Why VR and emotion hold the key to the future of work
Alice Wroe is the XR lead for Atlantic Institute, whose work sits at the intersection of creativity, technology and social equity. She regularly explores how immersive experiences can shape more equitable futures and deepen our understanding of what it means to be human in digital spaces.
Her role as Creative Director for Magic Leap's digital human, Mica, placed her at the forefront of emotionally intelligent AI, giving her rare insight into how presence and emotion can transform how people learn, collaborate and connect in virtual environments.
With a track record that spans global speaking platforms, ethical leadership in emerging tech and creative storytelling for major cultural institutions, Alice brings the multidisciplinary perspective needed to explain why VR and emotion are key to the future of work that Meta is building.
When did you first realise VR's potential to evoke strong emotions?
The first XR piece that truly landed with me was a collaboration between a band and a tech start-up – it completely blew my mind. Being fully embodied in song jumbled my senses in the best possible way: I felt like I could touch colours and see sounds. I didn't expect to feel so many things, to be so free from my body and location. I was purely emotion in that moment.
I swooped through ideas and when I landed back in the physical world, I felt renewed, fresh, I had clarity and drive. At that moment, I realised that VR isn't just technology, but a creative medium with the power to transform and expand how we experience ourselves and the world.
Soon after, I began working in VR creative direction, exploring how to use the medium to elevate the user, inviting them into spaces that can shift their perspective, their sense of the order of things.
How do you think this emotional power of VR is reshaping the way we work?
Emotion has always been at the heart of how we work, yet in the pursuit of professionalism, we're often taught to hold it back, to relegate feeling to our personal lives. In VR, I've witnessed the opposite. I've seen people weep beneath headsets as justice-driven stories finally hit home. VR is being used to communicate the key feelings to trustees, donors, clients, turning the concepts into actions.
For me, beyond narrative shift, the real value of this tech for workplaces lies in feeling connected to peers when physically apart, embracing the chemistry of character and chance encounter that until recently has lived only in face-to-face interactions. Using VR, teams can feel more connected, more capable of collaborating deeply, even across continents.
Which Meta Quest business examples resonated with you most, and why?
The case studies that we highlighted in the hero film were a joy to watch, each showing people using VR to unlock emotion – learning, collaborating and bonding more deeply and quickly as a result.
The common thread is emotion, but each story channels it in different directions. I loved seeing the relief wash over the Mortenson team as they spot problems that would never become problems, and the pride among CUPRA employees as they leant into the magic of this innovation.
For me, health and education stories always resonate most. They show how VR can make learning easier and more joyful, whether that's in a classroom or surgical theatre, recognising that we all learn differently, yet proving that difference doesn't have to mean distance, as multiple needs can be met in different ways through a single session.
Are there other powerful emotional use cases in VR that you think deserve attention?
I work with the Atlantic Fellows, a global community of emerging leaders committed to eradicating global inequities. One of the greatest privileges of my role is witnessing Fellows bring their expertise into the VR space. We see community leaders, artists, even dentists, step into VR and use it to strengthen their work and their fight for justice.
One standout is Dr Adekemi Adeniyan, a rural dentist who has sparked an oral health movement in Nigeria. Her VR piece Girl Who Found Her Smile fills young people with joy, wonder and curiosity, translating that emotion into real-world impact as she educates communities without access to dental care.
Another example is Girl, Earth, Fire, Time where Atlantic Fellows, Dana Waldrath, Dylan Valley, Bongiwe Lusizi and Nasser Elderoos, have created a piece that washes users with grief, hope and resolve to show that genocide is not an inevitability, but has systemic roots that can be rewritten. And in The Hope Gap, Dela Wilson channels the power of hope to inspire collective action and advocate for global reparations policies. Supporting Fellows as they learn to harness emotion for justice through VR is a profound honour.
What keeps me in this space is the possibility of using technology to move people and create meaning. In a time when our world, especially our digital world feels increasingly fragmented, empathy has never been more urgent. This technology doesn't have to isolate us. It can be what pulls us together, into a space grounded in respect, connection and understanding.
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