The programme brought together artists, researchers, and audiences to reflect on creative processes at the intersection of dance, technology, and digital intelligence. As part of the festival, David dos Santos (ITI) moderated post-performance conversations following:
This Is Unreal — by Pierre Godard & Liz Santoro (5 November)
Baby — by Viktor Szeri, Tamás Páll & Gyula Muskovics (7 November)
On 8 November, MODINA was further explored through a dedicated seminar session with talks by:
The Bucharest seminar foregrounded interaction as a core dimension of artistic creation, positioning the audience as an active participant in processes of sense-making between dance and digital intelligence.
Between September and December 2025, Luciana Lima published three peer-reviewed papers presented at international conferences in Human–Computer Interaction and game studies. Together, these works address reflexive research methodologies, gender inequities in the digital games sector, and the recovery of overlooked contributions to Portuguese game history.
Techno-Biographical Reflexive Atelier: A Method for Exploring Personal Narratives and Sociotechnical Transformations
This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the Techno-Biographical Reflexive Atelier (TeBRA), a collaborative autoethnographic method designed to explore the intersection of personal narratives, sociotechnical systems, and socio-cultural contexts. The method supports critical reflection on how power relations and inequalities shape engagements with technology, contributing a new approach for reflexive practice in HCI research and design.
Mnema: Bridging Research and Art to Combat Gender Inequity in the Gaming Sector
This paper describes the collaborative creation of Mnema, an animated short film developed by women researchers and artists in HCI and gender studies. Based on interviews with Portuguese women working in the video game industry and archival research on gaming culture in Portugal, the project combines academic research with audiovisual storytelling, translating research insights into an accessible cultural form that raises awareness of gender inequities in the games sector.
Unveiling Hidden Pioneers: Carla Vieira Faria’s Legacy in Portuguese Digital Game History
Awarded Best Paper at Videojogos 2025, this study examines the trajectory of Carla Vieira Faria, a pioneer in the development of educational games for people with disabilities in Portugal during the 1990s and early 2000s. Through archival research and an in-depth interview, the paper recovers her largely unacknowledged contributions, highlighting how women have expanded the scope of digital games while remaining underrepresented in historical accounts.
The pictorial introduces Eden X, a digital assembly that re-imagines how nonhuman entities can participate in decision-making processes around environmental concerns. Focusing on rivers and their constituents as precursors of nature rights, it showcases a method for establishing a more-than-human constituency where diverse voices deliberate, make proposals, and vote democratically through digital technologies.
Drawing on Ron Wakkary’s notions of constituency and speaking subject, this work contributes an exploratory design methodology that de-centers the human as the sole point of decision-making, offering concrete approaches for engaging nonhuman perspectives within HCI and design practice.
Publication details Designing with an Assembly of Many: Eden X on rivers, their constituents and rights Authors: Joana Pestana, Mariana Pestana, Miguel Carvalhais, Nuno Jardim Nunes Proceedings of CHItaly ’25 – 16th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3750069.3750443
Ana Cristina Saial, researcher at the Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI), has recently published two studies that examine how digital technologies shape intimate relationships among emerging adults and how interactive, game-based approaches can contribute to the prevention of violence in these contexts.
The first study, “Between Kisses and Bytes: Cyber Dating Abuse and Internet Use in Emerging Adulthood,” was presented at INTERACT 2025, held in September in Brazil. Authored by Ana Cristina Saial, Alda Portugal, Élvio Rubio Gouveia, Paulo Nascimento, Muhammad Satar, and Ana Paula Relvas, the research explores the use of the Internet and Information and Communication Technologies by emerging adults aged 18–29 in their intimate and romantic relationships. The study characterizes problematic Internet use and diagnoses the prevalence of online dating violence within this age group. The findings highlight the need to invest in prevention measures and strategies specifically addressing dating violence in digital contexts. The authors emphasize the importance of engaging young people through interactive and technology-based approaches, such as digital games and mobile applications, to promote awareness and support attitude change. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-05008-3_33
Together, these studies highlight the potential of digital and game-based approaches to foster empathy, awareness, and reflection around online and intimate partner violence among emerging adults. They also contribute to ongoing work towards the development of a gamified digital intervention for the prevention of intimate partner violence, being co-created with young adults and health professionals.
