Harshadha (Harsha) Balasubramanian is an anthropologist researching the labour of making immersive media accessible to disability communities.
She is an Associate Lecturer at the Royal College of Art and a consultant working to embed digital access in galleries, libraries, archives, and museums.
Outputs from her research include a patented prototype for non-visual virtual reality access, co-creative research methods, and workshops on designing with disability justice principles.
As a Digital Access Consultant:
- Provides research insights to help innovate bespoke approaches to access in 3D virtual environments for galleries, libraries, archives, and museums
- Co-produces reports, talks, and funding pitches documenting the challenges and value of contemporary artists who are defining digital access with disability communities
- Reviews applications for funders, such as Immersive Arts
As a Associate Lecturer at Royal College of Art:
- Delivers lectures, workshops, and seminars that critically explore community-facing arts practice in the digital age: addressing collaboration ethics, immersive media, AI in creativity, and participatory research methodologies
- Helps to design assessments for cross-school modules, preparing postgraduate students through tailored resources, one-to-one supervision, and detailed written and verbal feedback
- Delivers the only accessibility module in RCA’s flagship Snap Lens Lab, introducing summer school students to inclusive research methods, disability-led interventions, and tools for interrogating the “good” / “bad” in digitised interactions
Credit: Massive thanks to Manuel Vason for the image: Harshadha in a VR headset for At The End of History, an exhibition in Dover Museum.
