10044637Easel, Virtual Reality stress-reliefClosedGrant for R&DInnovate UKIn the UK, 79% of adults frequently experience work-related stress, which is one of the key causes of 17.9 million working days lost each year, costing UK employers up to £45 billion. Easel, is a stress-relieving Virtual Reality (VR) application for employees working in high-stress environments. The app applies scientific findings with cutting-edge, yet easily available technology, to creatively address workplace stress with a compelling mental well-being product. Easel reduces stress by transporting the player to a distant, safe, underwater world where they can foster a caring relationship with an other-worldly sea creature. The player's ability to move around freely and initiate rich interactions within the calming and audiovisually enchanting world provides a soothing sense of control. The player uses gaze and hand gestures to navigate the ocean, and interacts with their sea-animal companion in a variety of ways, including feeding, playing, and cleaning up their environment. At the start and end of each session the player self-reports their well-being rating, developing their profile over time. Our product is based on scientific research in stress- and pain-relief through nurturing animals and how VR can facilitate it. Interacting with an animal in VR has been documented as hugely beneficial, even surpassing the effectiveness of morphine for pain reduction. Despite the promising results of medical prototypes in clinical settings, almost none are commercially available. In the absence of evidence-based and accessible solutions on the market, we want to create a cutting-edge, compelling solution for large enterprises to start with, next offer it to public sector institutions and eventually roll it out to individual customers. The project will deliver three main outputs: 1. A detailed market assessment. 2. A beta version of the Easel VR app. 3. A white paper evaluating the app's effectiveness.