Rate My Professor James Calvert

Dr James Calvert is Senior Lecturer in Animation in the School of Art and Design within the College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities at Adelaide University, where he also serves as Program Director for the Bachelor of Illustration and Animation since 2026. Bringing over 20 years of professional experience in the animation and games industry, he founded and directed The People’s Republic of Animation and served as founder and lead designer at Six Foot Kid, during which time he designed and directed animated films, virtual reality experiences, and video games for global audiences. Prior to joining Adelaide University in 2024, Calvert was Senior Lecturer at Torrens University Australia from 2016 to 2024. He holds a PhD from Torrens University Australia, completed between 2018 and 2023, which focused on narrative virtual reality for education through a PhD by Publication. This work featured articles in Q1 journals such as Computers & Education and Virtual Reality, alongside the creative output Thin Ice VR, a 22-minute immersive virtual reality documentary he wrote and directed. Thin Ice VR traces Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition while highlighting climate change impacts and has been exhibited at the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the South Australia Museum in partnership with the Adelaide Film Festival.

Calvert’s research specializations center on expanded screen practice, including animation, virtual reality, video games, computer gaming and animation, entertainment and gaming, digital and electronic media art, interactive media, and mixed reality. Key publications include journal articles such as Calvert and Hume (2023) in Virtual Reality on improving student learning outcomes using narrative VR as pre-training; Calvert and Hume (2022) in Australasian Journal of Educational Technology on immersing learners in educational narratives via VR; and Calvert and Abadia (2020) in Computers & Education on the impact of immersive VR narratives on university and high school students. Conference contributions encompass Chand and Calvert (2025) at CONFIA on AI in animation production, and earlier works like Calvert, Abadia, and Tauseef (2019) at IEEE VR on VR for empathy in historical events. He received the ASIFA Hollywood Animation Educators Forum Faculty Grant for AI and Animation Production: Intersections of Generative AI and Human Authorship, Run Koala Run, from July 2025 to June 2026. Calvert teaches courses including Animation Design, Illustration Animation Studio 4, and Visual Narrative. He is eligible to supervise Masters and PhD students as co-supervisor.