Dr Chris Macdonald

My TED Talk just went live. I explain how and why I used neuroscience and virtual reality to build the most effective treatment for speech anxiety—and how and why I am making it freely available to all. Link in bio or just search "Chris Macdonald TED Talk" on YouTube.

How virtual reality cures your fear of public speaking | Dr Chris Macdonald | TEDxSurreyUniversity YouTube video by TEDx Talks

Check out my TED Talk. I explain how and why I used neuroscience and virtual reality to build the most effective treatment for speech anxiety—and how and why I am making it freely available to all.

The full talk is now available on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZVU...

In the talk, I explain how and why I built the most effective treatment for speech anxiety—and how and why I am making it freely available.

Share widely. Together we can transform millions of lives!

Dr Chris Macdonald giving a TED Talk

My TED Talk is now live...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZVU...

In the talk, I explain how and why I built the most effective treatment for speech anxiety—and how and why I am making it freely available.

Please share - this free treatment is life-changing for anyone who experiences speech anxiety.

Our latest research paper reveals a simple and surprising strategy that can more than double the sales of the Greggs vegan range. Find out more in this short explainer video.

You can read the full paper using the link below.
doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1656336

Thank you for your support.

My latest research paper is gaining increasing media attention...

The paper reveals a surprisingly simple no-cost strategy that can more than double sales of meat-free products.

Link to open access paper:
doi.org/10.3389/fsuf...

My new paper on how to increase sustainable food consumption is continuing to gather positive media attention 🙌

Thank you to Green Nudges for the feature.

Link to paper:
www.frontiersin.org/journals/sus...

Thank you for all of the support!

#sustainablefood #sustainability
#vegan #greennudge

Virtual Reality public speaking platform wins top prize at Times Higher Education Awards Cambridge’s Dr Chris Macdonald won the Technological Innovation of the Year category at the Times Higher Education Awards 2025 for his groundbreaking Virtual

Congratulations to @drchrismacdonald.bsky.social, whose VR public speaking platform won at the @timeshighered.bsky.social Awards 2025! 🏆

Other Cambridge nominees included the PROFILE trial team and Technician Development Advisor John Nicolson.

Read more: bit.ly/4p9V4HI

#THEAwards

🥳🥳🥳🥳 We did it!!!

We won the Global EdTech Award for using virtual reality and neuroscience to create the most effective treatment for the fear of public speaking!

Find out more here:
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Original research paper here:
www.frontiersin.org/journals/vir...

#edtech 🙌

My new paper reveals how I used consumer insights to create the most effective nudge to increase sales of sustainable food 🙌

Share far and wide 🌱

Link to open access paper:
www.frontiersin.org/journals/sus...

#sustainablefood #sustainability
#vegan #greennudge

My new paper on how to increase sustainable food consumption is continuing to gather positive media attention 🙌

Link to paper:
www.frontiersin.org/journals/sus...

#sustainablefood #sustainability
#vegan #greennudge

Frontiers | Improving virtual reality exposure therapy with open access and overexposure: a single 30-minute session of overexposure therapy reduces public speaking anxiety Public speaking anxiety is a prevalent issue with significant negative impacts. While virtual reality exposure therapy is an effective treatment, it currentl...

🎉 I'll be demoing my virtual reality treatment for speech anxiety this weekend at New Scientist Live!

In my last VR paper, I revealed how my VR tech & overexposure protocol provides the most effective treatment.

Link to the paper here:
www.frontiersin.org/journals/vir...

#anxiety #medtech #edtech

Frontiers | Reducing meat consumption with consumer insights and the nudge by proxy: the anomaly of asking, the power of protein, and illusions of insufficiency and availability High global meat consumption presents significant environmental challenges. Interventions to reduce meat consumption, such as carbon labelling, have shown mo...

🥳 The new paper has quickly gained over 2000 views!

In the paper, I reveal new and highly effective approaches to increase sustainable meal choices.

www.frontiersin.org/journals/sus...

#sustainablefood #greennudges
#behaviourchange #climatechange
#vegan #sustainability

Frontiers | Reducing meat consumption with consumer insights and the nudge by proxy: the anomaly of asking, the power of protein, and illusions of insufficiency and availability High global meat consumption presents significant environmental challenges. Interventions to reduce meat consumption, such as carbon labelling, have shown mo...

📢 New paper alert!

In the paper, I explored practical ways to increase sustainable meal choices and I uncovered something highly impactful using a consumer-led approach…

www.frontiersin.org/journals/sus...

#sustainablefood #greennudges
#behaviourchange #climatechange
#vegan #sustainability

My new paper on how to increase sustainable food consumption is starting to gather media attention 🙌

Link to paper:
www.frontiersin.org/journals/sus...

