Karl Haubenwallner is a PhD student at the Institute of Computer Graphics and Vision at the Technical University of Graz , supervised by Prof. Dieter Schmalstieg. His research focuses on procedural content generation for computer games, with specific interests in shape grammars, artificial intelligence, and GPU computing. Education : Master's degree in Computer Science from Graz University of Technology (2017) His research bridges computational design and AI, aiming to automate content creation in gaming environments. The 2017 publication ShapeGenetics demonstrates his work integrating genetic algorithms with procedural modeling techniques. While no scientific awards are mentioned in the text, his academic work centers on scalable solutions for game development using evolutionary computation and parallel processing frameworks.
Eike Anderson is a Principal Academic at the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA), Bournemouth University. He holds a PhD in Computer Animation (2009) and has been affiliated with the university since 2001. His roles include Programme Leader for the BSc Software Development for Animation, Games, and Effects (until 2020) and Associate Editor for the ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of Eurographics and ACM SIGGRAPH. Education: BA (Hons) in Computer Animation & Visualisation, Bournemouth University (2001) PhD in Computer Animation, Bournemouth University (2009) Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Professional Practice, Coventry University (2009) Research Interests: Interactive virtual environments (games, serious games) Cultural heritage applications via real-time graphics Computer science education (procedural literacy, pedagogical tools) Procedural content generation, AI in games, and educational technology Awards & Recognition: Best Animation Education Paper (ACM SIGGRAPH 2009) Multiple 'You’re Brilliant' awards from students (2015-2016) Recipient of grants from Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England Labs & Collaborations: Co-led the 'Once Upon a Time in Animation' exhibition at Poole Museum (2021) Co-Editor-in-Chief of CGEMS (Eurographics/ACM SIGGRAPH resources) Contributed to projects like FLUX Live: New Heritage and the Poole Museum visualisation
Dieter Schmalstieg is the Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Visual Computing at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, and an adjunct professor at Graz University of Technology, Austria. He previously served as Head of the Institute of Visual Computing at TU Graz (2012-2023) and holds a habilitation in Computer Science from Vienna University of Technology. His career spans 30+ years of innovation in extended reality systems. Education: PhD in Computer Science (1997, TU Vienna, summa cum laude ), Dipl.-Ing. (1993, TU Vienna), Fulbright Postgraduate Studies (1994-1995, Stanford) Current Roles: Institute Director at Stuttgart, Adjunct Professor at TU Graz As a leading authority in visual computing , Schmalstieg's research focuses on augmented reality , virtual reality , 3D user interfaces , and medical visualization . His work bridges fundamental graphics algorithms with real-world applications in surgery, industrial maintenance, and environmental monitoring. Key contributions include: Real-time shading atlas rendering for VR Diminished reality systems for subsurface utility engineering Medical AR frameworks for cranial implant design Neural rendering techniques for focus cues Spatial interaction paradigms and collaborative XR His recent publications demonstrate AI integration in AR systems, real-time 3D reconstruction , and procedural content generation for immersive environments. With 400+ peer-reviewed publications and 29,000+ citations, Schmalstieg's work has shaped modern extended reality research. Scientific recognition includes: IEEE Fellow (2021) IEEE ISMAR Career Impact Award (2020) IEEE VR Technical Achievement Award (2012) START Prize (2002), Austria's highest research award for early-career scientists He has advised 40+ PhD/MSc students, many of whom became professors at top institutions. His research spans: Fundamental graphics algorithms (e.g., meshlet rendering, occlusion culling) Medical applications (surgical navigation, cranial reconstruction) Industrial AR (assembly guidance, maintenance systems) Immersive analytics (situated visualization, multi-layer displays) Mobile tracking (SLAM, panoramic localization)
Ashley Lemke is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, holding dual roles in the School of Freshwater Sciences and the Anthropology Department. She is an Affiliate Associate Professor in the former and an Associate Professor in the latter. Dr. Lemke specializes in underwater archaeology and the study of submerged landscapes, leveraging advanced subsea technologies like ROVs and multibeam sonar. She currently serves as an Explorers Club Fellow and former chair of the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology. Her education includes a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan (2016), M.A. in Anthropology (2010), and dual B.A. degrees in Anthropology and Classical Civilization from the University of Texas (2008). She advises graduate students in Anthropology and focuses on integrating digital humanities, AI, and VR into archaeological practice. Research Interests: Submerged prehistoric landscapes and hunter-gatherer adaptations Traditional ecological knowledge and indigenous partnerships Climate change impacts on coastal archaeology Accessibility and equity in underwater archaeology Publications highlight contributions to hunter-gatherer theory, submerged site analysis, and technological innovation. Recent work includes Anthropological Anthropology Underwater (2024) and Architecture of Hunting (2022). Her DeepDive project uses VR and AI to explore ancient submerged environments. Awards : Explorers Club Fellow (2022), multiple grants for submerged landscape research. Current projects include AI-driven site prediction systems, gamified STEM education platforms, and advocacy for inclusive archaeological practices. She collaborates with international teams on Great Lakes and Arctic archaeology initiatives.
