Author: ITI Webmaster

In 2025, the Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI) produced 168 peer-reviewed scientific outputs across international research venues, reflecting the sustained activity of its 24 Principal Investigators (PIs) and their research lines, composed of doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and collaborators across multiple scientific domains. The year’s output includes 89 journal articles, 8 review articles, 33 conference papers, 20 book chapters, 9 preprints, and 9 additional scholarly contributions. The data was gathered from ITI’s 2025 dataset compiled by Lucas Pereira (ITI).

Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) and Interactive Systems remain ITI’s most represented research area in 2025, with over 50 publications in major international venues. ITI researchers presented work at leading conferences including the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), the ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS), the ACM Creativity and Cognition Conference (C&C), the ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC), the ACM Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction Conference (TEI), and the INTERACT (IFIP TC13 Human–Computer Interaction). These venues constitute internationally recognised platforms for advancing research in interaction design, digital systems, creativity support technologies, and emerging interactive media.

ITI researchers also published in internationally recognised, high-ranking journals across Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), health, robotics, gerontology, sports science, and multidisciplinary science. Confirmed high-ranking journals include the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, International Journal of Social Robotics, Journal of Affective Disorders, Ageing Research Reviews, GeroScience, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, Journal of Aging and Health, Nature’s Scientific Reports, PLOS ONE, Journal of Applied Gerontology, and American Journal of Human Biology.

While interactive technologies remain central to ITI’s scientific profile, the 2025 outputs demonstrate a broad interdisciplinary reach spanning digital health and clinical research, aging and gerontology, social robotics, human performance and sports science, engineering and applied technologies, and social sciences and sustainability research. These results reflect the collective work of ITI’s Principal Investigators and their teams, reinforcing the Institute’s international visibility and scientific impact in 2025.

On 3 February 2026, the Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI) participated in the second edition of the Técnico Innovation Summit (TIS 2026), held at the Técnico Innovation Center in Lisbon.

Throughout the day, ITI was present with a dedicated stand showcasing several ongoing research projects developed within the Institute. The projects were presented directly by six ITI representatives — Pedro Galvão-Ferreira, Luiz Sachser, Ivo Roupa,Camila Abreu, Yanick Lambert, and João Leal Severino — who engaged with visitors, partners, researchers, and members of the Técnico community.

The event also marked the inauguration of a new ITI stand structure, conceived as a reusable communication and exhibition infrastructure for future events, outreach initiatives, and institutional representation.

In addition to the stand, ITI was represented in the closing panel on “Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transition and Ethics.” Nuno Jardim Nunes, President of ITI, joined Mário Figueiredo and João Miguel Sousa in a session moderated by Bruno Parra.

In his remarks, Nuno Jardim Nunes argued that Europe’s strength in artificial intelligence lies not in competing at the infrastructure level, but in building new service and interaction layers grounded in cultural values and ethical frameworks, while anticipating regulatory and societal impacts associated with emerging technologies.

The Técnico Innovation Summit brought together Research and Development Units, European-funded projects, spin-offs, startups, and institutional partners, reinforcing Técnico’s role in applied research, innovation, and knowledge transfer.

ITI’s participation contributed to this ecosystem through interdisciplinary research in interactive technologies, sustainability, inclusion, and well-being, as well as through critical reflection on the future of AI and digital transition in Europe.

The Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI) invites expressions of interest for one PhD researcher position in the fields of Architecture or Digital Media, within the EU-funded project TIDAL ArtS.

This position is funded through a 12-month grant, renewable for an additional 12 months, up to a maximum of 24 months.
Application deadline: 7 February 2026.

About the project:

TIDAL ArtS is an interdisciplinary initiative working at the intersection of art, design, science, and more-than-human practices, contributing to the European Union’s Mission to Restore Our Ocean and Waters by 2030.

Inspired by Astrida Neimanis’s concepts of Bodies of Water and the Hydrocommons, the project approaches water as both subject and practice. It adopts tidal cycles as a co-design methodology, fostering iterative engagements with local communities, scientists, and cultural actors, and enabling situated, relational, and more-than-human forms of collaboration.

Position details

• Role: PhD Researcher
• Host: ITI – Interactive Technologies Institute, Lisbon
• Fields: Architecture or Digital Media
• Funding: 12-month grant, renewable up to 24 months
• Location: Lisbon, Portugal
• Deadline: 7 February 2026

Responsibilities

The selected candidate will contribute to the project through research, coordination, and creative activities, including:

• Writing and editing academic and non-academic publications
• Curatorial accompaniment, documentation, and reporting of artistic residencies
• Communication of residency outcomes and project results
• Monitoring project progress and supporting reporting activities

Profile

Applicants should have a background in Architecture, Design, Digital Media, or related fields, with an interest in interdisciplinary research, curatorial practices, and ecological or more-than-human perspectives. Strong organisational skills, clear communication, and the ability to work collaboratively are essential.

Application process

Interested candidates should submit an expression of interest by email to marianapestana@tecnico.ulisboa.pt, including:

• A short motivation letter outlining research interests and relevance to TIDAL ArtS
• A curriculum vitae
• Contact details

Applications must be submitted as a single PDF file by 7 February 2026.
Further details on eligibility, selection, and timelines will be shared with shortlisted candidates.

