Demonstration at Creativity and Cognition in London

At Creativity & Cognition 2026, Anh Pham and Lars Erik Holmquist will be presenting the demonstration Shared Neural Streams: Generating Real-Time Immersive Experiences with EEG-Driven Generative AI. We use brain data and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to understand the connection between human mental states and physical experiences. The system combines prompts in StreamDiffusion with Electroencephalography (EEG) data to create visual and interactive elements in an Unreal Engine environment in real time. The demo showcases the concept process we have called the closed-loop immersive model. The intention is to allow users to understand each other with non-verbal interaction. 

Please come and try it out at C&C 2026 in London on July 13-16!

Guest Lecture Event: Prof Damian Murphy - XR Stories

We are very happy to welcome Professor Damian Murphy from University of York to give a guest lecture at NTU! He will talk about his experience from the XR Stories R&D cluster.

Time: Wednesday, 27 May 2026 from 12:30 to 14:15

Place: NTU Newton, NEWN34

The event will start with lunch followed by the talk and Q&A.

"XR Stories XR Stories: Building and Supporting a Creative Industries R&D Cluster – What We Did and What We Learned.

In 2018 the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council invested more than £50m in Wave 1 of the Creative Industries Cluster Programme, supporting economic growth in nine locations around the UK through collaborative, University-led R&D, targeted at specific sectors of the creative industries. XR Stories was one of these projects. It was led by the University of York to deliver next generation immersive and interactive digital storytelling experiences for the Yorkshire and Humber region, representing more than £6m people and 600 businesses across film, TV, games and related media.

Over six years XR Stories delivered more than 110 projects, 16 studentships, and 80 internships, and delivered training and support for creative industries businesses and individuals wanting to break into technology-driven creative storytelling. This included a new £1.25m investment in a business facing R&D lab facility within our city centre to act as a front door to future collaboration with our University researchers. Since 2024 XR Stories has refocused its activities and supports projects both nationally and locally, in the latter case as a key innovation intermediary as part of the newly formed Mayoral Combined Authority of York and North Yorkshire.

 

This presentation will highlight some of the highlights, successes, challenges and learning from the XR Stories project and look to what is emerging next for our work in the context of creative sector R&D across the UK.

Bio:

Damian Murphy is Professor in Sound and Music Computing at the AudioLab in the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology at the University of York, UK, where his research focuses on the development and creative application of immersive audio and virtual acoustic modelling. He is an active sound artist, and the Director of the XR Stories Creative Industries R&D Partnership and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council XR Network+ project, both exploring the next generation of convergent immersive and interactive media technologies for the UK’s creative industries and wider digital economy.

Pictures and publications from CHI 2026 in Barcelona

We had a great time at CHI, the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Barcelona, the leading international conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Members from CXL presented 4 posters, took part in workshops and the Student Mentoring Program, and gave 2 talks at the pre-CHI Fringe event organised by Northumbria University. 

Here are some pictures and below are links to the publications in the open-access ACM Digital Library.

 

  

CHI 2026 Posters

Malindu Ehelagasthenna, Lars Erik Holmquist, Carlos Oliveira, Arash M. Shahidi, Pasindu Lugoda, and Theo Hughes-Riley. 2026. Haptic Pillow Sleeve: Enhancing Sleep Quality by Providing Vital Sound Awareness Through Vibrotactile Feedback. In Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 361, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3798362

Yifan Kang, Glyn Lawson, and Xu Sun. 2026. How Self-Confidence and Gender Shape Training Experience in Mixed Reality: A Case Study in Flight Simulator Training. In Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 379, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3798560

Anh Thi Ngoc Pham. 2026. The Inclusive Metaverse: Using Self-discrepancy Theory and Artificial Intelligence to Create Personalized Immersive Experiences. In Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 908, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3799197

Seher Singh, Richard Bibb, and Lars Erik Holmquist. 2026. Between Curiosity and Clunkiness: Why Virtual Museums Still Fall Short. In Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 117, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3798315

CXL at CHI 2026

The ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems is the leading international conference on Human-Computer Interaction. CHI 2026 will take place in Barcelona at the Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona. CXL and the Nottingham School of Art and Design will participate at CHI in several ways.

PhD student Seher Singh will present the poster Between Curiosity and Clunkiness: Why Virtual Museums Still Fall Short, co-authored with Richard Bibb and Lars Erik Holmquist. The research looked at the modern virtual museum experience through a comparative, user centered lens. Analysis showed three main findings - that the quality and design of the virtual museums make or break the experience, the user expectations when viewing the different platforms influence their perception, and that they have strong potential to complement physical museum visits. The research suggests virtual museums must be intentionally designed experiences that not just replicate but also compliment the physical visits.

PhD student Anh Pham will participate in the CHI 2026 Dissertation Research Roundtable and present her thesis work in the poster The Inclusive Metaverse: Using Self-discrepancy Theory and Artificial Intelligence to Create Personalized Immersive Experiences. She is a second-year PhD student and her doctoral research examines the relationship between AI and user EEG data through studies exploring user needs in hybrid interactive experiences.

