Our story
PTR's immersive work belongs to a longer story of VR built for diversity, equity and inclusion. It runs from the founders' early public work on ageism, through Equal Reality's 2018 VR library, to People Tech Revolution itself, founded in late 2020 to build technology for social good. The years below trace that story through the facts we publish about it.
Technology is the medium. People are the point.
The story, year by year
2015 - Brisbane
The Ageing Revolution, founded in Brisbane in October 2015 and focused on ageism, is where the two people who would later found PTR began working together in public. Leonie Sanderson, then managing Queensland's Office for Seniors, had met Simon Lowe, her New South Wales counterpart, at a state managers' workshop; frustrated by the pace of change, they set off on a road trip interviewing older Australians about their experience of ageing, and built The Ageing Revolution from that material. It is a separate company from People Tech Revolution, founded in late 2020; the two share the same two founders, but one is not a rename or a subsidiary of the other, and The Ageing Revolution continues its own work today. The founders' work in that era also produced Our Care Journal, a carer support app launched at QUT in October 2018.
That quote describes The Ageing Revolution, the earlier venture the same two people ran before founding PTR, not PTR itself.
2017 - Vivid Sydney
Three years before PTR existed, its founders were already speaking publicly about ageism and immersive empathy. On 16 June 2017, Leonie Sanderson and Simon Lowe, then Director of The Ageing Revolution, presented "Ageism - The Next Frontier" at the Vivid Ideas Exchange, MCA Australia, as part of Vivid Sydney, co-presenting with Rick Martin, Co-Founder of Equal Reality. The session was presented by The Ageing Revolution in collaboration with Equal Reality. See Vivid Sydney's own listing for the session, archived via the Wayback Machine.
2018 - Everyday Inclusion
In 2018, Equal Reality, a Sydney-based VR studio and long-running partner of the founders, launched Everyday Inclusion, leading the way with what is still described as a seminal three-part VR experience exploring unconscious bias, inclusion, microaggressions and intersectionality. Two more experiences, Finding Common Ground and Speak to Me Normally, followed under the same banner.
The partnership behind that work is older than PTR itself: The Ageing Revolution and Equal Reality had already shared the Vivid Sydney stage in 2017, and the relationship has run ever since. Equal Reality's DEI VR library is today distributed as a stand-alone product line inside PTR's VR library, and PTR now manages Equal Reality's web and product presence. Equal Reality remains its own company, with its own founders; PTR did not build the original library and does not claim credit for Equal Reality's historical work, only for the partnership that carries it forward today.
2020 - PTR is founded
PTR itself was founded in late 2020. From the start, PTR has brought together a diverse team of experts passionate about leveraging technology for social good, co-founded by Simon Lowe, who leads as CEO, and Leonie Sanderson, PTR's Design and Engagement Director and also a co-founder of The Ageing Revolution.
PTR is based in Queensland, Australia. The organisations PTR works with tend to share the same challenge: learning by doing is best, but it is difficult to do safely, simulation and roleplay are resource intensive and hard to scale, and people need experiences that are repeatable, realistic and psychologically safe on demand. PTR's answer is immersive VR built to meet exactly that need, prioritising leadership, diversity, equity and inclusion, delivered through experiences people can practise again and again without real-world risk.
The experience behind the company is older than the company: PTR is built on more than a decade of immersive and game design work, running from The Ageing Revolution, co-founded in 2015, through a partnership with Equal Reality dating to at least 2017, to People Tech Revolution itself. Before that, Simon Lowe's career was in strategic partnerships and loyalty programs for major Australian brands and the NSW State Government, where he ran the Seniors Card program.
2023 - Aerospace Xelerated
PTR was selected for cohort 4 (2023) of the Boeing-backed Aerospace Xelerated accelerator.
"We could see how powerful VR is at giving people 'a-ha moments' and wanted to create training that has an impact on people's behaviours."
Leonie Sanderson, Startup Spotlight, Aerospace Xelerated
Boeing: cohort 4 announcement · Aerospace Xelerated Startup Spotlight
2024 - Carked It! wins a Good Design Award
Long before PTR existed, its founders were already turning hard conversations into approachable ones. From The Ageing Revolution's work came Carked It!, a card game that uses humour to make conversations about death and dying easier; "carked it" is Australian slang for died, and the name is the game's own joke. In 2024, Carked It! won the Australian Good Design Award in the Social Impact category, credited to The Ageing Revolution together with the Good Death Impact Network, which commissioned the award-winning edition, and the Australian Centre for Social Innovation. See the official Good Design Australia entry.
The game was tested the way it was meant to be played: around tables, with groups ranging from seniors' clubs to palliative-care staff, LGBTQIA+ social groups and game-jam crowds. An online version is now in development and user testing within the founders' wider circle.
The Ageing Revolution remains its own company; PTR carries the same instinct forward, in virtual reality and AI instead of cards.
2024 - Recognition
Women in Technology (WiT) Queensland
Leonie Sanderson was a finalist for the 2024 Lifting Communities Award. See the 2024 WiT Queensland awards finalists list.
Smart Precinct NQ, Townsville
Hosted the public launch of PTR's VR Training Library on 18 July 2024, with Simon Lowe presenting on the effectiveness of VR training, live demos and an expert panel. See the Smart Precinct NQ event page.
Government-backed milestones: in 2024 the Queensland Government's Ignite Ideas Fund (Round 11) awarded PTR a $95,000 grant for its Immersive VR Library project, as listed on the official Ignite Ideas Fund Round 11 recipients page. This is grant funding, not an award or a claim about the product's effectiveness.
2025 - Featured in Forbes
Forbes, "Inside The Leader's Mind: How VR Training Gets Below The Surface," 13 June 2025.
The article examined how immersive VR training builds empathy and drives behavioural change in leadership development, naming PTR's work with Google, Etihad Airways, Mayo Clinic and Mater Education.
"It's not just about seeing a different perspective - it's about feeling it. That's where real change begins."
What that story adds up to
That work is shaped by four core values, Community, Excellence, Trust and Creativity, and by four mindsets that describe how the team works day to day: curious, collaborative, empathic and action-oriented. See Our values for what each of those means in practice.
At PTR, the team is dedicated to transforming the way people learn, lead and connect. That expertise now spans Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), crafting bespoke solutions to foster inclusive, empathetic and effective environments across sectors. The mission PTR publishes for that work is to enhance workplace culture, deepen understanding, and build respect and leadership through innovative technologies.
That mission is delivered through a co-creation process that ensures each solution is tailored to the unique goals and challenges of every client. PTR does not arrive with a finished product: every scenario is built with the practitioners, the language and the real situations of the people who will use it.
It is the same instinct each time: take the subject people avoid, and make it safe to approach through play, perspective and practice. A card game about death. A VR experience that puts you in someone else's shoes. An AI conversation for grief. A rehearsal for the hardest conversation at work.
One example: Mater Education's "Speaking with Good Judgement: Through the Looking Glass" VR program was co-funded by Advance Queensland, QLD Government, which awarded PTR $40,000 toward the project while Mater Education contributed a further $110,000, as detailed in Advance Queensland's own story about the project. That approach has since been tested and evidenced well beyond the studio: see Case studies for the projects PTR has delivered, and Research and evidence for the independent research behind them.
Meet the values and mindset behind this story on Our values, how it plays out step by step on Our approach, and the studios PTR works alongside on Partners.