Mª Aurora Pérez Maíllo is a Professor at the Faculty of Communication of the Pontifical University of Salamanca since 1994. She specializes in Audiovisual Communication and Podcasting , with a focus on Transmedia literacy education Radio culture promotion Digital media adaptation Oral expression pedagogy Her research group Media cartography and ICS. Innovation in Social Sciences have produced key studies on podcast cover design, radio industry digital transformation, and sound culture education for youth. Notable projects include Esp@cio Podc@st , an educational podcast platform for improving primary students' oral skills through playful, interactive methods. Her work combines Quantitative surveys on audience behavior Qualitative analysis of crisis communication (e.g., 2004 Madrid bombings coverage) Educational tool development for transmedia radio literacy with practical applications in university classrooms and school settings.
Florian Müller serves as Assistant Professor for Mobile Human-Computer Interaction at Technical University of Darmstadt, leading the Urban Interaction Lab. His research pursues seamless integration of digital information, AI agents, and physical environments into unified Extended Reality (XR), with focus on novel interaction techniques for mobile XR and human-AI collaboration through body-centric, tangible, and haptic interfaces. Müller's primary research spans Extended Reality, Human-Computer Interaction, and Mobile Interaction with specialization in Haptic Interfaces, Tangible Interfaces, and Body-Centric Interaction. He investigates how multimodal sensory feedback enhances user experiences in immersive environments, particularly examining AI-driven adaptation for context-aware XR systems and the social implications of pervasive interactive technologies in urban settings. Recent publications (2024-2025) demonstrate strong interdisciplinary trends across multisensory XR (taste modulation, thermal feedback), social VR/AR applications (privacy, content sharing), and human-AI co-creation systems. Key domains include health (motor control assessment), education, and urban interaction contexts, with consistent emphasis on user experience, safety, and practical implementation challenges. Müller directs the Urban Interaction Lab at TU Darmstadt, which develops and evaluates interactive technologies for public spaces through prototyping novel mobile and XR interfaces. The lab's work emphasizes real-world deployment in urban environments, focusing on social engagement, situational awareness, and seamless interaction between physical and digital layers of city infrastructure.
Elizabeth Dyer is an Assistant Professor in the Curriculum & Instruction department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign . Her work bridges computer science education, mathematics pedagogy, and community-centered learning approaches. Research Focus : Culturally responsive computing, data visualization in education, teacher professional development, and epistemic positioning in collaborative learning environments. Teaching : Leads courses like CI 438: Computer Programming and the Classroom , focusing on K-12 computer science integration. Publications examine topics like community-based data-art programs, epistemic agency in mathematics classrooms, and social media's role in science education reform. Key journals include Journal of Science Education and Technology , Journal of the Learning Sciences , and Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education . Scientific Awards National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship Her methodological expertise combines qualitative video analysis, computational grounded theory, and speech analytics to study classroom interactions and teacher development.
Tabea Zmiskol is a Researcher at the Chair of Primary School Pedagogy and Didactics within the Faculty of Human Sciences at Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg. She actively contributes to projects like 'Help² – I help you help' and 'DiKuLe – Developing Digital Cultures of Teaching' , focusing on interactive teaching videos and classroom analysis tools. Current focus: Video-based feedback systems in teacher training Specializations: Literacy acquisition, educational technology integration Location: Markusstraße 8a, Bamberg (Room MG2/03.11) Her research explores performance heterogeneity in primary education , blending digital tools with pedagogical strategies. Key themes include: Asynchronous online teaching methods Audio feedback effectiveness Theory-practice transfer mechanisms Interactive video analysis systems Notable achievements: 2023 Certificate in University Teaching at Bavarian Universities (Advanced Level) Publications in leading educational technology journals She leads workshops on digital learning activation and serves as a doctoral candidate at the Bamberg Graduate School of Teacher Education (BaGraTEd). Her work bridges empirical research with practical teacher development.
Helen Wolfenden is a lecturer in radio at Macquarie University’s School of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies (MMCCS). With a professional background in radio broadcasting at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), she bridges academic research with industry practice. Her work focuses on the epistemological challenges of translating practical media knowledge into academic frameworks. Research Interests: Radio identity, para-social audience relationships, podcasting, theory-practice integration in media studies. Publications: Explores television scheduling, radio authenticity, and podcast-based academic translation. Notable works include Making Practice Publishable (2019) and A Face for Radio (2014). Conferences: Presented at ECREA and transnational radio conferences on topics like podcasting, producer roles, and audience engagement. PhD Thesis: Analyzed how ABC radio presenters construct authentic on-air identities, revealing the dynamic interplay between imagined and actual audiences.