Rachel Greenspan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice & Legal Studies at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), housed within the School of Applied Sciences. Her research bridges social psychology and legal systems, focusing on eyewitness identification accuracy, false memory development, and the intersection of technology with justice practices. She has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Newkirk Center for Science and Society, and her work appears in journals like Law and Human Behavior and Memory and Cognition . Education: B.A. Criminology, University of Florida (2013) B.S. Psychology, University of Florida (2013) M.A. Social Ecology, University of California-Irvine (2015) Ph.D. Psychology, University of California-Irvine (2018) Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice, University of Pennsylvania School of Law (2020) Research interests emphasize improving legal procedures through psychological insights, including the use of artificial intelligence in eyewitness lineups, the societal impact of true crime media, and the reform of prosecutorial accountability policies. Her work frequently employs experimental methods to assess real-world legal outcomes, such as police policy compliance and courtroom testimony reliability. Recent articles explore topics like AI-generated facial recognition in forensic contexts, open science practices in criminal justice research, and public opinion on prosecutorial liability. These studies highlight her dual focus on advancing both theoretical understanding and practical policy applications. Professional contributions include grants from NSF and Newkirk, and she advises on institutional policies related to artificial intelligence in higher education. Her post-doctoral work at the Quattrone Center directly influenced her applied research in criminal justice reform.
Dr. Guy Schofield is a Lecturer at Newcastle University, specializing in interactive systems, healthcare technology, and participatory media. His work focuses on innovative applications of technology in healthcare (particularly Parkinson's disease rehabilitation), participatory documentary production, and immersive theatrical experiences. He has collaborated extensively on projects like Cinehack, PD Kinection, and humanaquarium, which explore the intersection of technology and human-centered design. Key research areas include: Interactive systems for healthcare rehabilitation Participatory media production methodologies Real-time cinematography and dynamic narrative systems Collaborative tools for low-budget filmmaking His work bridges academic research with practical applications, emphasizing accessibility and community engagement. Notable projects include developing exergaming solutions for Parkinson's patients and creating frameworks for grassroots documentary production in resource-constrained environments. Dr. Schofield's publications span over a decade, with contributions to CHI, IEEE transactions, and interdisciplinary journals. His research often intersects with digital humanities, exploring how technology can democratize media creation and enhance cultural participation.
Paolo Burelli is a Lecturer and Head of the brAIn Lab at the IT University of Copenhagen. He also serves as a Senior Data Scientist at Tactile Entertainment A/S since 2016. His research focuses on Game AI, Player Experience, Machine Learning, and Neuroscientific approaches to gaming. Key affiliations include the Creative AI Lab and The Maritime Hub. Research interests span adaptive game systems, player modeling, and the intersection of neuroscience with game design. Notable projects include the Pioneer Centre for Artificial Intelligence (2021–2034), ALGO (2019–2022), and CREATE (2023–2025). Projects emphasize creative AI applications in education, difficulty modeling in games, and maritime safety through alarm-handling practices. Publications highlight work on LLM emotion generation, EEG-based neural decoding, and player frustration tolerance. Collaborations include institutions like Springer and the Danish National Research Foundation. His datasets, such as the Uncanny Valley Face Questionnaire, contribute to facial perception studies. Labs under his leadership include the brAIn Lab, exploring AI ethics, game analytics, and human-centered computing. Projects emphasize practical applications of AI in education and industry.
