Interactive Technologies Institute

This year, ITI/LARSyS is at Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026 with a strong and wide-ranging presence across the programme 👏

📄 8 full papers
🛠️ 5 workshops and meet-ups
📊 6 posters and demos
🏆 1 Best Paper
⭐ 1 Honorable Mention

🏆 Best Paper
“Towards Fluent Interaction with Cyber-Physical Architecture”
ITI author: Neeta Khanuja

⭐ Honorable Mention
“EcoAssist: Embedding Sustainability into AI-Assisted Frontend Development”
ITI authors: Andre Barrocas , Valentina Nisi , Nuno J. Nunes

From paper presentations, to workshops and demos, CHI 2026 brings together a dense programme of research and collaboration.
Our researchers are contributing across multiple tracks and are present throughout the conference. Feel free to connect!

Contributors from ITI/LARSyS include:
Valentina Nisi, Nuno Jardim Nunes, Neeta M. Khanuja, André Barrocas, Hugo Nicolau, Augusto Esteves, Andreia Valente, Pedro F. Campos, Ana Cristina Pires, Filipe Pinheiro Tomé, Fernanda Soares da Costa, Jing Zhao, Shuhao Ma, Juliana Marcelino, José Abdelnour Nocera, Cristiano França, Genesis Nobrega, Beatriz Jardim Peres, Frederica Gonçalves, among others.

👩🏻‍🏫 Researchers from the contributed to the ACM Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI 2026) in Chicago .
The conference included three pictorials and one full paper from ITI researchers exploring movement interaction, hydrocommons and freediving practices, more-than-human temporalities, and sensory data dialogues.

📄Pictorials:
•Staying with the Underwater Trouble: Exploring the Hydrocommons through Freediving
Beatrice Maggipinto, Valentina Nisi, Nuno Jardim Nunes & Jessica Hammer
•Sketching More-than-human Times: Rethinking Temporal Representations through Embodied, Entangled, and Deep Time
Valentina Nisi, Marta Ferreira & Larissa Pschetz
•In-Situ Seeding: Entangling Place & Technology through Sensory Data Dialogues
Courtney N. Reed, Marta Ferreira, Mónica Mendes, Pedro Galvão-Ferreira, Mathilde Gouin, Fiona Bell & collaborators

📄Full paper:
• Supporting entrainment using latent space mappings and generative sound feedback during dyadic movement exercises
William Primett & Nuno N. Correia

We are also represented in the long-term organisation of the conference series. Augusto Esteves (ITI/LARSyS) serves on the TEI Steering Committee and will chair ACM TEI 2027 in Lisbon!

Congrats to all involved 🎉

🏆 ITI researcher Décio Damasceno Mendonça Alves has received the +Valor Madeira Award, presented by the Assembleia Legislativa da Região Autónoma da Madeira.

His doctoral research develops methods for “Very Short-Range Forecasting of Wind Speed and Direction to Support Air Traffic Operations at the Madeira Airport”. 🌬️ ✈️ The work addresses the complex meteorological conditions that frequently affect the airport and contributes to improving operational safety and efficiency in air traffic management.
The thesis was supervised by Morgado Dias with co-supervision from Fábio Mendonça and Sheikh Mostafa, all researchers at the

This year’s edition evaluated 53 submissions, recognising research with direct societal impact. The project shows how scientific research can support critical infrastructures that are central to regional mobility, tourism, and economic activity.

Photos by: Prémio +Valor Madeira

Read more on our website 🔗 Link in bio.

📕 The new book “Interspecies”, edited by Mariana Pestana .pestana , documents the co-curated exhibition developed at Centro de Arquitetura MAC/CCB .museu and the collaborative research shaped with researchers from the Interactive Technologies Institute
🦫
Co-published with Bartlebooth the publication examines interspecies practices in architecture and design through a sustained curatorial inquiry.
Grounded in feminist and posthumanist frameworks, the book advances the hypothesis of a “New Romanticism” and positions exhibition design as a research practice.
🦩 Contributors from ITI:
Anna Bertmark
Bernardo Gaeiras .gaeiras
Carlos Pastor
Fernanda Costa
Katerina Inglezaki
Mariana Simões .tpsimoes
Mathilde Gouin
Valentina Demarchi

With invited contributions from Coletivo FIELD , Coletivo Frame , KWY.studio .studio , Studio Ossidiana and SUPERFLEX

Images via Bartlebooth Publisher
More via link in bio.

