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 will participate at CHI in several ways.

PhD student Seher Sing 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!