Frans Wiering is an Associate Professor at the Interaction Technology division of the Department of Information and Computing Sciences at Utrecht University . His research bridges computer science and musicology , focusing on music information retrieval (projects: WITCHCRAFT, C-Minor, COGITCH), computational musicology (Tunes and Tales, Transforming Musicology), and music technology for games (COMMIT work package). He founded the Thesaurus musicarum italicarum , a digital collection of Renaissance music treatises, and has held visiting positions at Stanford University and Goldsmiths College . Research Interests : Music information retrieval Computational musicology Music technology for interactive environments Digital humanities Algorithmic analysis of historical music data Notable Contributions : Co-organized the Dagstuhl Seminar on Knowledge Representation for Intelligent Music Processing General Chair of ISMIR 2010 and Program Chair of ISMIR 2015 Founder of Thesaurus musicarum italicarum
Dr. Charlotte van Hooijdonk is an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University's Faculty of Humanities, specializing in Language and Communication within the Department of Languages, Literature and Communication. Her research focuses on human-AI interaction, digital communication strategies, and health information design. Research Focus: Her work bridges communication studies with technology, examining: Chatbot interaction design and conversational AI applications Health communication optimization (medication labels, patient information) Social media strategies for organizations and brands Visual/textual comprehension in digital environments Human-centered AI integration in customer service and public administration Publication Trends: Her 15 most recent articles (2021-2025) show strong emphasis on conversational AI design, chatbot-user interaction, and health communication. Earlier work (2005-2017) focused on multimodal learning, instructional design, and visual rhetoric. Methodologically, she employs mixed-methods approaches including content analysis, experimental studies, and user experience evaluation. Teaching and Service: Teaches courses in Communication and Information Sciences (BA) and Communication and Organization (MA) Covers topics including Academic Writing, Research Methodology, and Language Technology Skills include experimental design, corpus-based discourse analysis (SPSS/JASP), and survey research
Dr. Henri Hurkmans is an active Researcher at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, affiliated with the Erasmus School of Medicine and the Department of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. His research program focuses on developing and validating technological interventions for rehabilitation, particularly in stroke recovery and orthopedic rehabilitation settings. Dr. Hurkmans' research interests center around the application of sensor technology and feedback systems to improve rehabilitation outcomes. His work spans multiple domains including stroke rehabilitation where he has pioneered mirror therapy protocols, orthopedic rehabilitation with focus on weight-bearing techniques, and sensor-based monitoring of patient movements in hospital settings. His research demonstrates how technological innovations can provide objective measurements and real-time feedback to enhance patient recovery. Analysis of his publication history reveals a clear progression from foundational work on mirror therapy and visual illusions for stroke patients (2012-2015) toward more recent applications of wearable sensor technology for monitoring hospitalized patients (2023-2024). His research consistently bridges clinical rehabilitation practice with technological innovation, with particular emphasis on validating measurement tools and developing practical clinical applications. Dr. Hurkmans has established productive collaborations with key researchers including Bussmann, Verhaar, Selles, and Ribbers across multiple publications. His work has demonstrated significant impact, with his 2015 mirror therapy article accumulating 59 Scopus citations and his 2014 visual illusion study receiving 47 citations, indicating substantial influence in the neurorehabilitation field.
Pascal Gaillard is an Associate Professor at the University of Toulouse - Jean Jaurès, where he conducts research at the CLLE Lab (Cognition, Languages, Language, Ergonomics, UMR5263) in the "Language and Cognitive Processes" Team, while teaching in the Music Department at the National Higher Institute for Teaching and Education in Toulouse - Midi-Pyrénées (INSPE). His academic career spans over two decades, beginning as an Assistant Professor in Musicology at Université de Toulouse - Le Mirail from 1998 to 2000, before becoming an Associate Professor at the University of Toulouse since 2002. His educational background includes: PhD in Musicology and Auditory Perception (1996-2000) from Université de Toulouse - Le Mirail / Université de Paris - Jussieu Master (DEA) in Musicology - Ethnomusicology (1993-1994) from Université de Toulouse - Le Mirail Maîtrise in Musicology - Ethnomusicology (1989-1990) from Université de Toulouse - Le Mirail Licence in Musicology (1985-1989) from Université de Toulouse - Le Mirail Dr. Gaillard's research focuses on auditory perception and cognitive processes, particularly the categorization of sounds. His work spans multiple domains including musical timbre perception, speech perception in individuals with age-related hearing loss, environmental sound recognition, and auditory processing in deaf individuals with cochlear implants. He has pioneered studies on how humans organize their sound world through categorization, drawing on prototypical categorization theory developed by Rosch (1976). A key insight from his research is that auditory categorization is dynamic rather than fixed, varying according to listener needs, tasks, and action goals. His recent publications demonstrate a strong interdisciplinary approach, bridging music cognition, clinical audiology, and cognitive neuroscience. There's a clear trend toward applied research with clinical implications, particularly for deaf children with cochlear implants, as evidenced by multiple studies on humanoid robots for speech-language training. His work also shows increasing integration of computational approaches, including transfer learning for music preference prediction and ontology-based data management. Dr. Gaillard has secured numerous research grants from prestigious funding bodies including the French National Research Agency (ANR), Occitanie Regional Council, and ANSES. Current projects include "The hospital and its 'Beeps': evaluation of the hearing health of caregivers" (2025-2028), "SILENCE - Comparative acoustics: earth, planets and extreme environments" (2024-2026), and "Rehabilitation of age-related hearing loss: evolution of cognitive load in a 3D virtual environment - AgeHear" (2020-2024). He directs the "Cognition, Behavior and Use" facilities (CCU) which include specialized auditory booths for research. Since 2003, he has developed TCL-LabX, experimental software for conducting categorization studies. His research collaborations span international boundaries, working with labs in France, Canada, and the Netherlands, as well as industry partners in aeronautics and healthcare sectors.
