Symposium on Extended Reality

Dr. Mar Gonzalez-Franco is a Computer Scientist and Neuroscientist at Google working on a new generation of Immersive technologies. With a background in real-time systems in her research she tries to build better interactions for immersive technologies using different disciplines: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Avatars, computer graphics, computer vision and haptics. All while studying human behavior, perception and neuroscience.

Steven M. LaValle is Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, in Particular Robotics and Virtual Reality, at the University of Oulu since 2018.  Since 2001, he has also been a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois.  He has also held positions at Stanford University and Iowa State University.  His research interests include robotics, virtual and augmented reality, sensing, planning algorithms, computational geometry, and control theory.  In research, he is mostly known for his introduction of the Rapidly exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm, which is widely used in robotics and other engineering fields.

Teresa Hirzle received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Ulm University, Germany in 2022. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen and is also affiliated with the Pioneer Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Copenhagen. Her research interest is in human-computer interaction, in particular in interaction with extended reality systems. She is especially interested in eye-based interaction with virtual and augmented reality. Furthermore, she is currently exploring the intersection at extended reality and artificial intelligence.

Joanna Bergström is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen. Her research is in human–computer interaction, and she is interested in all aspects of moving in HCI from motor learning and sensory feedback to experiences of agency and embodiment. Joanna has studied these with mobile devices, body-based user interfaces, and virtual reality. Currently, she and her team focuses on studying interaction techniques for VR, models of moving in VR, methods to evaluate HCI in VR, and  theories to improve interaction design for VR.

Kasper Hornbæk received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Copenhagen, in 1998 and 2002, respectively. Since 2014 he has been a professor in computer science at the University of Copenhagen. His core research interests is human-computer interaction, including usability research, shape-changing interfaces, large displays, body-based user interfaces, and information visualization. He serves as the co-editor-in-chief for ACM Transactions on Human-computer Interaction and has served for more than 10 years as an associate chair for ACM conference on Human Factors in Computing, CHI. In 2020, he was induced to the CHI Academy. 

Hans is a Professor of Interactive Systems at Lancaster University and also affiliated with Aarhus University. His research interest is in HCI, human interface technology, and the design of novel sensing and interaction techniques for anything from smart devices to AR/VR. He is particularly interested in eye movement and won an ERC Advanced Grant in 2021 to investigate new foundations in for gaze and gestural interaction. His group has contributed major innovations on gaze in HCI, notably on smooth pursuit interfaces and techniques, gaze-supported manual input, and eye-head interaction. They have recently focussed on interaction in 3D but maintain long-standing interests in ubiquitous computing, cross-device interaction and interfaces that blend the digital and the virtual.