DCitizens is a research and innovation project led by Instituto Superior Técnico and Interactive Technologies Insitute, that aims to foster Digital Civics in Lisbon, exploring how digital technologies can empower citizens and communities to co-create services, shift from transactional to relational models, and reconfigure relations between citizens, communities, and institutions.
During the consortium meeting, partners reviewed deliverables, and major achievements, prepared the final report and review processes, and advanced one of the project’s key outputs: the Research & Innovation Agenda for Lisbon. The programme also included discussions on future research collaborations.
Alongside the consortium meeting, Early Stage Researchers participated in training sessions focused on research communication, methodological exchange, and science communication, including a 3-Minute Thesis workshop, a method swap session, and a research showcase.
The final session featured presentations from community partners. Paulo Rosa presented WearAccess, a bespoke accessibility service for a teenager with multiple disabilities, developed through the co-creation of an always-available smartwatch-based support for everyday communication and entertainment. The session concluded with Rui Estrela presenting Balcão do Bairro, a community-based walk-in service desk in Lisbon designed to improve access to digital services, operating as a “middle-out” institution between grass-roots initiatives and institutional hierarchies.
The keynote, titled “Awkward by Design”, explored awkwardness as both a research tool and a lens for design practice, particularly when engaging with sensitive topics such as intimate health and care. Drawing on a series of studies, the talk highlighted how intentionally incorporating awkwardness into design can disrupt norms, provoke reflection, and create opportunities for deeper engagement, fostering more memorable and meaningful experiences.
Teresa Almeida’s interdisciplinary work critically engages with the design of technologies related to health(care) and wellbeing, feminist data practices, and the security and privacy of intimate data, combining research-through-design and participatory methods to address stigmatized topics and include marginalized communities of practice.
The International Journal of Games and Social Impact has opened submissions for a new Special Issue titled “Exploring the Intersections of Gender, Power, and Collective Resistance in Gaming Cultures.” This issue is guest edited by two researchers from the Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI/LARSyS):
Luciana Lima – Integrated Researcher at ITI/LARSyS, Universidade de Lisboa
Ana Pires – Integrated Researcher at ITI/LARSyS and Invited Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Universidade de Lisboa
The Special Issue invites contributions that analyse and transform gaming cultures through the lenses of gender equity, power dynamics, toxicity, representation, and collective mobilisation. The editors encourage work that moves beyond critique, advancing actionable and justice-oriented approaches to reimagine game design, community practices, and cultural participation.
Topics of interest include:
Community mobilisation against misogyny, toxicity, and exclusion
Inclusive and participatory design practices
Power, representation, and resistance in games
Feminist, queer, decolonial, and art-based interventions
Strategies of collective action for transforming toxic cultures
This Special Issue reinforces the contribution of ITI researchers to critical, interdisciplinary discussions shaping more inclusive and equitable gaming futures.
ITI-affiliated researcher Filipe Tomé recently presented two of his game research projects at international conferences in Japan and the Netherlands.
At KAMC 2025 in Kyoto, he presented the paper “Designing Prolonged Grief: Cinematic Storytelling and Interactive Narrative in Eidolon.” The project investigates how video games can explore Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) through a hybrid narrative that combines cinematic aesthetics, digital interaction, and AI-driven memory reconstruction. Eidolon is a first-person psychological thriller inspired by the five stages of grief and films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Manchester by the Sea. The story follows a protagonist trapped in an AI-generated dream simulation, with visual metaphors, escape-room-inspired puzzles, and time-based tension shaping the gameplay. The game uses Unreal Engine’s MetaHuman framework alongside live-action footage. Preliminary playtesting with 20 participants suggests that players reflected on their own experiences of loss. The paper was authored by Filipe Tomé, Ana Pires, Francisco Vasconcelos, and Pedro F. Campos.
