> I thought that the VR technology allows to see/experience something "different", i.e. project yourself, as you are, in an environment to which you wouldn't otherwise have access, but it doesn't change "you"

Yes, I think that's exactly why VR would help with diversity training. A lot of implicit bias comes from superficial differences in a person's outward physical appearance. Age, skin color, gender, even height and weight. VR could allow "you" (same skills, same knowledge, same capabilities) to experience the frustration of knowing that you're more than capable yet held back by something as silly as your avatars "skin."

> But even if there wasn't this (hopefully) separation between "real" reality and the "virtual" one, I have difficulties in visualizing a "story board" of a virtual experience that could actually increase empathy towards a minority if you don't already have it

I can. A VR room escape game would be a good opportunity. You would be assigned to complete ten room escape "levels" of approximately equal difficulty with a team of four other participants. It would be a new team for each level so at the end of the training you'd have worked on ten different "rooms" with 40 different people. At the beginning of the session you would be assigned one of a handful of generic avatars - whichever one most closely resembles your gender & skin color. You'd play as this avatar and your teammates will see and interact with your avatar.

At the end of each task you would quickly rate the group as a whole, rate your own performance within that group, and individually rate each of the other people on your team. I'm imagining five minutes to quickly respond to scale of 1-5 type metrics along the lines of technical skill, interpersonal skill, leadership skill, etc. as well as another few minutes to journal personal reflections - Did you enjoy working with that group? Did you feel like your team listened to your ideas? Valued your input? Do you feel accomplished? Frustrated?

But, unbeknownst to you, your teammates will only see "your" avatar for half of the tasks. For the other half, they'll be shown a slightly different avatar. For example, if you're a white woman your avatar might appear as a black woman for five of the tasks.

And you won't actually work with 40 different people, you'll work with the same four.

At the end of the session you'd see how your teammates rated your abilities for each level and how the ratings differed based on which of the two avatars they were shown. You'd also see how your ratings of your teammates differed based on the avatar you saw.

We all like to think we're immune to bias. We're not racist or sexist. We don't discriminate. And we all like to think people will judge us on our abilities. That it doesn't matter what we look like because we're smart and capable and of course people will be able to recognize that. But I think it would be eye-opening for people to experience the impact of unconscious bias from both sides at once. Because whether we're willing to admit it or not, none of us are immune. But the more aware we are of our bias blindspots - and the consequences of those blindspots - the better equipped we'll be to recognize them (in our own actions and the actions of others) and react to them accordingly.