Beyond Boundaries: Shaping Doctoral Research with the German HCI Community

From March 3rd to 5th, 2026, our group participated in the Internal Doctoral Colloquium (IDC) 2026, organised by the LMU Media Informatics Group and hosted by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany. The event provided a fruitful opportunity for our group to engage directly with the broader Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community, fostering research discussions, critical feedback, and collaborative brainstorming. It allowed our team to build meaningful connections across HCI researchers in Germany, opening doors for future collaborations and exposing us to diverse perspectives that enriched our collective understanding. Overall, IDC 2026 served as a pivotal experience for our group, strengthening the quality, relevance, and societal impact of our ongoing doctoral research.

As part of the colloquium, doctoral students from our group presented their individual topics, proposals, and early-stage ideas in dedicated discussion sessions, with each project as the focus. These interactive sessions encouraged open exchange and critical reflection, enabling participants to refine their research directions. In particular, the students received highly useful and insightful feedback from peers across other research groups, gaining perspectives beyond their immediate domain. The constructive comments, questions, and suggestions from both fellow researchers and senior experts, including professors in the field, helped identify potential improvements, enhance research assumptions, and strengthen the overall direction of their projects. This exchange played a crucial role in shaping research aimed at building trust in intelligent systems at the intersection of technological innovation and societal acceptance in HCI.

Moreover, all members had the opportunity to attend an insightful talk by Prof. Michael Beigl from KIT, who presented his latest research advancements in wearable computing, with a particular focus on earable devices, sensing technologies, and the methodologies used to capture and interpret real-world user data. This was followed by a lab visit, where participants gained hands-on experience with his developed systems and devices, allowing them to better understand the practical challenges and applications of wearable technologies in everyday contexts. In addition, participants visited the laboratories of Prof. Gerhard Neumann and Prof. Rudolf Lioutikov, where they were introduced to cutting-edge research in human-centred robotics. These visits provided valuable insights into how intelligent robotic systems are designed to interact naturally with humans, including advances in learning from demonstration, adaptive control, and collaborative human–robot interaction. The exposure to these diverse research environments enriched participants’ perspectives and highlighted the interdisciplinary nature of modern HCI and AI research.