The past year marks a period of defining progress and deep collaborations at Centre for Digital Media (CDM).
Below are just some of the highlights of real-world results stemming from the work between our students in our Master of Digital Media (MDM) program and our industry, government, and community partners. These efforts have created new solutions, taking ambitious ideas and transforming them into innovative digital products.
1. Magnet Award win: A landmark recognition
CDM was honoured with a prestigious Magnet Award in recognition of our leadership in building industry-academia partnerships and innovative digital product education pathways. This accolade reflects the strength of our ecosystem, from students, alumni, faculty, industry and the Creative District all working together to advance skills, careers, and impact.
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2. VR sand-blasting for industry training
In partnership with Vancouver Community College, one of our MDM student teams created a cutting-edge VR sand-blasting simulation that’s helping prepare trades students for real-world equipment use and safety protocols. The project amplifies how CDM’s approach to immersive, experiential learning can extend into vocational and industrial workforce training.
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3. AI-powered industry activation with Inworld AI
Collaborating with Silicon Valley startup Inworld AI, students worked on an industry-scale project that leveraged generative AI agents to prototype interactive digital experiences. The work demonstrated CDM’s deepening ties to frontier technologies and our ability to embed cutting-edge research into applied educational settings.
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4. Emergency-response training goes digital
Our students teamed up with Justice Institute of British Columbia to develop a VR-enabled training environment for emergency-response professionals. By replicating high-stakes scenarios in virtual space, learners can rehearse decision-making, coordination, and field tactics with no risk to safety. The project underscores how creative tech solves urgent public-safety challenges.
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5. Creative-tech storytelling: Monsterhearts adaptation
In another signature project, an MDM team adapted the tabletop role-playing game Monsterhearts via the creative-tech lens of Ludic Lemur, a queer women-led indie studio, focusing on narrative, immersion and audience agency. This resulted in a dynamic interactive experience that bridges game design, performance and digital media, illustrating the studio-ready, cross-disciplinary work CDM enables.
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6. Alumni leadership in AI: Joseph Coombes
Alumnus Joseph Coombes has taken a senior leadership role in the AI industry, exemplifying the career trajectories our graduates can achieve. His journey, from the MDM to driving AI-led innovation, reinforces the program’s emphasis on leadership and cross-functional collaboration.
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7. Social-impact platform: Nourish-Flourish + Emoot
The project team behind Emoot and the larger Nourish-Flourish initiative launched a digital platform targeting food-security and community wellness. This initiative brought together design, data, service-innovation, and client partnership to drive measurable social value, emphasizing CDM’s focus on purposeful digital product co-development.
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8. Launch of New Digital Product Development Courses
This year, CDM introduced a new series of flexible online courses designed for professionals looking to strengthen their digital product development skills. These courses support learners who want to lead digital projects, apply generative AI in their work, or transition into roles within the creative tech sector. By expanding access to industry-aligned, up-skilling opportunities beyond the traditional graduate-program pathway, CDM continues to advance its commitment to lifelong learning, innovation, and talent development.
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9. Artificial Muse and XR Artist Residencies
This year, CDM expanded its creative-tech ecosystem by hosting two artist residencies that explored the future of digital expression. The Artificial Muse Residency brought together composers and sound artists experimenting with generative AI to create new forms of musical composition and performance. In parallel, the XR Residency supported creators working across AR, VR and mixed reality to develop narrative, spatial and interactive experiences. The artists blended design, storytelling, and embodied interaction to push the boundaries of immersive media and explore how extended reality can shift audience engagement.
Together, these residencies reflect CDM’s commitment to advancing creative technology through experimentation, interdisciplinary collaboration and artistic research.