DREaM Space

How can new technologies help us study moral life in new ways?

DREaM Space logo, a stylised graphic of a capital letter D in blues and pinks with a shaded element representing an open door with the text 'dream space; below

 

Many of the methods traditionally used to study morality rely on surveys, interviews, written scenarios, or other relatively static approaches. These methods can tell us a great deal, but moral life is often interactive, social, and shaped by the environments in which decisions take place. Increasingly, those environments are also digital. 

The DREaM Space is a dedicated research space at the Uehiro Oxford Institute for developing and using innovative methods to study ethical and moral questions. 

Bringing together expertise from the Uehiro Oxford Institute and NEUROSEC, including the Philosophical Moral Psychology Lab and Design Bioethics Lab, the DREaM Space provides a shared environment for research using digital simulations and interactive technologies. 

 

Studying Morality Differently

Extended Reality (XR) technologies, interactive games, and AI-enabled systems can allow researchers to create controlled but more realistic environments in which to investigate moral judgment and behaviour. They can also help researchers to explore questions that are difficult to capture using conventional methods. 

For example, researchers might use the DREaM Space to ask: 

  • How does experiencing a moral situation in virtual reality affect people's judgements and decisions compared with reading about the same situation? 
  • Does a greater sense of presence or agency change how people understand responsibility, blame, or harm? 
  • How do people understand themselves and their moral identities when acting in virtual environments? 
  • Can interactive games provide new ways of studying complex social and moral behaviour? 
  • How can simulations help wider audiences explore difficult ethical questions?

A Space for Collaboration and Experimentation 

The DREaM Space is intended to be a shared resource rather than a facility tied to a single project or technology. 

It supports researchers who want to experiment with new methods, develop and test research tools, and bring empirical and philosophical approaches together. It also provides a setting for methodological training, interdisciplinary collaboration, demonstrations, and engagement with students, research partners, and the public.  

The space forms part of the wider Minds and Morality Network.

Contacts

DREaM Space Lead

Dr Kathryn Francis

DREaM Space Manager

William Hohnen-Ford