At GALA 2025 in Utrecht, he presented a short pitch and poster on “Excellium: Designing a Psychological Visual Novel to Foster Reflection on University Students’ Mental Health.” Excellium is a psychological visual novel that addresses issues such as anxiety, burnout, and isolation among university students. The project utilises the concept of “positive discomfort” and draws inspiration from Squid Game to inform its narrative approach. The work explains how mental health research on Portuguese university students informed the development of character and the design of the interactive experience. The project was authored by Filipe Tomé, Carla Ponte, Carlos Coelho, Pedro Ferreira, Rúben Campos, Ana Pires, and Pedro F. Campos.
These presentations highlight ongoing research on how digital games can engage with mental health themes and create reflective player experiences.
Both Eidolon and Excellium were developed within the scope of the eGames Lab, a national consortium dedicated to advancing research, innovation, and industry capacity in transformational game design, interactive storytelling, and emerging technologies for the videogame sector in Portugal.
The Bauhaus of the Seas Sails project held its final event, “Making Waves – Designing Regenerative Coastal Futures”, on 15th November at Ocean Space, in Venice, Italy. Coordinated by ITI–LARSyS, Bauhaus of the Seas Sails is the only New European Bauhaus Lighthouse Demonstrator led by a Southern European country — Portugal. The project involved 18 partners and mobilised seven coastal pilot regions — Lisbon, Oeiras, Rotterdam, Malmö, Venice, Genoa, and Hamburg — to explore how coastal futures can be regenerative, inclusive, and resilient.
The one-day event brought together more than 120 participants in a hybrid format, including representatives from cultural institutions, academia, municipalities, and local communities.
Talks and conversations with artists, architects, scientists, and community activists, including researcher Laura Tripaldi and architect and artist Andrea Molina Cuadro.
A long table transformed into a “cabinet of curiosities”, where local pilot teams presented original explorations on ocean literacy, architectures for landscapes affected by sea-level rise, regenerative menus, inclusive digital narratives, and biofilic materials.
Discussions focused on the process dimension of the project, covering multi-species assemblies, co-design approaches, narrative development, and resources and strategies for replication.
An exhibition in Ocean Space’s research room showcasing the constellation of people and creative agentsinvolved in the project and the storytelling methods used to communicate its objectives and outcomes.
A closing session reflecting on lessons learned and outlining future actions, including the Tidal Arts project (with ITI as partner) and ongoing inquiries from Digital Media PhD students.
The final event was organised by TBA21 Academy, partner and leader of the local pilot projects, in collaboration with Magellan Circle and ITI–LARSyS, the coordinator of the entire initiative. The event also counted on the support of all institutions in the consortium and numerous local agents, reflecting the project’s integration of design research, artistic creation, and technological innovation. Bauhaus of the Seas Sails is one of the first six Lighthouse Demonstrators of the New European Bauhaus, an initiative of the European Commission launched in 2020 to accelerate the Green Deal by promoting more sustainable, inclusive, and aesthetically grounded futures for Europe.
Professor Nuno Jardim Nunes, President of LARSyS and a researcher at the Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI), participated in the “Beyond Competitiveness Partner Conference” organised by EIT Culture & Creativity at UPTEC, Universidade do Porto.
The event brought together European partners from academia, industry, and the cultural sector to discuss how creativity, innovation, and technology can contribute to shaping the next phase of Europe’s creative economy.
Prof. Nunes joined the panel “Artistic and Artificial Intelligence: Generating and Appropriating Knowledge in Shaping Desirable Futures”. In his intervention, he talked about how generative AI is emerging as an epistemic technology, supporting creative production while also actively generating new forms of knowledge. He highlighted how artists, as problem-makers, can challenge the “enchanted determinism” of opaque AI systems and turn them into spaces of critical inquiry and imaginative experimentation.
