Virtual Reality for Health and Social Connection in Ageing Societies

Dear Colleagues,

As populations age worldwide, societies are seeking innovative approaches to promote health, independence, and social connection among older adults. Virtual Reality (VR) and other immersive technologies are emerging as powerful tools that can support physical rehabilitation, cognitive stimulation, reminiscence, and intergenerational engagement. These technologies also hold great promise for reducing loneliness, enhancing emotional wellbeing, and creating inclusive digital communities.

This Special Issue aims to bring together interdisciplinary scholarship and innovative practice to explore how immersive technologies that can enhance physical, cognitive, and emotional health foster social connection and reduce isolation in ageing societies. We welcome contributions from researchers, practitioners, designers, and policymakers across disciplines such as gerontology, public health, social work, psychology, engineering, and science and technology.

Key themes include but are not limited to

• VR applications for cognitive stimulation, rehabilitation, and reminiscence;
• Enhancing emotional wellbeing and social inclusion through VR;
• Designing age-friendly VR experiences;
• VR in dementia care and long-term care settings;
• Ethics, accessibility, and digital literacy in immersive technology adoption;
• Policy and practice implications for healthy ageing.

Dr. Carol Hok Ka Ma
Dr. Lillian Hung
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.