Josh McDermott is a Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he also serves as Associate Department Head and previously as Interim Department Head. He leads the Laboratory for Computational Audition and conducts groundbreaking research at the intersection of psychology, neuroscience, and engineering, with a primary focus on understanding human auditory perception and its computational underpinnings. Dr. McDermott's educational background includes: PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT (2001-2006), advised by Edward Adelson MPhil in Computational Neuroscience from University College London (1998-2000), advised by Geoff Hinton B.A. in Brain and Cognitive Science, summa cum laude, from Harvard University (1994-1998), advised by Nancy Kanwisher McDermott's research program centers on understanding how humans derive information from sound in complex environments. His lab investigates why biological auditory systems outperform even the most sophisticated machine hearing systems in everyday situations like noisy city streets. He explores computational audition, natural sound statistics, music perception, and the relationship between sensory modalities, with long-term goals to improve treatments for hearing impairment and enable the design of machine systems that mirror human auditory abilities. His work bridges fundamental neuroscience with practical applications for hearing technologies. His recent publications reveal a strong trend toward integrating deep learning and neural network models with auditory neuroscience. His lab has been exploring how generative models, metamers, and task-optimized networks can illuminate human auditory processing. There's a clear progression from basic auditory phenomena to more complex computational models that bridge neuroscience and artificial intelligence, particularly in areas like sound segregation, music perception, and cross-modal integration. His work consistently demonstrates how computational approaches can reveal fundamental principles of auditory perception. Dr. McDermott has received numerous prestigious awards, including: Troland Research Award (2018) NSF CAREER Award (2015) APAN Young Investigator Award (2017) BCS Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising (2014, 2018) BCS Award For Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (2023) As an advisor, McDermott has mentored numerous PhD students who have gone on to make significant contributions in auditory neuroscience and computational modeling. His Laboratory for Computational Audition serves as a hub for interdisciplinary research that bridges psychology, neuroscience, and engineering approaches to understanding hearing. The lab has developed innovative methodologies for studying auditory perception, including sound synthesis techniques, computational models, and cross-cultural approaches to music cognition. McDermott's work continues to push the boundaries of our understanding of auditory perception and its computational underpinnings.
Zerrin Yumak is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Information and Computing Sciences, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, specializing in virtual humans and social robotics. She leads Task 3.2: Embodiment and Physical Interaction in the RAGE project. Her research focuses on Social and emotional behavior analysis for virtual characters Machine learning applications in motion capture data Constrained motion graph search algorithms Lip-sync and gesture animation generation Real-time multimodal interaction systems Notable projects include the Virtual Human Controller asset for Unity 3D, integrated with BiP Media and Randstad applications. Recent work spans 2025: SemGes for semantics-aware gesture generation 2024: ProbTalk3D emotion-controllable facial animation 2023: Diffusion model-based facial animation (Facediffuser) 2020: Music-driven expressive gesture generation She contributes to workshops like GENEA (2021-2022) and MASSXR (2025), advancing non-verbal behavior modeling for embodied agents.