Parag Dhumal is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business. He joined ASU in 2024 after 15 years in academia across Minnesota, Texas, and Wisconsin. His research focuses on supply chain analytics, inventory management, sustainability, and pedagogical innovations in education. He actively engages in applied research with students and consults for small-to-medium businesses (SMBs). His teaching portfolio includes courses like Operations Management (SCM 432), Supply Chain Management Foundations (SCM 380), and Logistics in the Supply Chain (SCM 541). His work spans interdisciplinary collaborations, including healthcare operations and educational policy analysis. He regularly conducts workshops for faculty and guest lectures at international institutions. Research highlights include studies on parental socioeconomic impacts on employment prospects, diversity’s financial implications in business, and innovative teaching tools like the Cola-Game simulation for inventory management education. His publications appear in journals such as the Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education and International Journal of Inventory Management. He balances academic contributions with practical outreach, emphasizing real-world applications of supply chain principles.
Mariagrazia Benassi is a Full Professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, leading the Psychometrics and Neuropsychology Lab. She coordinates the PhD Programme in Psychology and focuses on developing psychometric tools for clinical assessment, particularly in learning disorders and neurodevelopmental conditions. Her research integrates advanced statistical models (e.g., Bayesian networks, machine learning) with eye movement analysis and tele-rehabilitation technologies. Collaborations include the BoostPerception and DeduTech-2life groups, addressing topics like gamification in education and ethical AI applications for children. Her work emphasizes digital tools such as PsycAssist (adaptive neuropsychological assessment) and Eye-Riders (cognitive training games). She investigates visual perception deficits in clinical populations and advocates for rigorous methodological frameworks in psychological research. Office hours are held in Cesena and online, with a focus on student training and professional internships in psychometric evaluation. Research highlights include cluster analysis of cognitive profiles, validation of assessment instruments (e.g., MatriKS for fluid intelligence), and cross-disciplinary studies on decision-making influenced by Pavlovian cues. Her contributions bridge psychological theory with technological innovation in education and healthcare.
Phil de Groot is an Instructor at the Academy for AI, Games & Media, specializing in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, game design, and digital media. His work focuses on conversational agents, human embodiment in virtual environments, and simulation platforms for spatial planning and interactive technologies. Research Interests: De Groot's research spans conversational agents, simulation platforms, and innovative digital media concepts. He explores challenges in integrating embodied conversational agents with user interfaces, procedural content generation for game environments, and the application of AI in creative industries. His work often bridges technical development with societal impact, particularly in serious games and digital humanism. Key Projects: He contributed to the MSP Challenge Simulation Platform (2021), addressing maritime spatial planning through game-based simulations, and co-developed CUBE (2023), a framework for embodied conversational agents. Recent collaborations include the ILIAD EU-funded project (2021-2024) focused on digital twin frameworks for maritime data services. Professional Activities: De Groot actively participates in academic outreach, including organizing the Breda Game Week (2024) and hosting international visitors from institutions like the University of Amsterdam. He also engages in educational initiatives like XR Stage Training workshops (2024), promoting advanced virtual production techniques.
Joey Relouw is a Lecturer at the Academy for AI, Games & Media, Breda University of Applied Sciences. He serves as Art Lead in the Cradle Research & Development team, focusing on innovative technologies like VR/AR environments, photogrammetry, and 3D printing. His work spans serious games, virtual productions, and creative media solutions. Education: Master's in Media Innovation (2020), Breda University of Applied Sciences; 3D Game Art (2016), 2D Graphic Media Design (2012) - both from SintLucas. Research interests include virtual production workflows, digital human creation, and the intersection of art and technology. Notable projects involve procedural content generation, virtual stage setups, and EU-funded initiatives like VP: Virtual Production and ILIAD. Collaborations include Mo-Sys and industry partners through Erasmus+ programs. Active in conferences, hosting industry experts, and organizing workshops on creative education and innovation.
Margot Neggers is a researcher at the Academy for AI, Games & Media within the Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DSAI) department, specializing in artificial intelligence applications for human-computer interaction and business contexts. Research Interests: Her work bridges natural language processing, robotics, and user experience, with core focuses on AI-driven narrative generation (including gender bias analysis in LLMs), chatbot efficacy for SMEs, and human-robot interaction dynamics. She investigates how utilitarian and hedonic chatbot features impact business customers, while robotics research examines comfort parameters in navigation—such as speed, gazing behavior, and spatial boundaries—for applications in elderly care and service environments. Publication Trends: Recent output (2024-2025) emphasizes semiotic narrative reconstruction, multigenre story composition, and business-aligned chatbot design. Earlier studies (2021-2023) established foundational work on robot navigation comfort, analyzing factors like passing distances and motion congruency. Collaborative patterns show consistent co-authorship with Bespalko, van Hamond, and Kokkinou across both chatbot and robotics domains.
