 Greetings students! In this short video I want to give you a taste of what soon awaits you in the immersive research experience where you would be brought on an interesting virtual reality journey to see, to hear and to interact with the students and staff of the Insight Center for Data Analytics as they talk to you about their pioneering projects within a computer generated university lecture hall which would be followed by a visit to a technology heritage room to look at iconic electronic business communications and game devices from the computer and communications museum of Ireland. Then to view displays of data muses on the team of art in data and finally to walk through a gallery dedicated to research in areas such as smart cities, connected health and climate change. However please note as the with all school trips and excursions you will need to be properly prepared and be familiar with the equipment that you will be using. So make sure that you have read in advance the guidelines manual given to you particularly in relation to how to operate the virtual reality headset and controller. So let the experience begin. Place the controller in your hand and the virtual reality headset in your head. Turn on the headset and press any button on the controller to activate it. After a few seconds the user arrives at Oculus home which consists of a series of screen options. However if this does not appear this means that the headset power is not sufficiently charged or that the battery in the controller is not working. If all is good a beam of light appears that signifies the movement and direction of the hand controller. The option that we are going to choose is the virtual space known as outspace where the university rooms and facilities that we wish to visit are located. Yes at this stage the participant may be asked to update the system it is a requirement to do so. So choose the update option by pointing the controller towards visual representation on the screen and pressing the trigger. This process may take a few minutes. Once completed select outspace fear by pointing the controller towards its visual representation on the screen and pressing the trigger. A temporary stopover as you travel through time and space will be a dark mountainous landscape. There is no need to do anything just relax and enjoy the scenery. A message though may appear on screen recommending the wearing of headphones but this applies only to 2D mode users and not to 3D users like your good self. You will then be transported to iconic Lucas's penthouse in midtown Manhattan New York City where you will wait until a non-screen invitation to enter the inside center for data analytics arrives from the facilitator. While waiting for the invitation become familiar with your luxurious surroundings by using the touch circle on top of the controller to rotate in any and all directions. You will also see the avatars of your fellow students who are also waiting to be teleported. A circular menu of buttons will appear in front of you towards the left hand side. Do not touch this control panel until you arrive in the lecture hall when all will be explained. Once the invitation arrives and appears in front of you point at it and press the trigger to accept. The dark mountainous landscape scene will reappear as you are transported to your selected destination. You will enter the lecture hall at the top of the staircase. Wait for instructions. Once everyone arrives at this destination the facilitator will address all attendees. He or she will first introduce themselves and explain the functionality of the buttons on the menu that is the control panel that is positioned on your front left. Starting from the top of the menu and moving in a clockwise position you have the microphone, the walk or teleport, quick speed toggle button, Emojo, the bubble which places a force field around your avatar which prevents other avatars from touching it. It is mandatory to activate this option. Selfie camera, panoramic camera, browser and the last button isn't applicable. The large button in the center of the control panel is for exiting to main menu which can also be done from the hand controller. To go forward down the steps in the lecture hall you first point the beam in the direction that you are moving and click on the walk toggle port button using the trigger and the controller. Keep your hold on the trigger until you are at your desired row. Students should not cluster in small groups but rather spread across the rows of seating. Please note that avatars cannot sit in the seating area but have to stand. Sorry about that. The presenter will appear at the podium, introduce themselves with professional and personal details such as follow name, topic and so forth being shown in the small screen to the right of the main screen. The presenter will give an overview of how to ask a question and then proceed with the talk. So asking a question. Questions can be asked after the presentation is completed. This can be done in a number of ways all of which will be explained verbally by the presenter. The first option is to wave your hands by holding the controller upwards and then moving it ever so gently back and forth. Once you are seen by the presenter he or she when the opportunity allows will point towards you on mute you and invite you to speak. Alternatively the presenter can go to their host control panel, click in your avatar name, activate your microphone's amplification and then allow you to speak. Another method is to point your own controller towards the presenter and click on the trigger. The presenter's name and the panel will appear in front of you. Select the chat facility in the burger bar on the top right and type in your question, keep it short on the virtual keyboard that appears or instead just write that you want to verbally ask a question. The speaker will allow as many students to ask questions and they give as many responses as possible in the time period allocated. Once the question and answer session is completed the host will show a short video of one of the data muses art and data projects. Then participants will be requested to go to their individual control panels, take two panoramic photographs, fairy the scene and one selfie. All images taken by the participants will be sent to the coordinating teacher for distribution to individual students in the days following. Once this is completed the host will inform attendees of their next destination and how to proceed there. First up is the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland that is located beside INSIDE in the Data Science Institute building at NUI Galway. The guide will give a brief overview and then welcome attendees to spend a few minutes viewing the poster displays on the wall of the virtual museum which provides both information and images and some of the key artifacts that are found in the real world version of this National Technology Heritage Facility. Please note that a written quiz that will be given to all attendees by the teacher after the completion of the tour will include some questions on the artifacts and show in the virtual museum. This will also be the case with displays at the next two locations. Participants will be brought to the Data Muses Lounge to look at and comment on the displays. A flight upstairs will bring you and your fellow students to the final destination of this tour. The Research Gallery contains a series of posters outlining some of the important internationally acclaimed collaborative work being carried out by INSIDE personnel in areas such as climate change, smart cities, manufacturing, agriculture, water, air, waste, transport and restoring degraded peatlands. The guide will announce when the tour is ended by asking everyone to exit by pressing on and holding the power button on the headset until one sees a shutdown menu. On the shutdown menu point at the power off option before pressing the trigger on the controller. The message powering down should appear and wait until the screen goes blank before removing the headset.