Jia Hu is a public health physician and medical lead of the prevention and health promotion team within Population and Public Health at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC). He also holds a position as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia's School of Population & Public Health, where he contributes to academic training and research in public health disciplines. Dr. Hu's educational background includes medical training at the University of Alberta, followed by residency training in family medicine and public health and preventive medicine at the University of Toronto. During his residency, he earned a Master of Science in Health Policy, Planning, and Finance from the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His research interests span multiple critical areas in modern public health, with particular focus on social determinants of health, housing and health, climate change and health, food security, mental wellness, and cancer prevention and screening. Dr. Hu has also developed significant expertise in behavior change and marketing strategies specifically tailored for public health interventions such as vaccination programs and cancer screening initiatives. His work bridges clinical practice with population-level health promotion strategies. Analysis of Dr. Hu's recent publications reveals a strong interdisciplinary research profile that spans public health, epidemiology, and increasingly, computational approaches to health data. While his earlier work focused on traditional public health domains, his recent publications show a growing engagement with artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and speech technology applications in healthcare contexts. This evolution demonstrates his ability to adapt to emerging technological paradigms while maintaining focus on core public health challenges. Dr. Hu's professional journey includes diverse experiences that have shaped his interdisciplinary approach: working at McKinsey advising large organizations on health-related issues, serving as a Medical Officer of Health in Alberta where he contributed to the COVID-19 response, and founding and leading a public health non-profit organization focused on increasing uptake of preventive health behaviors. As medical lead of the prevention and health promotion team at BCCDC, Dr. Hu oversees initiatives that address a wide range of public health concerns across British Columbia. His work integrates evidence-based approaches with practical implementation strategies to improve population health outcomes through prevention-focused interventions and health promotion activities.
Huamin Qu is a Chair Professor and founding Dean of the Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) . He leads the VisLab and coordinates the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) group within the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. His academic journey began with a BS in Mathematics from Xi'an Jiaotong University , followed by an MS and PhD in Computer Science from Stony Brook University . Founding Head of HKUST's Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas (EMIA) Founding Acting Head of Computational Media and Arts (CMA) at HKUST(GZ) Director of IPO and senior administration team member As a pioneer in data visualization and human-computer interaction , his research bridges urban computing , explainable AI , social media analysis , and E-learning . Recent work focuses on human-AI teaming , multimodal communication , and augmented reality applications . His publications reveal a trajectory from foundational graph visualization and volume rendering to cutting-edge AI-integrated visual systems . Scientific awards include induction into the IEEE Visualization Academy , IEEE VGTC Technical Achievement Award , and multiple best paper/honorable mention awards at top conferences like IEEE VIS, ACM CHI, and IEEE VAST. His lab has graduated 48 PhDs and 21 MPhil students , with 21 PhDs now faculty members at institutions including UC Davis, University of Minnesota, and Zhejiang University. Technologies developed by his group have been adopted by Microsoft , IBM , and Google . His work on projects like Pulse of HKUST and ATMSeer has received global media coverage from MIT News , IEEE Spectrum , and NHK TV . He has served as Associate Editor of IEEE TVCG and held leadership roles in major conferences including IEEE VIS , PacificVis , and VINCI .
Giorgos Stamou is a Professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), and a Visiting Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and MIT Open Learning. He directs the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Systems Laboratory (AILS Lab) and has been a senior researcher at the Institute of Communications and Computer Systems (2000-2008) and an academic visitor at Oxford University (2011-2012). His research spans Deep Learning , Explainable AI , and Knowledge Representation , with a focus on Large Language Models and Multimodal Learning . He has coordinated over 60 funded projects and published 150+ papers. Recent work highlights trends in LLM Evaluation , Gender Bias Mitigation , and Multimodal Music Analysis , reflecting his interdisciplinary approach to AI challenges. Stamou has served on steering committees for W3C working groups (Rule Interchange Format, Web Ontology Language) and contributed to cultural heritage metadata enrichment through the CrowdHeritage projects. He founded NTUA's MSc program in Data Science and Machine Learning (2018-2022) and has organized conference tracks on riddle-solving frameworks and hallucination detection.
Luis Arturo Cavazos Quero is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Sejong University , South Korea. His research agenda centers on Human–Computer Interaction , accessibility for visually impaired users , and multimodal interaction technologies . Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science, Sungkyunkwan University (2022) M.S. in Computer Science, Sungkyunkwan University (2015) B.S. in Computer Science, Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) (2010) Research Focus: Dr. Cavazos Quero designs and evaluates interactive systems that enable people with visual impairments to access art, education, and mobility. His projects include multimodal interfaces for artwork exploration, voice-based navigation aids, tactile map applications, and Braille text-entry tools for mobile devices. Recent Publications Trend: Since 2021 his output has concentrated on two parallel tracks: (1) assistive technologies that merge tactile, auditory, and olfactory feedback for non-visual art appreciation, and (2) robotics and data security —including quadruped robot control and reversible data-hiding algorithms—showing a broad yet accessibility-driven research portfolio. Scientific Awards: No specific awards are listed in the provided materials. Advising & Grants: Current information on funded projects or doctoral students is not available in the supplied text. Labs & Teams: He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Human–Computer Interaction Laboratory, Ewha Womans University (2022–2023) and now leads research activities within his department at Sejong University.