Peter Kán serves as a Senior Scientist at TU Wien's Faculty of Informatics, Institute of Visual Computing and Human-Centered Technology. He manages the Mixed Reality Laboratory and teaches multiple courses including Mixed Reality Lab (193.169), PhD Seminar (193.083), and various Project courses in Computer Science and Visual Computing. PhD in Computer Science from TU Wien Research on High-Quality Real-Time Global Illumination in Augmented Reality His research spans photorealistic rendering, augmented and virtual reality systems, automatic 3D content generation, and embodied conversational agents. Current projects include RE:STOCK INDUSTRY (2024–2027), Circular Twin (2022–2025), and VR Tennis Trainer (2020–2022), funded by FFG and WWTF. His work integrates deep learning with real-time rendering for applications in industrial design, sports training, and accessibility solutions for deaf and hard-of-hearing users. Recent publications demonstrate strong focus on procedural building design, motion analysis, and accessibility interfaces. Key trends include embodied conversational agents with situation awareness, multi-objective optimization for industrial buildings, and haptic feedback systems. His research bridges computer graphics, human-computer interaction, and practical applications in architecture and healthcare. Peter Kán has received research funding from Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF) for projects including Conversational Agents (2023–2024) and Realistic Indoor Path Visualization (2016–2018). Supervised 10 theses including Tennis Motion Learning in VR (Sebernegg, 2025) and Embodied Conversational Agents (Rumpelnik, 2023) Manages Mixed Reality Laboratory focusing on photorealistic AR/VR systems Leads research teams on projects like Circular Twin and RE:STOCK INDUSTRY
John McCormick is a Professor and Director of the Centre for Transformative Media Technologies at Swinburne University of Technology. He holds a Lecturer position in Interactive Media within the School of Social Sciences, Media, Film and Education. His research focuses on human-robot interaction, artificial intelligence, and extended realities (AR/VR/MR), with a particular emphasis on collaborative artistic environments and intelligent systems. McCormick has led over 28 grants, including ARC-funded projects exploring cobot learning frameworks and human-robot collaboration. He has collaborated globally with institutions like Ars Electronica and the Venice Biennale, producing installations such as Real Robot Dance Challenge and Aurora Australis Ultimo Choro VR . His teaching spans previsualization and mixed reality, with HDR supervision in topics like AI-generated content and ergonomics of surgical robotics. McCormick’s work bridges art and technology, emphasizing accessibility through projects like haptic interfaces for dance audiences and volumetric interaction systems. Key grants include the ARC Training Centre for Collaborative Robotics and the Holobody project advancing mixed reality technologies. McCormick’s interdisciplinary approach is evident in projects like Hyperrelia (State Library of Victoria) and Antarctic Dataspheres , integrating movement data with environmental storytelling. His research also addresses healthcare ergonomics through studies on surgeon discomfort in laparoscopic procedures, advocating for inclusive tool design.
Rémi Allègre is an Associate Professor in Computer Science at the Institute of Technology Haguenau (IUT Haguenau), affiliated with the University of Strasbourg (France). He conducts research at the ICube CNRS laboratory within the Geometric and Graphical Computing (IGG) group. Department: Multimedia and Internet Professions (Internet and multimedia technologies) Research Lab: ICube - UMR 7357, CNRS Contact: remi.allegre@unistra.fr | +33 (0)3 88 05 34 39 His research focuses on Geometric Modeling , Appearance Modeling , and Texture Synthesis , with applications in 3D data processing, procedural modeling, and biomedical imaging. Key trends include: Developing differentiable point process models for inverse procedural modeling Creating GAN-based data augmentation techniques for histopathological images Advancing semi-procedural texture synthesis methods Improving dynamic surface reconstruction algorithms Investigating hybrid representations (implicit surfaces, meshes, point sets) Multiscale label-map extraction for structured texture synthesis Scientific recognition includes: AFIG 2005 Best Article Award He supervises doctoral students such as Pascal Guehl, Florian Allender, Guillaume Baldi, Steve de Rose, and Maximilien Nowak. Collaborations span the ICube laboratory and biomedical imaging projects.
