XR, Avatars, and Virtual Humans as Tools to Study Social Interaction
Time
9:00 AM, December 11, 2025 (Central European Time, CET)4:00 PM, December 11, 2025 (Beijing, China, CST)
Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82724397510?pwd=LSkvyk2AfsdVvaPs2WMyrf1JeljKmf.1
Meeting ID: 827 2439 7510
Password: 788695
Contact Us
Email: ecjournal@sciexplor.comSpeaker
Prof. Stephan Streuber
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Coburg University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Bavaria, Coburg, Germany.
Prof. Dr. Stephan Streuber is a behavioral neuroscientist and computer scientist who uses computational tools to investigate the mechanisms underlying human social interaction. He is also a Full Professor for Interaction Design at Coburg University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Germany and the head of the social VR Lab (www.socialVRlab.com). He studied Mediainformatics at Harz University and received his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Tübingen in 2013. Afterwards, he held postdoctoral positions at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, and the Brain Mind Institute at EPFL. From 2018 to 2021, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Konstanz and a fellow at the Zukunftskolleg. He is also the Study Coordinator of the Master's Program in Visual Computing and Artificial Intelligence.
Host
Dr. Yuchong Zhang
Division of Robotics, Perception, and Learning, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Dr. Yuchong Zhang is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Division of Robotics, Perception and Learning, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, working with Prof. Danica Kragic. He completed his Ph.D. at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Early Stage Researcher in 2023, and obtained his M.Sc. from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2017. His current research interests focus on human–robot interaction with human-centered design, VR/AR/MR, interactive AI, affective computing, and human perception. He regularly publishes in leading conferences and journals in human–computer interaction and robotics. He currently serves as an Associate Chair/Area Chair for conferences such as ACM CHI, CSCW, MUM, NordiCHI, Mensch und Computer, and ICSR, and as a committee member for conferences including UbiComp, MUM, and HCII.
Introduction
Humans are social beings, and social interactions shape our lives and brains. With the increasing prevalence of technology, such as Extended Reality (XR), many social interactions now take place in digital spaces, where we engage with others and virtual humans (VHs) remotely. How does the digitalization of social interaction affect our behavior and perception? How can we design XR and VHs that support social realism? How can we apply XR and VHs to other fields such as neuroscience, political science, and psychology? In this webinar, Prof. Stephan Streuber will address some of these questions.
In the first part of the webinar, he will present work on action coordination and communication in XR with avatars and VHs. He will also discuss how physiological synchrony can serve as a marker of social interaction in Virtual Reality (VR). In the second part, he will show how VR can be used to induce affective states such as stress, aggression, and mindfulness. In the final part, he will discuss how VR and avatars can be used to study social perception. He will conclude with a summary and an outline of the possibilities and challenges of future research.