#sustainablefood #sustainability

Frontiers | Reducing meat consumption with consumer insights and the nudge by proxy: the anomaly of asking, the power of protein, and illusions of insufficiency and availability High global meat consumption presents significant environmental challenges. Interventions to reduce meat consumption, such as carbon labelling, have shown mo...

Over 1000 views already on my newly published paper!

In the paper, I explored practical ways to increase sustainable meal choices and I uncovered something highly impactful using a new approach…

www.frontiersin.org/journals/sus...

#sustainablefood #greennudges

You can read the full open access paper here:
www.frontiersin.org/journals/sus...

The ball is in Greggs’ court now...

Earlier this week, my publication revealed a trick that can more than double sales of meat-free products at Greggs.

Today, I shared the findings with them.

I also let them know that I’d be happy to collaborate to help accelerate positive change.

Frontiers | Reducing meat consumption with consumer insights and the nudge by proxy: the anomaly of asking, the power of protein, and illusions of insufficiency and availability High global meat consumption presents significant environmental challenges. Interventions to reduce meat consumption, such as carbon labelling, have shown mo...

📢 New paper alert!

In the paper, I explored practical ways to increase sustainable meal choices and I uncovered something highly impactful using a consumer-led approach…

🔗 Link to open access paper here:
frontiersin.org/journals/sus...

#sustainablefood #greennudges

‘The room started to spin, my breath grew short’: could I conquer my fear of public speaking? For years, speaking in public has triggered panic attacks. So to overcome them, I road-tested some popular methods, from psychotherapy to virtual reality

I'm back in the news, and this one made me emotional...

Read the full Guardian article for free via link below:
theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Please share far and wide - it could be life-changing for anyone who suffers from speech anxiety or the fear of public speaking.

📢 Exciting job opportunity!

I’m looking for an exceptional Project Coordinator to expand the rollout of a ground-breaking edtech/medtech platform developed at my lab at the University of Cambridge.

Find out more and apply:
lucy.cam.ac.uk/vacancies/pr...

📢 New article alert!

Want to encourage more sustainable diets? Then don’t talk about sustainability. That’s the surprising takeaway from my research.

Read the full article for free here: theimpactmagazine.org/magaz… (page 22-23)

The FREE virtual reality classrooms translate key data and concepts from something amorphous into something tangible and experiential. For the first time, students across the globe can ‘climb’ emissions, ‘swim’ through water use data, ‘traverse’ land use metrics, and ‘hold’ greenhouse gases.

We did it again 🥳 🥳 🥳

We won the Cambridge University Excellence Award (for the third year running!).

For this year’s entry, I used emerging tech to better translate and visualise emissions data.

Please share far and wide - the free treatment is life-changing for anyone who suffers from speech anxiety or the fear of public speaking.

#psychologyresearch #psychology
#virtualreality #publicspeaking
#edtech #healthtech

Frontiers | Improving virtual reality exposure therapy with open access and overexposure: a single 30-minute session of overexposure therapy reduces public speaking anxiety Public speaking anxiety is a prevalent issue with significant negative impacts. While virtual reality exposure therapy is an effective treatment, it currentl...

🎉 Exciting research update: My latest paper is now in the top 5% of all 48 million research outputs scored by Altmetric. The paper reveals an innovative and free VR treatment for speech anxiety.

Read the paper for free here:
www.frontiersin.org/journals/vir...

#psychologyresearch #psychology

Earlier this week, I was on BBC Science Hour with Chris Smith and Naga Munchetty. I shared my story of how I created the most effective treatment for speech anxiety and why I made it free for all.

You can access it for free via link in bio.

#socialanxiety #anxiety #vr
#edtech #digitalhealth

VR device to reduce fear of public speaking Don't get in your own headset...

This week, I was interviewed for the legendary science show, The Naked Scientists...

You can listen to the full episode for free here:
www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/int...

Enjoy!

#Innovation #Technology #EdTech

What a week…

7 days ago, I launched a free online platform that helps people become more skilled and more confident public speakers.

Find out more at:
www.DrChrisMacdonald.com

#virtualreality #publicspeaking
#edtech #healthtech

#fearofpublicspeaking #speechanxiety
#socialanxiety #anxiety

Free tech eliminates the fear of public speaking Cambridge scientist launches free AI-enabled virtual reality platform that transforms users into skilled and confident public speakers.

Cambridge scientist launches free AI-enabled virtual reality platform that transforms users into skilled and confident public speakers and you can try it for free at #CamFest!

Read more: www.cam.ac.uk/stories/AI-V...

@drchrismacdonald.bsky.social