Trinity to create virtual reality game for military training

The project will try to increase the effectiveness of militaries, police and civilian actors working together in ‘preventing conflict’

NEWSA new virtual reality game that will be used to train international military and police in peacekeeping skills is being lead by researchers at Trinity College.

The Gaming for Peace project has been funded by a €2 million grant from the European commission under the Horizon 2020 programme and is supported by the European Security and Defence College, which oversees the training of all EU personnel deployed on peacekeeping missions, NATO and a number of UN bodies.

Gaming for Peace will be accessible for all personnel with an internet connection, and will allow users to experience simulations of challenging scenarios  from both conflicts and peacekeeping mission to learn communication, co-operation, gender awareness and cultural competency skills.

The Journal.ie reports that Anne Holohan, the coordinator of the Gaming For Peace Project and an assistant professor at the Department of Sociology in Trinity said that the project will help tackle logistic and expense difficulties in training large numbers of personnel for peace keeping duties.

“Current training for personnel involved in conflict prevention and peace-building missions does not prioritise the critical softer skills of communication and gender and cultural awareness,” Anne is reported to have said.

It was further claimed that the project will try to increase the effectiveness of  militaries, police and civilian actors working together in “preventing conflict.”

While the project is led by Trinity, it will consist of fourteen partners, among them Haunted Planet, a games company led by Trinity professor Mads Haahr, the Ted Kennedy Institute at NUI Maynooth, the PSNI, the Finnish military, The polish police and military and Upskill in Belfast. It is due to be completed by 2018.