Our Immersive Media Design MA has been designed to equip students with the creative, technical, and conceptual skills essential for excelling in the fast-evolving world of immersive technologies.
We spoke with Teodora Alata, Course Leader, who combines extensive industry experience with academic expertise to lead this cutting-edge programme.
In this conversation, Teodora shares what sets this course apart, why Westminster provides a supportive and dynamic environment for exploring immersive technologies and offers valuable advice for those passionate about augmented and virtual reality, interactive environments, or immersive audio-visual experiences.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your area of expertise?
I’m a lecturer in Creative Computing and Algorithmic Cultures in the School of Media and Communications, focusing on immersive media, game engines, and speculative design practices. My background sits at the intersection of digital art, critical theory, and computational media, with a particular interest in how technologies shape cultural imagination and the ways we construct and contest reality through digital tools.
My research examines how artists engage critically with platforms like Unity and Unreal Engine, not just for realism or commercial aims, but to challenge the structures and assumptions embedded in these tools. I approach immersive media through feminist and postcolonial lenses, asking whose realities and voice are represented in virtual spaces and how we might imagine otherwise.
Alongside research, my creative practice engages with the speculative and material dimensions of immersive technologies through writing, critical prototyping, and expanded narrative forms. In both teaching and practice, I am passionate and encourage students to combine technical fluency with critical reflection, fostering immersive experiences that are inclusive, thoughtful, and imaginative.
What do you think makes the Immersive Media MA at Westminster stand out?
What makes the Immersive Media MA stand out is that it invites students to be both creators and critics, to build, prototype, and explore emerging technologies, while also thinking deeply about their cultural, ethical, and political implications. We’re not interested in simply training students to replicate industry pipelines, we want them to go deeper and really explore where the future of immersive media lies. This course gives space to work speculatively and experimentally, to test new ideas, and to engage with big questions: What kinds of futures are being made possible through immersive media? Who are they for? What perspectives are being left out, and how can we include them?
Our approach is strongly informed by contemporary debates in critical media theory and emerging technologies to help students think beyond the surface of technology, to understand its histories, its affordances, and its blind spots. At the same time, we provide hands-on experience with tools such as game engines, 3D modelling software, AR/VR platforms, and creative AI workflows. Students learn to move fluidly between making and reflecting, between prototyping and critical inquiry, and that’s what gives this course its edge.
Another key strength of the MA is its emphasis on collaboration and critical community. The course welcomes students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds—fine art, architecture, performance, computing, creative writing, journalism, to name a few and this richness of perspective will contribute to a truly interdisciplinary community. Rather than teaching immersive media in a vacuum, we see it as something that is always relational, always shaped by its social, cultural, and material context. The course supports students in navigating these complexities, building projects that are not only technically competent, but also ethically engaged and conceptually robust.
Why did you choose Westminster?
The University of Westminster’s long-standing commitment to socially engaged critical media practice really resonated with me. With its roots as a polytechnic, it champions applied knowledge, accessibility, and interdisciplinarity—values that continue to shape its teaching and research culture.
Its focus on both innovation and reflection, encouraging students and staff to push boundaries and explore media within broader cultural and political contexts, felt like the right fit. Being part of the College of Design, Creative and Digital Industries has given me the opportunity to work in a collaborative environment where creative practice is both applied and critically informed—especially around ethics, equity, and accessibility. That balance is essential to my work at the intersection of art, technology, and cultural inquiry.
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As a professional and academic working within immersive media and creative industries, what have been some of your career highlights?
I’ve had the opportunity to work on projects that reflect my interests in critical media and speculative design. One recent rewarding project I’ve been involved in is Virtual Realisms, a public lecture series that explores how immersive and computational technologies are increasingly entangled in processes of reality production, which I co-curate with my colleague Tadej Vindis. It brings together artists, designers, and scholars working with game engines, AI, XR, and synthetic media to critically examine platforms, perception, and authorship.
At Westminster, I’ve helped shape the School of Media and Communications’ creative technology curriculum, designing and leading modules across undergraduate and postgraduate levels. These modules encourage experimentation with emerging tools from speculative XR to narrative prototyping in game engines emphasising imaginative, technically agile, and socially engaged approaches to immersive media.
My research explores immersive technologies through feminist technoscience, posthumanism, and platform studies. I’ve presented internationally at venues including transmediale, The Photographer’s Gallery, Somerset House, and upcoming conferences like DiGRA2025 and The Image Conference. Recent outputs include peer-reviewed articles and a forthcoming book chapter, “Game Engines & Contemporary Art Practice: Infrastructural Dissent within the Game Design Pipeline” (Summer 2025).
Through writing and public talks, I continue to examine how artists use software infrastructures to reimagine narrative, resistance, and relationality.
What would your advice be to aspiring professionals or academics who would like to pursue a career within immersive media and creative industries?
My biggest piece of advice is don’t be afraid to work against the grain. Immersive media is a fast-moving, still-in-formation field, and it’s easy to feel pressured to keep up with trends or conform to industry expectations. But some of the most exciting and meaningful work comes from those who approach the field with curiosity, criticality, and care, who ask not just what’s possible, but what’s desirable, for whom, and why.
Stay open to interdisciplinary thinking. Whether your background is in art, design, philosophy, computer science, or storytelling, there is a space for your perspective and often, it’s the friction between disciplines that generates the most powerful ideas. Build things, break things, question assumptions, and look to communities outside the mainstream for inspiration.
Finally, immerse yourself in theory and practice equally. Understanding the politics of technology is just as important as knowing how to use it. Engage with diverse perspectives. Think about the cultural context of the tools you’re using. And surround yourself with people who challenge and expand your thinking.
This is a field with immense potential, not only to create new experiences, but to imagine new worlds altogether.
About University of Westminster
As one of the most diverse universities in the UK, we are a global university with London energy, with more than 19,000 students from 169 countries. To find out more about our Media and Communication courses, visit our website.
