Teaching Intelligent User Interfaces at the Interdisciplinary College 2026

In March 2026, Prof. Sven Mayer from the Human-AI Interaction group at TU Dortmund University participated in the Interdisciplinary College (IK) 2026, a spring school held at Lake Möhne in Günne. The annual event brings together researchers and students from a wide range of disciplines to explore emerging topics at the intersection of artificial intelligence, cognition, and artificial intelligence.

This year’s theme, “Bridging Realities of Brains, Language, and Technology,” focused on how advances in artificial intelligence, immersive technologies, and cognitive science increasingly shape the way humans interact with digital systems. The interdisciplinary nature of the event is one of its defining characteristics. Participants from neuroscience, computer science, psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and related fields come together for an intensive week of lectures, discussions, and presentations.

As part of the program, Prof. Mayer taught a course on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI). The lecture introduced key concepts behind adaptive and AI-powered interactive systems, spanning topics from recommender systems to large language models. Teaching this course to an audience with strong backgrounds in neuroscience and cognitive science led to particularly engaging discussions about how intelligent interfaces interact with human cognition, perception, and behavior.

Beyond attending courses, participants also present their own research through talks and poster sessions. This format encourages exchange across disciplinary boundaries and often leads to new perspectives on familiar problems. The discussions throughout the week highlighted how insights from neuroscience and cognitive science can inform the design of interactive AI systems, while HCI research contributes practical methods for building and evaluating such systems.

Outside the lecture rooms, the setting at Lake Möhne offered opportunities for informal conversations and reflection. Walks to the nearby Möhnetalsperre provided a welcome break between sessions and contributed to the open and collaborative atmosphere that characterizes the Interdisciplinary College.

We thank the program chairs Maggi Savin Baden (University of Oxford), Marius Klug (BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg), and Philipp Wicke (AURYAL) for organizing this inspiring event and for inviting Prof. Mayer to contribute. Events like the Interdisciplinary College play an important role in strengthening interdisciplinary dialogue and fostering collaboration across research communities.

We are already looking forward to the next edition and to many inspiring discussions at IK 2027.