Colin Ellard
Human Experience Lead
University of Waterloo
Colin Ellard is a cognitive neuroscientist, author and design consultant, who works at the intersection of psychology and architectural and urban design. As a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Waterloo, his research interests include how the organization and appearance of natural and built spaces affects movement, wayfinding, emotion and physiology. Ellard employs a mix of methodologies in his research, including both field-based approaches to psychogeographic experimentation using mobile physiological sensors and laboratory based approaches using immersive virtual reality.
He has a strong record of collaborative research and exhibition with museums, including the Guggenheim Museum (NY), the Museum of Vancouver, The Urbanspace Gallery in Toronto, and PioneerWorks in Brooklyn. He is the founder and Director of the Urban Realities Laboratory, where he leads cutting edge collaborative research efforts into the study of human behaviour in immersive virtual environments. Ellard leads research efforts in physiological, psychological studies of occupants in interactive environments.