For Researchers
Research collaborations
Heka VR partners with academic researchers and clinical research groups investigating avatar therapy across psychiatric indications. Our platform is in active research use across nine countries, spanning schizophrenia, eating disorders, OCD and further conditions.
Partnership scope
Platform access and clinical support for your study
We work with research groups from study design through to publication. Depending on the scope of the collaboration, we provide platform access, training of trial clinicians, technical and clinical support throughout the study, software adaptations for new indications or populations, and input on study design where useful. We do not lead the research — you do — but we are an active partner in making it work.
Fit
Good fit, mutual benefit
The collaborations that work best are ones where the research question is genuinely interesting to the field, the team is set up to deliver the study with appropriate methodology and ethics oversight, and there is a path to peer-reviewed publication regardless of outcome. We are particularly interested in partnerships extending avatar therapy to indications where externalising a dominant inner voice or critical part of the self may be clinically meaningful, and in studies investigating the mechanisms underlying therapeutic effect.
Active research
Where the field is moving
Schizophrenia spectrum disorders
The most established indication, with multiple completed and ongoing trials. Current research interests include long-term durability of effect, telehealth delivery, and adaptation for specific subpopulations.
Eating disorders
The Dialogue Study (Mental Health Center Copenhagen) is the first fully powered RCT in this indication, with results expected end of 2026. Feasibility work is ongoing across multiple sites.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Early clinical investigation underway, with particular interest in patients with poor or ambivalent insight.
Further indications
We welcome research proposals investigating avatar therapy in depression, borderline personality disorder, and other conditions where the relational mechanism may apply.
How it begins
Starting a conversation
Research partnerships usually begin with an informal exchange about the research question and the practical scope of what's needed. From there, we discuss feasibility, agree on the form of collaboration, and work with you on the details of platform access, training and any adaptation required.
We are happy to discuss early-stage ideas, including proposals still in the funding stage. Most of our current research partnerships began as conversations long before a study was formally designed.
Independent science
Publishing and data
Research using the Heka VR platform is published independently by the research team, in peer-reviewed journals of the team's choosing. We do not place restrictions on publication of results, including null or negative findings. Heka VR collaborators on a study are named as co-authors only where their contribution meets standard authorship criteria.
Get in touch about a research collaboration
Email our research team directly, or use the form to send an initial outline of the research question and scope. We aim to respond within a week.