View directly, or right-click to save a copy.
A display of different types of VR Goggles.
Dr. Julia Scott, director of the Brain and Memory Care Lab at Santa Clara University worked with Bhanujeet Chaudhary, former chief of staff at XRSI, and Aryan Bagade ‘25 M.S. computer engineering at Santa Clara University to develop a guide for human subjects protections in immersive technology research. SCU’s Healthcare Innovation and Design Program, MedXRSI, and PRIM&R collaborated to combine their expertise in the research applications, data privacy, and research compliance, respectively. The Ethics Center’s Faculty Hackworth Research Grant program, for which Dr. Scott was a Spring 2024 recipient, supported the development of the educational resources supporting the guide.
The project created three case studies highlighting difficult and unique challenges in safety reviews of studies. The themes challenged protections around biodata, psychological safety, brain stimulation, haptics, motion tracking, and confidentiality. The summative guidelines explicitly call out areas of concern in the use of these technologies and provide strategies to mitigate the risks. The new types of personal data necessitate updated data management and safety regulations to ensure the participants’ health and privacy is fully protected.
Each case study aims to target a different aspect of safety for study participants. The biodata study focuses on the physiological responses, specifically the heart rate variability and breathing rate of individuals in both stressful and non-stressful environments. In a more general sense, this study can be used to show how, without proper mental health safety protocols and adequate consent, similar processes can cause harm to participants. The haptic study looks at how Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation can be applied to create a virtual touch sensation within a virtual reality environment. This opens questions of neurological risks, consent gaps, and more that serve as a learning opportunity surrounding the potential physical risks associated with such brain stimulation studies. The final motion tracking study looks at the privacy risks that come from gathering complex XR motion data that can be used to re-identify people if used improperly.
Dr. Scott, Mr. Chaudhary, and Mr. Bagade presented these studies at the 2024 PRIM&R Conference where over 100 IRB compliance officers participated in a workshop analyzing each of these three case studies through open inquiry, technical analysis, risk assessment, and mitigation strategy. This analysis is coupled with a reminder of the four C’s of ethical consent context, control, and choice. Final conclusions from IRB officers note that there are many gaps in standard review processes that do not inquire about the risks posed by the emerging technologies--spatial technology, artificial intelligence and neurotechnology--that converge in immersive applications.
Gigi Patmore ’26, senior in the School of Engineering majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a 2025-26 marketing and communications intern at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, contributed to this story.