Origin
VR4REHAB was born in 2017 as an Interreg NWE project focused on developing VR based rehabilitation tools in co-creation with seven European partners.
Virtual Reality (VR) was booming worldwide, but in the healthcare sector, specifically rehabilitation, VR was in its early days. There were no tools yet specifically designed to provide an environment that enabled non-experts and their therapists to safely extend rehabilitation outside the clinics. VR4REHAB was created to meet this need, and to optimize rehabilitation protocols for patients and their therapists. Researchers and clinical personnel of VR4REHAB worked together to provide the patients with challenging VR interventions that could help to optimize rehabilitation protocols, accelerate recovery, promote adherence to treatment, and to facilitate reintegration into daily life.
In 2021 VR4REHAB obtained a grant from Interreg North West Europe’s (Interreg NWE) second call for capitalization.
This grant extended the previous work of VR4REHAB and focused on innovative VR solutions for Covid-19 rehabilitation and ‘Long Covid’.
The project ended in May 2023.
Goal
To sustain the VR4REHAB network, built on the collaborations developed and the deliverables made within the VR4REHAB Interreg NWE programme the XR4REHAB Collaboration & Innovation Network has been established.
The XR4REHAB Collaboration & Innovation Network provides a forum to facilitate research collaborations and improve healthcare, in particular rehabilitation, by using XR technology in clinical and other settings. XR4REHAB aims to facilitate contact and the exchange of knowledge between members and between members and other organisations that are active in the healthcare sector.
Executive Committee
Remco Hoogendijk
Chair
Denis Martin
Vice-chair
Joseph McVeigh
Secretary
Kristina Müller
Treasurer
Communication Team
Stephanie Crowe
New Zealand
Tracy McGuinness
Ireland
Silvia de Bruin
The Netherlands
