Qikiqtaruk: Arctic at Risk

This project builds on decades of ecological research by Team Shrub and a broader network of Arctic scientists studying Qikiqtaruk. The island is a sentinel site for climate change - its tundra is greening, its permafrost is thawing, and its coastlines are eroding at accelerating rates. The experience translates this deep body of scientific work into something visceral and immediate, letting audiences witness the changes that researchers have been documenting for years.

The project is a collaboration between three National Geographic Explorers: Isla Myers-Smith, a global change ecologist at UBC who leads Team Shrub's long-term Arctic research; Jeff Kerby, a geographer and visual storyteller at Cambridge's Scott Polar Research Institute; and Martin Edström, an immersive storytelling pioneer. Critically, the project integrates indigenous perspectives through collaboration with Inuvialuit community members, including Senior Park Ranger Richard Gordon and Aurora Research Institute's Kelly Kamo McHugh. Their knowledge and stewardship of Qikiqtaruk grounds the scientific narrative in lived experience. IVAR handles all 3D development, rendering, and the WebXR application.

The raw material for this experience comes directly from scientific fieldwork - photogrammetry scans, drone surveys, and 3D point cloud data collected by researchers over years of studying Qikiqtaruk. IVAR's role has been to take this scientific 3D data and transform it into highly polished visual environments built for storytelling. This means cleaning, optimizing, and art-directing datasets that were never intended for public audiences - turning dense point clouds into atmospheric real-time landscapes, and layering in lighting, weather, and spatial audio to create a sense of presence. The result is an experience that is both scientifically grounded and emotionally compelling, where every environment the audience explores is rooted in real data from the island.

Built as a WebXR application, the experience runs directly in the browser and supports VR headsets for full immersion. A working prototype is already published and actively used in educational settings and public showcases. Audiences are transported to Qikiqtaruk to witness tundra vegetation shifts, biodiversity changes, and coastal erosion caused by permafrost thaw - all rendered from real scientific data and field photography. The project has been recognized with multiple awards including the XR Prize 2023 and was a VR Awards finalist. Development continues throughout 2026 to deepen the experience with new environments and expanded content.