Vali Lalioti

Prof. Vali Lalioti is a pioneering designer, computer scientist, and academic who helped build the first VR systems in Germany in the late 1990s before setting up a cross-cultural VR research center in post-apartheid South Africa. She won the Royal Television Society Judges Award for her work developing the first AR productions at the BBC. She has extensive international leadership and innovation experience from around the world, and her Innovation Consultancy has developed diverse projects. Vali’s XR and robotic designs won innovation awards.

Vali is currently a Professor in Creative XR and Robotics at the Creative Computing Institute (CCI) at the University of the Arts London (UAL). She is passionate about how society and technology interact, and her research, across the creative continuum of XR and Robotics, collides with phygital and embodied experiences in performing arts, well-being, and healthy aging to build a more equitable and sustainable society. She has a PhD in Computer Science, an MRes in Design from the Royal College of Art, and an MBA.

Vali is also Director of Programmes, leading the Institute’s academic programme in Creative Computing, exciting new developments in Creative Robotics and Computer and Data Science, and AI, and fostering diversity, inclusion, and interdisciplinary learning. A Greek-born, she has lived around the globe and currently resides in the UK.