Virtual reality raises both hopes and fears. It allows for an experience comparable in intensity to a drug-induced trance. In VR, we can fly, explore space, and fight with lightsabres against Lord Vader himself. We can escape our daily problems, learn, communicate, and work, but also get lost in this new digital world, which may soon become an integral part of our lives. In her lecture, Jowita Guja will talk about the latest applications and possibilities of VR, defining the opportunities and risks associated with it. She will show that the development of this technology requires the involvement of not only computer scientists and designers, but also – and perhaps more so – humanists, psychologists, and philosophers.
AGH University Associate Professor Jowita Guja
Philosopher and cultural researcher, researcher of cultural trends in technology, futuristic imagination, and fashion. Employee of the Faculty of Humanities at the AGH University, where she is the Head of the Department of Information Technology and Media Studies and the manager of the EduVRLab Laboratory. Her ambition is to create a VR philosophy handbook.
Established in 2013, the Historical Layers Research Centre aims to conduct public activities for cultural heritage research and historic preservation. The main task of the scientists gathered within the unit is to coordinate projects in terms of the analysis of earth profiles, objects found there, and remains of buildings. The centre is a place for creative synergy between specialists from various AGH University departments and research facilities from cooperating units. What happens there is not only a combination of scientific powers of various engineers, but also their fruitful cooperation with humanists, which allows them to make discoveries that would not have been possible if they had acted separately. Particularly important here is the support of Polish historians and archaeologists.
AGH University Associate Professor Aldona Garbacz-Klempka
Head of the Department of Moulding Materials, Mould Technologies, and Casting of Non-Ferrous Metals at the Faculty of Foundry Engineering. Her research interests focus among others on archaeometallurgy, an interdisciplinary field connecting technical sciences with humanities. Within the framework of the Historical Layers Research Centre, established in 2013, Prof. Garbacz-Klempka conducts intensive research on Polish cultural heritage, involving not only prominent specialists from various AGH University units, but also historians, archaeologists, and museologists. Professor Garbacz-Klempka is currently working on two projects on the origins of metallurgy and foundry in the lands of Poland funded by the National Science Center as well as the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.