Brian Cox Opens Visual Effects Research Lab

Dundee University Rector and Hollywood star Brian Cox has officially opened a major new lab facility that will bring scientists, artists, clinicians, and filmmakers together to promote interdisciplinary research.
He marked the opening of the Visual Effects Research Lab at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design and said that VERL is a groundbreaking project that will bring together the worlds of film, art, technology and computer science.
Part of the EU-funded North Sea Screen Partners project, the lab has been created to produce cutting edge visual effects and new and innovative research. It is also the focus for the new Visual Effects Research Network.
The €6 million project aims to help companies produce, shoot, and learn across all media.
The partners enjoyed Oscar success this year with In a Better World, which was supported by Film Fyn in Denmark and Dundee itself is already a hub for the games industry.
The Lab offers companies the chance to work with the latest technology and the network is helping post-production companies to network and collaborate so they can get involved in larger and more lucrative projects. VERL has already been nominated for the Best Collaboration Award 2011 by Creative City Challenge.
VERL Project Leader Peter Richardson said: "The initial three-year project will challenge established notions of visual thought. Interdisciplinary research will be promoted, and researchers will be encouraged to share methodologies.
"We aim to create new synergies between scientists, artists, clinicians, and filmmakers and demonstrate the potential of them combining their respective expertise.
"The skills of artists and other practitioners in the creative professions can be of immense value in a wide range of other areas, and I am sure that work carried out at VERL will go on to have a significant impact in scientific and medical research and industry.
"As he is one of Dundee's greatest cultural ambassadors, we are delighted that Brian Cox joined us to officially open the Visual Effects Research Lab. He is also University rector and a long-standing supporter of the research carried out at Dundee and so he was the perfect guest to open the facility.
"I think the fact that we have already been nominated for an award shows just how groundbreaking this project is, and how strong the culture of collaboration is."
(BMcN/BMcC)