Mel Slater is a foundational figure in VR research, whose work since the late 1980s has defined how users experience presence and embodiment in immersive environments. Over his long career, Mel Slater has published hundreds of papers and led multi-million euro research projects exploring immersive VR’s impact on the human mind.

At University College London and later the University of Barcelona’s Event Lab, Slater introduced the influential concepts of Place Illusion and Plausibility Illusion, establishing a psychological framework for how virtual experiences can feel real. His groundbreaking research established the core psychological principles that explain how virtual experiences can feel real—paving the way for VR to be used in powerful, real-world applications such as mental health treatment, behavior change, and cognitive therapy.

Slater’s theories of presence and embodiment remain core to XR design, anchoring decades of academic and practical advances.