Klen Čopič Pucihar

Dr. Klen Čopič Pucihar serves as Associate Professor at the Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies (FAMNIT) at the University of Primorska in Koper, Slovenia. He holds multiple leadership roles including Department Chair of Information Sciences and Technologies, Deputy Chair of HICUP Lab, and Study Programme Coordinator for the Doctoral Computer Science program.

His research centers on Human-Computer Interaction with particular emphasis on:

• Augmented, Mixed, and Virtual Reality systems
• Micro-gesture recognition using radar sensing (e.g., Google Soli)
• Paper interfaces and augmentation of physical media
• AR for educational applications, particularly vocabulary learning
• Addressing the 'dual-view problem' in handheld AR systems

Dr. Čopič Pucihar's work is driven by the vision to 'unclog the bottleneck' between humans and digital information. His recent publications (2019-2025) show a strong trajectory from theoretical interaction techniques toward practical educational applications and novel input methods using radar sensing, with consistent output in top venues including CHI, ISS, MobileHCI, and ISMAR.

His notable achievements include:

• Best Paper Award at ACM IUI 2025
• Honorable Mentions at ACM EICS 2022 and ACM ISS 2022
• Best Poster Award at ISMAR
• Multiple hackathon victories including at Columbia University

As Study Programme Coordinator for Doctoral Computer Science, Dr. Čopič Pucihar mentors graduate students and shapes research directions. His HICUP Lab hosts an international research group focused on making digital interfaces more intuitive and effective for human use through advanced sensing methods and personalized services.

HICUP Lab leverages techniques from data mining, machine learning, computer vision, and human perception to develop interfaces that function as extensions of human minds, bodies, and behavior, with the ultimate goal of enabling 'digital augmentation of human abilities to its fullest potential.'