[This looks like a valuable opportunity for presence researchers; if you submit, or want to team up with others to submit, please let us know in the comments or email me directly at lombard@temple.edu; the post is from the Microsoft Research Connections blog. –Matthew]

Academics invited to create new Microsoft HoloLens experiences

Microsoft Research Connections
6 Jul 2015

We are pleased to announce the Microsoft HoloLens Academic Research request for proposals (RFP), which will enable the academic community to join us in advancing the creation of new holographic computing experiences. The Microsoft HoloLens Academic RFP will award US$100,000 and two HoloLens development kits to academic institutions. Learn more about the RFP.

It has been exciting to see the public response to HoloLens—the world’s first fully untethered holographic computer, powered by Windows 10. There’s been palpable excitement at the prospect of mixing holograms with the real world to unlock all-new ways to create, communicate, work and play.

This emerging technology teems with opportunity, so we’ve issued this RFP to inspire the academic community to investigate the potential roles and applications for holographic computing in society. Additionally, we want to stimulate and advance academic research in mixed reality and encourage exploration of new possibilities in holographic computing. We expect that researchers will envision novel ways of using HoloLens—from interactively teaching students, to creating mixed-realty art installations, to manipulating holographic data to reveal new relationships…to who knows what.

HoloLens is already making an impact across a variety of industries—from academia to architecture and construction. As a result, we invite proposals from any field. We welcome research that uses HoloLens to help solve difficult problems and contribute new insights in any domain—data visualization; pedagogy in STEM, medical and design education; communication and distributed collaboration; interactive art and experimental media; and psychology-related applications, including human-computer interactions.

Join us on July 8 at 8:30 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time for our Faculty Summit keynote live webcast, when we will demonstrate more ways that HoloLens is helping people create, learn, communicate, collaborate, work and play. Request for proposal details are available at hololensresearch.com. Please note that the application deadline is September 5, 2015.

—Jeannette Wing, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Research