MSc Medical Visualisation & Human Anatomy School of Innovation & Technology
Varsha Hansraj
Hey! I’m Varsha. I have a BSc in Biochemistry from Keele University and I’ve worked in a mix of roles, throughout which I’ve always gravitated towards art and digital innovation. Recently, I decided to take the leap and change direction!
During my undergrad, I really enjoyed projects that involved creative science communication rather than just traditional essays. After graduating, I moved into medical communications where I worked within a digital team. I loved getting involved in projects that brought science to life in relatable and visual ways, which pushed me to explore pathways where I could directly create scientific artwork.
Now, after studying this course I’ve built a whole new set of skills, from 3D animation to VR development. My anatomy studies have also deepened my interest in sports and fitness, as I’m a big believer that ‘movement is medicine’. I’ve tried to weave that into my work this year, such as an animation of a free kick and my research linked to Olympic weightlifting.
After graduating, I want to keep creating engaging, visual experiences – whether that’s pushing forward sports technology or building more artistic, immersive projects!
Learn & Gains
MSc Research Project
Traditional sport science teaching methods can struggle to engage students or effectively convey complex biomechanical and physiological concepts. This MSc project tackles that challenge by exploring how effective an immersive VR experience with integrated markerless motion capture data of an applied sports, such as Olympic weightlifting, may impact students’ understanding, engagement, and motivation. The VR app aimed to bridge the gap between theory and application, enabling users to explore muscle activation, force production, movement mechanics, and data analysis in an interactive way with 3D models and audio clips across four different environments.
Software Used: Unity, Meta XR SDK, Thiea3D, Visual3D, 3ds Max, ZBrush, and Adobe Audition
Bean There, Filtered That
Interactive Application Development
Software Used: Unity and Adobe Illustrator
This was a collaborative project with Chandler Curtsinger and Ilse Yohn – an educational app focused on kidney function and urine analysis.
The interactive experience takes users through kidney anatomy, function, and disease, before ending with how urinalysis is assessed in a clinical setting.
I managed the team’s GitHub, designed the main menu with customisable user settings, and built the final knowledge-testing section, which included two difficulty modes: an easy matching card game and a more challenging multiple-choice quiz.
Chandler and Ilse focused on building the connecting scenes. Chandler developed the introduction to kidney anatomy and a later section on the stages of chronic kidney disease, while Ilse created an animated section explaining kidney function.