More information about ITI: https://iti.larsys.pt/vision-mission/
Project website: https://tidalarts.eu/

It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Vicki L. Hanson, a valued member of ITI’s Advisory Board and a cherished leader in the computing community.

Vicki passed away on January 20. A pioneering researcher in human-computer interaction and accessibility, she devoted her career to expanding access to technology and broadening participation in computing. Vicki served as President of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) from 2016 to 2018, and as its Chief Executive Officer from 2018 to 2025.

The Board and the members of ITI’s advisory board extend our heartfelt condolences to Vicki’s family, friends, and colleagues. She will be deeply missed, and we are grateful for the wisdom and dedication she brought to our Institute.

A new open-access paper by ITI researchers, published in Discover Sustainability, explores how artificial intelligence might be used to represent non-human interests in environmental decision-making.

Titled Exploring a biocentric LLM-based assistant in environmental decision-making with more-than-human representation of the Tagus Estuary, the study investigates whether Large Language Models (LLMs) can be instructed to speak from a biocentric perspective—foregrounding ecological concerns rather than exclusively human priorities.

Developed within the Bauhaus of the Seas Sails project, the research introduces a biocentric AI assistant trained on ecological data from the Tagus Estuary. In an experimental study, participants used either this biocentric assistant or an anthropocentric counterpart to advise on a speculative planning scenario: selecting a location for a new university campus.

While the biocentric assistant did not significantly alter participants’ final decisions, it shaped how those decisions were justified. Participants engaging with the biocentric assistant demonstrated greater reflection on environmental impacts and ecological trade-offs, suggesting that AI-mediated non-human representation can influence decision-making processes even when outcomes remain unchanged.

The paper contributes to ongoing debates in more-than-human HCI, raising questions about the role of AI in sustainability, representation, and ecological governance.

Authors:
Rudolfo Félix, Filipa Correia, Cristiano Pedroso-Roussado, and Nuno J. Nunes
📖 Read the full paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43621-025-02474-1

Image credit: AI-generated image (Midjourney), produced for this publication.

On 28 November 2025, ITI researchers Diogo Cabral and David dos Santos presented the MODINA Seminar at Kino Šiška, as part of CoFestival – International Festival of Contemporary Dance, in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The session brought together researchers, artists, and an engaged public to explore dance-led research and embodied intelligence, with a focus on how interaction and movement inform human-centred perspectives on digital intelligence.

The programme included research talks by Diogo Cabral and David dos Santos, followed by an artist–audience roundtable, moderated by David dos Santos (ITI), with the artists behind:

• Nino — Bruno Martelli & Ruth Gibson
• Gaitless — Marko Milić & Uroš Krčadinac
• Still Moving — Liis Vares & Taavet Jansen

The Ljubljana seminar framed interaction as a shared space of inquiry, allowing embodied knowledge, artistic practice, and creative processes to emerge through dialogue between artists, researchers, and audiences.

ITI researchers Pedro Miguel Matono, Ivo Roupa, Pedro Campos, and Daniel Simões Lopes presented the paper Assessing Redundant Interface Designs for Precise Number Input in Virtual Reality at VRST 2025, the 31st ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, held in Montreal, Canada, from 12–14 November 2025.

The paper addresses the challenge of typing and editing decimal numbers in Virtual and Extended Reality environments. While numerical input is an important task in spatial computing, many existing tools rely on virtual replicas of physical calculators or number pads. To address this, the authors redesigned the traditional calculator-style numpad for Extended Reality environments, introducing redundant interface features intended to make number entry and editing easier, clearer, and faster than a standard numpad.

The study evaluated these redesigned interfaces through user testing. In testing, users preferred the redesigned interfaces compared to a standard numpad, reporting that the added features supported easier and more efficient entry and editing of numbers.

The paper was published in the Proceedings of the 2025 31st ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST ’25), Article No. 31, pages 1–12.

Publication details
Assessing Redundant Interface Designs for Precise Number Input in Virtual Reality
Authors: Pedro Miguel Matono, Ivo Roupa, Pedro Campos, Daniel Simões Lopes
Conference: VRST 2025 — Montreal, Canada
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3756884.3765979

Between 5 and 8 November 2025, ITI researchers Diogo Cabral and David dos Santos presented the MODINA — Movement, Digital Intelligence and Interactive Audience project at CNDB – National Centre for Dance Bucharest, within the Iridescent International Festival of Contemporary Dance.

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:

• Diogo Cabral (ITI researcher)
• David dos Santos (ITI researcher)
• Ana Rodrigues (PhD candidate)

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

Luciana Lima, Cláudia Silva, Lorena Ramos, Ana Cristina Pires
Published in the proceedings of INTERACT 2025, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-05005-2_25

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

Luciana Lima, Inês Costa, Carolina Bonzinho, Sheila Correia, Carolina Martins
Presented at WIPlay 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-01426-9_5

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

Luciana Lima, Maria Júlia Vieira
Best Paper Award, Videojogos 2025
DOI: To be published (Springer Communications in Computer and Information Science)

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.

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Image credits: © Luciana Lima

Joana Pestana, together with Mariana Pestana, Miguel Carvalhais, and Nuno Jardim Nunes, presented the pictorial Designing with an Assembly of Many: Eden X on rivers, their constituents and rights at CHItaly 2025, the 16th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI, held in October 2025.

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

Image credits: © Authors / CHItaly ’25