PhD student Malindu Ehelagasthenna will present the poster Haptic Pillow Sleeve: Enhancing Sleep Quality by Providing Vital Sound Awareness Through Vibrotactile Feedback, co-authored with Lars Erik Holmquist, Carlos Oliveira, Arash M. Shahidi, Pasindu Lugoda and Theo Hughes-Riley. Sleeping environments—particularly shared or noisy ones—often disrupt rest, while solutions like earplugs or sleep masks help only to an extent and can reduce awareness of critical sounds (e.g., fire alarms, baby crying), creating safety risks. To address this, we developed an interactive pillow sleeve that delivers quiet, personalized vibrotactile feedback during sleep, supporting better sleep quality without relying on audible and visual cues. Because the system can be easily added to an everyday object (a standard pillow), it enhances usability and also provides significant safety benefits for individuals with hearing impairments.

Yifan Kang, PhD student at University of Nottingham, will present the poster How Self-Confidence and Gender Shape Training Experience in Mixed Reality: A Case Study in Flight Simulator Training co-authored with Glyn Lawson and Xu Sun. This poster examines how self-confidence and gender influence learning experiences in an MR-based flight simulator. The performance of sixteen participants was monitored before they completed subjective ratings of self-confidence and other User Experience (UX) indices. The result shows that self-confidence level differed significantly between genders and was negatively associated with Situation Awareness and User Satisfaction. 

Click here to see details of all CXL presentations in the CHI 2026 program!

Additionally, researchers from CXL will take part in a number of workshops and meet-ups. Also, Lars Erik Holmquist was Associate Chair for the Blending Interaction papers track, and will be a mentor in the Student Mentorship Program and Dissertation Research Roundtable.

We hope to see you there!

Talk by Professor Yvonne Rogers: Human-Computer Interaction in a Crisis

We are very happy to welcome the world-leading human-computer interaction researcher Professor Yvonne Rogers from University College London to give a talk at NTU!

Time:

Thursday, February 26

12:30-1 PM – Lunch

1-2:15 PM – Talk and Q&A

Location:

Nottingham Trent Newton & Arkwright building, ARK009

Human-Computer Interaction in a Crisis 

Human-Computer Interaction is facing a crisis. Like many other disciplines, we are being confronted with having to decide how, what and when to use AI in our research and practice. As we are discovering, GenAI can now competently perform all manner of UX tasks and research activities previously done by human practitioners and human researchers.  Not only can it do extensive desk research at lightning speed it can also simulate users, run hypothetical experiments, create synthetic data, conduct thematic analysis, design new apps, and even write an impressive CHI paper. What should we as a field be doing about these developments? Do we embrace all the changes afoot or try to put our foot down and resist? In my talk, I will put forward what it means for us as a community as our field lurches ever more towards being AI-enabled HCI. 

Yvonne Rogers is a Professor of Interaction Design at University College London. Her research is concerned with designing interactive technologies that can empower humans, especially human-centred AI, and how to develop AI tools to think with. Central to her work is a critical stance towards how visions, theories and frameworks shape the fields of HCI, cognitive science and ubiquitous computing. She been instrumental in promulgating new theories (e.g., external cognition), alternative methodologies (e.g., in the wild studies) and far-reaching research agendas (e.g., “Being Human” manifesto). She has received various awards including the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Research Award, a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Society Robin Milner Medal for computer science. She is one of the authors of the definitive textbook on Interaction Design and HCI now in its 6th edition, that has sold over 300,000 copies worldwide.

Welcome new PhD student Wanqi Wang!

Wanqi Wang is a PhD researcher at the Nottingham School of Art and Design. She holds a BA in Communication Studies and Art History from St. Lawrence University in 2020 and an MA in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art in 2023. Working as an interdisciplinary artist and performance maker, Wanqi’s practice spans multiple media and is informed by cultural inquiry, inclusive design, and audience experience. Her work explores how meaning is produced beyond visual dominance, particularly within the abstract, conceptual, and multisensory nature of contemporary art. Alongside her artistic practice, she has professional experience as a museum tour guide in London, which shaped her interest in public engagement and accessibility within cultural institutions.

Her PhD research, Creating an AI Discussion Partner for Contemporary Art Galleries for Visitors with Sight Loss, investigates how conversational AI can facilitate inclusive, non-visual engagement with contemporary art. It focuses on supporting visitors with sight loss to navigate the abstract, conceptually rich, and multimodal nature of contemporary artworks. Rather than functioning as a simple descriptive tool, the AI acts as a conversational partner, fostering dialogue, reflection, and imaginative exploration. By integrating AI with human-centred design, the research aims to enhance accessibility, deepen understanding, and offer practical insights for galleries and inclusive cultural experiences.

Funded PhD project in Virtual Production and Mixed Reality interfaces

Do you want to join CXL? We are looking for an excellent candidate for a fully funded PhD project in Virtual Production (VP) and Mixed Reality (MR) interfaces (UK candidates only). This project will combine in situ user studies and technical prototyping to lay the groundwork for a new VP architecture, where physical and real assets are integrated seamlessly. We will take advantage of Nottingham Trent's professional-grade VP facilities (pictured) and work with partner studios across the UK. More information here:

Crossing Boundaries: Understanding the virtuality and physicality of Virtual Production