Coventry & Warwickshire, March 2025 – Mercurial Dance is thrilled to announce its most significant funding award to date, having secured a prestigious Launchpad: Immersive & Creative, Coventry & Warwickshire grant. This funding, provided by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will support the development of EmbodyXR, an innovative XR-based mental health tool designed in collaboration with the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) to help young people navigate anxiety through movement and immersive technology.

EmbodyXR represents a pioneering approach to mental health support, offering an interactive choreographed mind-body experience that empowers young people to manage anxiety. Through a combination of creative movement content, immersive soundscapes, and cognitive-behavioural techniques, the platform aims to:

• Provide young people awaiting clinical mental health services with practical tools to manage their anxiety.

• Offer pastoral professionals, such as teachers and youth workers, an additional educational resource to support vulnerable young people.

• Reduce pressure on clinical services by offering an early intervention and preventative tool for anxiety management.

The £4.35 million Innovate UK funding pool aims to drive local economic growth by investing in outstanding innovation projects within the immersive and creative industries. As one of the awardees, Mercurial Dance will lead the research and experimental development of EmbodyXR in collaboration with UCA’S Professor Sophy Smith (Executive Dean, Farnham School of Creative and Cultural Arts, UCA) and Roderick Morgan (Associate Professor in Emerging Technologies, Industry Lead for Creative Technology) and a diverse user-testing group including the student cohort at UCA with local schools, other universities and mental health organisations.

Oliver Scott, Artistic Director of Mercurial Dance, commented: “This funding represents a game-changing moment for Mercurial Dance. EmbodyXR is an ambitious and necessary project, bridging creativity, movement, and technology to deliver a powerful tool for young people navigating mental health challenges. This support from Innovate UK ensures we can drive forward research, development, and real-world adoption of EmbodyXR into the mental health ecosystem.”

Mercurial Dance has been actively testing immersive movement-based interventions since Summer 2024, when a 25-minute VR prototype of EmbodyXR was toured across universities, libraries, and key stakeholders in Coventry and Warwickshire (see more detail on the touring version of EmbodyXR). The new funding will allow the organisation to refine and expand the project towards full-scale adoption, solidifying its impact within the region and beyond.

The 18-month project, commencing in June 2025, will see Mercurial Dance and its partners further develop EmbodyXR, ensuring it is a fully accessible, scalable, and research-backed tool for young people and mental health professionals alike.

For more information about EmbodyXR and Mercurial Dance’s work in immersive creative technologies, please visit https://www.mercurialdance.co.uk/embodyxr or contact Helen Willmott at producer@mercurialdance.co.uk.

About Mercurial Dance

Mercurial Dance is a pioneering creative organisation exploring the intersection of movement, technology, and immersive storytelling. With a focus on innovation, accessibility, and well-being, Mercurial Dance delivers groundbreaking projects that empower communities through creativity and digital experiences.

About University for the Creative Arts (UCA)

UCA is a creative university defined by adaptability and innovation. We’re excited by change and difference, and the possibilities they open up. Specialising in creative Arts, Business and Technology, we help students find opportunities that speak to them, and make the future their own. We’ve designed our university to be an inclusive, dynamic environment.​ Our campuses across Surrey and Kent, China, and our homes within partner organisations such as Maidstone Television Studios are places to forge inspiring partnerships, make work with purpose and build real solutions to human problems across the globe – whether that’s as part of our vibrant teaching and research community, or as a student on one of our courses.

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Media Contacts
Helen Wilmott producer@mercurialdance.co.uk
Oliver Scott oliverscott@mercurialdance.co.uk
Mercurial Dance https://www.mercurialdance.co.uk/