New publication in Trends in Biotechnology 🔬
“Broadening art–science collaboration in biotechnology: integrating design”
Authors: Luis Quijano .quijano_ Cristiano Pedroso-Roussado , Enza Migliore .research
The article advocates for integrating design as a generative partner within the laboratory and highlights biodesign practices working with bacteria and fungi to develop novel materials. 🦠
Through projects such as Bio-Tile, BactoHealing, and a Bauhaus of the Seas residency .seas , the authors demonstrate how “material tinkering” enables early-stage hypothesis testing and more-than-human frameworks. 🧫
🔗 Read more at our website in the link in bio.

📊 in 2025, multidisciplinary researchers and collaborators contributed with 168 peer-reviewed publications:
• 89 journal articles
• 8 review articles
• 33 conference papers
• 20 book chapters
• 9 preprints
• 9 additional scholarly contributions
👩‍🏫 Human–Computer Interaction remains ITI’s most represented research area, with over 50 publications presented at leading conferences including ACM CHI , DIS , C&C , IDC , and TEI .
📚 ITI researchers also published in internationally recognised journals such as International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Ageing Research Reviews, Journal of Affective Disorders, Scientific Reports, PLOS ONE, International Journal of Social Robotics, and more.
🔗 Read the full news on our website — link in bio.

✨Call for Expressions of Interest | PhD Researcher – TIDAL ArtS

The Interactive Technologies Institute is inviting expressions of interest for one PhD researcher position in Architecture or Digital Media, within the EU-funded TIDAL ArtS project.
📍 Lisbon
📅 Deadline: 7 February 2026
More information and how to apply in our website: iti.larsys.pt

🌊 Can AI speak for nature?
This paper, by researchers, investigates how large language models (LLMs) can be instructed to represent non-human perspectives in environmental decision-making. Developed within the Bauhaus of the Seas Sails project .seas , the study published in introduces a biocentric AI assistant trained on ecological data from the Tagus Estuary and examines its role in shaping ecological reasoning and reflection.

Authors: Rudolfo Félix , Filipa Correia , Cristiano Pedroso-Roussado , Nuno J. Nunes.

📄 DOI: 10.1007/s43621-025-02474-1
🔗 Read more on our ITI website: https://iti.larsys.pt
Image credit: Image created for this publication using generative AI (Midjourney).

🎭 MODINA across Europe
In November 2025, ITI researchers Diogo Cabral and David dos Santos .o.santo.s presented the MODINA project .eu through seminars and public events in Bucharest and Ljubljana, engaging artists, researchers, and audiences around dance, interaction, and digital intelligence.

Full story on our website.

ITI

🔹 DCitizens wraps up research on Digital Civics in Newcastle.

The DCitizens Project, led by Instituto Superior Técnico and the Interactive Technologies Institute, concluded its work with a final lab retreat hosted by Northumbria University (School of Computer and Information Sciences), in Newcastle.

The retreat brought together the consortium for its wrap-up meeting and Early Stage Researcher training.
This final gathering marked key milestones, including the review of major achievements and the advancement of the Research & Innovation Agenda for Lisbon, while also opening discussions on future research collaborations.

From the ITI, participants included Hugo Nicolau, Ana Henriques, Patricia Piedade, Tainna Souza, and Jing Zhao.

The programme also highlighted projects such as WearAccess and Balcão do Bairro, developed in close collaboration with community partners.
📖 Read the full news on our website:
🔗 https://iti.larsys.pt/dcitizens-project-wraps-up-research-on-digital-civics-at-final-lab-retreat-in-newcastle/

Image credits: © DCitizens.eu

🎧 Education about Climate Change through a VR Experience

On November 14th, Professor Laurie Heller from Carnegie Mellon University delivered a talk at the Interactive Technologies Institute on the topic of how virtual reality can motivate climate action.
Her research explores how emotions like hope and despair shape our response to the climate crisis.
During her visit to ITI (Nov 1–20), she worked with researchers on the Portuguese adaptation of her AnimalPOV VR project — an immersive experience that lets participants see the world through animal perspectives.

🔗 Learn more: https://www.auditorylab.org/portuguese-vr