Winterschool 2026

17 – 23 January 2026

Mountains are hill areas

Part 1: Applied AI in HCI Research

Part 1 explores how applied AI is reshaping HCI research, from AI-supported paper writing and theory engagement to ethical and emotional entanglements in AI content creation. Participants will gain a grounding in reinforcement learning, see applied insights, and discuss real-time interaction with intelligent agents in user studies. The block also covers practical research acceleration, including systematically sourcing grey literature with GenAI and modern search engines, improving experiment design with AI, and using GenAI for coding and data analysis.

Schedule

Time17.01.202618.01.202619.01.2026
SaturdaySundayMonday
9:00-10:30TBD (Bastian P., Florian A.)
Break
11:00-12:30Closing (Albrecht S.)
Break
13:00-15:00Realtime Interaction with Intelligent Agents in User Research (Matthias S.)
Coffee
15:30-16:45Introduction & Organisation
(Albrecht S., WS-Orga Team)
Systematically Sourcing Grey Literature with GenAI and Modern Search Engines (Marco G.)
Break
17:00-18:00Writing Papers with AI support – How is AI changing current research (Albrecht S., Hans G.)Improving your experiment design with AI (Fiona D.)
Dinner
19:30-21:00Basics of Reinforcement Learning (Sven M.)
Avalanche Search&Rescue Research (Pascal K.)
Coding / Data analysis with GenAI (Maxi W., Jan L.)
21:00-21:30Life outside Academia: Difference in Research, How to CV and Apply to Job (Luke H., Markus F., Sarah V.)Engagement with Theory in HCI/Emotional and Ethical Entanglements in AI Content Creation (Jasmin N.)

Part 2: Multimodal Generative Models – Text, Images, Videos

Part 2 examines multimodal generative models across text, images, and video, with an emphasis on building, adapting, and responsibly deploying these systems in interactive contexts. Sessions span AI enabled hardware, AR focused pipelines such as LLM generated shader code and cognitive augmentation, and multimodal human agent interaction that integrates sensor data. Hands-on tutorials cover LLM finetuning via system prompts, Stable Diffusion, and RAG. The block also addresses conversational agents with voice and gaze awareness, guardrails in LLMs from a source code perspective, and methodological shifts such as QDA in the age of LLMs. It closes with wellbeing applications, PhD expectations, mentoring, and discussions around scientific integrity.

Schedule

Time19.01.202620.01.202621.01.202622.01.202623.01.2026
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
13:00-15:00AI Enabled Hardware (Philipp T., Boris K.)Reprogamming your vision: using LLMs to generate shader code for adjusting vision in Augmented Reality (Yanni M., Florian M.)How do guardrails in LLMs work, looking at the source code and removing them (Katharina B., Oliver H.)Departure (Checkout 10 am)
Coffee
15:30-16:45Tutorial LLM & Finetuning LLMs via System Prompts (Chris L., Yannick W.)Tutorial: Stable Diffusion (Steeven V.)Tutorial on RAG (Jesse G.)
Break
17:00-18:00Implementing Conversational Agents with Voice and Gaze Awareness (Heiko D.)QDA in the age of LLMs: does it even make sense any more? (Pawel W.)AI for Wellbeing (Nadine W., Evropi S.)
Dinner
19:30-20:30Introduction & Organisation (Albrecht S., WS-Orga Team)Cognitive Augmentation and Manipulation with AR (Jan G.)How to integrate sensor data models, multimodal human agent interaction (Thomas K.)Self-organized Dinner 
20:30-21:30Expectations for a PhD (Albrecht S.)Mentoring (Jasmin N.)Scientific Integrity (Albrecht S., Jasmin N., Pawel W.)

Organizers:

Albrecht Schmidt
Bettina Eska
Clara Sayffaerth
Florian Alt
Florian Alt
Jan Leusmann
Jesse Grootjen
Julian Rasch
Sven Mayer