors to bikers travelling at 200 mph, bringing Titanic’s last moments to life in 3D and rebuilding a WW1 trench in Virtual Reality. He established the original Digital Catapult Immersive Lab in Belfast in 2017 and now has a trusted network that makes him central to the NI Immersive Technology ecosystem. Building relationships with technology partners and the XR community both in NI / UK and globally is a key strength. Looking at the sweet spot in the cross section of industrial and creative opportunities in Spatial Computing is a main focus of his current work, along with Advanced Media Production techniques like Virtual Production and Motion Capture, in his role as Immersive Technology Development Lead. He has hosted panel discussions and spoken at events such as the Belfast Media Festival, Belfast XR Festival, Rendr Festival, SXSW in Austin and London and has represented Digital Catapult at key industry events such as Siggraph, CES, IBC, AWE, SXSW and Venice Immersive.

Gavin Peden is a multidisciplinary creative from Belfast, working as an VR filmmaker, AV designer, Actor and experience designer for over 14 years. His practice explores the intersections of live performance, technology, and immersive storytelling, creating work that engages audiences emotionally and experientially. Gavin has recently been appointed the Managing Director of Ionoverse, a technology company based in Belfast exploring the evolving way that audience experience and technology meet. Gavin’s roots span theatre, VR, film, and site-specific performance. He has presented work across Ireland, Canada, France, Sweden, New York and Philadelphia. Recent projects include, Upside Down House by Tinderbox Theatre Company, Granny Jackson’s Dead with Big Telly Theatre Company, a site-specific theatre experience staged at an Irish wake that explored modern grief and memory using technology. He also co-created, The Afters with Lucy Baxter, an immersive VR experience exploring consent. Too Many Doors is another an immersive VR experience Gavin co-created, examining the experiences of women seeking housing while experiencing domestic violence, in collaboration with ESC Films and Housing Rights NI. Gavin has also adapted site-specific theatre into VR through The House VR, exploring trans-generational trauma in Northern Ireland, showcased at SXSW, Austin. Gavin’s performance work includes the one-man show And You Will Stand on Windswept Beaches, co-developed with Zoe Seaton, investigating masculinity, and his performances in Good Vibrations (Lyric Theatre, Belfast; IAC, New York). He was also recently selected for the creative residency SPACE in Paris and another at Creative Lab, Northern Sweden, to develop VR films for touring portable galleries. In addition to performance, Gavin has extensive AV and design experience for theatre and opera with recent credits, The Upside Down House, Red, Riot Symphony, The Headless Soldier, and Ten Plagues for the Belfast Ensemble. Film credits including Mr Penny, Two Fingers Up, Heave, Beautiful. His practice combines dramaturgy, technology, and immersive media, consistently exploring how storytelling can extend beyond traditional theatre, engage audiences in embodied experience, and interrogate social and emotional landscapes, always from artist led practice. Gavin’s work reflects a commitment to experimentation, collaboration, and interdisciplinary approaches, using emerging technologies and narrative forms to challenge perceptions, foster empathy, and create dynamic, participatory experiences.