Session 4

1:45 - 2:45 PM PDT
Consciousness 1

How Can Museums Assist Humans in Space? Artificial Intelligence Supported Extended Reality Heritage Experiences for Mental Health and Wellbeing

Presenter: Dr. Kaja Antlej, Dr. Bahareh Nakisa, Dr. Annahita Nezami

Museums are public institutions in the service of society. They are a source of inspiration, spark curiosity and creativity. Moreover, museums with their natural and cultural heritage content are also well equipped to address the mental health and wellbeing needs of their users. The session discusses the role of museums in the age of human expansion to outer space and how can they support humans living and working not only in Low-earth orbit (LEO) but also on the Moon and Mars. How can meaningful immersive reality experiences (e.g., astronomical heritage, overview effect) provided by museums minimise the loneliness, homesickness, and boredom of people in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments? Psychological and physiological challenges of long-duration space missions to support the crew’s mental health can be detected and monitored using artificial intelligence (AI) and wearable sensors. In addition, our research explores how quantitative and qualitative analysis can assist in the development of the most suitable extended reality (XR) heritage experiences for astronauts.

Dr Kaja Antlej is a researcher working in the intersection of human-centered design, digital heritage and virtual museums, extended reality, 3D printing, futures thinking, entrepreneurship and space. Kaja has obtained her BSc/MSc (2008) in Industrial Design and a PhD (2013) in Museum and Heritage Studies at the University of Ljubljana and is currently working as a Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design and CADET Virtual Reality Lab Researcher - Museums/Heritage at the School of Engineering, Deakin University in Geelong, a UNESCO City of Design, Australia. Prior to moving to Australia after receiving a prestigious Endeavour Postdoctoral Fellow 2015 by the Australian Government, Kaja worked on several EU-funded projects. She is an alumna of the Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program 2021 (SHSSP21) at the International Space University and the University of South Australia, an Expert Member of the Committee for the Cultural Utilisation of Space (ITACCUS), a technical committee of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and a member of the Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA). Dr Kaja Antlej a member of several museum/heritage organizations including ICOM, AMaGA, AAM, MuseWeb and Interpret Europe.

Dr Bahareh Nakisa is a Lecturer of Applied AI and the course director of Applied AI at School of Information Technology, Deakin University. She received a B.Sc. degree in Soft Engineering from Iran in 2008, Master of Computer Science from the National University of Malaysia in 2014, and a PhD in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia in 2019. She started working in Industry as AI scientist and Lead AI scientist and then she joined School of Information Technology, Deakin University as a Lecturer of Applied AI in 2019. Her research spans a broad range of topics related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning, deep learning. She has applied analytic and algorithmic tools from these fields to solve real-world problems related to diverse domains, especially in Health, and Affective Computing.

Dr Annahita Nezami is the founder of VROE, an international speaker, researcher, and chartered psychologist providing consultation, training, and therapy. Her areas of interest include space health and the Overview Effect, wellbeing, neuroscience, trauma, depression, performance, and altered states of consciousness. Annahita serves as an advisor to multiple organizations and was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). She has been a guest lecturer at various establishments such as Deakin University, Central St Martin’s, and University College London (UCL), invited to talk about mental health and the Overview Effect on BBC Radio 4 and TEDx, and published papers and articles with Springer and other media outlets.