Dr. Ward is a Senior Lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University as well as an Honorary Fellow at the  Digital Innovation Facility, University of Liverpool.

Dr. Ward is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Game Development at Liverpool John Moores University, where he combines expertise in computer science and innovative technology to train the next generation of game developers. He also holds an honorary fellowship at the Digital Innovation Facility at the University of Liverpool, where he collaborates on groundbreaking research in virtual reality and digital sensory experiences.

Dr. Ward began his academic journey with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Bangor University in 2018. His passion for exploring the connections between human perception and technology led him to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Liverpool, completed in 2023. His doctoral research, titled Virtual Synaesthesia: Crossmodal Correspondences and Synesthetic Experiences, examined how technology and how the human brain facilitates multisensory integration, such as seeing smells and seeing how our sense of smell influences the perception of colour.

His research interests lie at the intersection of sensory perception and digital environments, with particular focus areas including olfaction (the sense of smell), virtual reality, machine learning, crossmodal correspondences (the way different senses interact), and electronic noses (devices that detect and identify scents). Dr. Ward’s recent work explores how our sense of smell affects color perception, culminating in a novel publication that earned him the prestigious Pineapple Science Award in Hangzhou, China, in 2023

Beyond his research, Dr. Ward actively mentors students and frequently collaborates on interdisciplinary projects aimed at advancing multisensory technologies. He remains dedicated to expanding our understanding of how technology can enhance and interact with human perception, bringing fresh perspectives to both academia and industry.