iWeek25 Keynote
Antti Saarnio & Göte Nyman:
Operating systems and semantic UX in the era of AI
Antti Saarnio & Göte Nyman:
Operating systems and semantic UX in the era of AI
Just a year ago, we at LAB University of Applied Sciences celebrated the tenth edition of the iWeek event. Now, once again in January 2025, it is time to organize this event for the eleventh time, bringing together speakers from LAB’s partner universities all over Europe to discuss the latest trends in design and technology.
We are proud to introduce our keynote speaker, Antti Saarnio, co-founder of Jolla, who will kick off the week with his presentation: Operating systems and semantic UX in the era of AI
This year iWeek brings on stage both: familiar faces and newcomers. However, the content remains at the same interesting level: a wide range of topics from AI to game design and virtual reality, all the way to user experience.
Get to know the guest lecturers
For visitors, this is a unique opportunity to showcase their own expertise and the educational offerings of their universities. At the same time, this week provides a chance to network with both Finnish and other European colleagues.
As a student, you will gain insights into new topics that may not be taught at our own uni. This week also provides a direct opportunity to engage with teachers and professors from European institutions, giving you firsthand information about the educational offerings at universities across Europe.
Latest modification 10.1.2025 16:45
Antti Saarnio & Göte Nyman
Operating systems and semantic UX in the era of AI
Auditorium 3
LUNCH 12 - 13
Jan Černý
13 - 16
Lecture / Workshop
C248
Isabel Ferri Mollá, Carlos Aliaga Torró & Juan Jesus Izquierdo Domenech
13 - 16
Lecture / Workshop
C224 / C225
Note! This is a full day workshop
Mandy Keck & Kathrin Probst
9 - 12
Workshop
C248
Roel Hooiring, Jurgen van Raak
9 - 12
Workshop
D224 / 225
LUNCH 12 - 13
Mandy Keck & Kathrin Probst
Workshop
13 - 16
A246.5 (Institue of Design)
Jurgen van Raak, Roel Hooiring
Workshop
13 - 15
D224 / 225
Rosó Baltá Salvador
Workshop
13 - 16
C248
Saskia Best & Julia Luteijn
9 -12
Workshop
D224 / 225
Jordi Linares
9 - 12
Lecture
C248
LUNCH 12 - 13
All visitors
13 - 16
Auditorium 3
Jacob Kanbier
9 - 12
Workshop
C224 / 225
Steven Malliet, Olivia Ji
9 -12
Workshop
C248
LUNCH 12 - 13
Julia Luteijn
13 - 16
Workshop
D224 / 225
Enric Brasó Vives
13 - 16
Workshop
C224 / 225
John Morrison
9 - 12
Workshop
C248
Florian Temel
9 - 12
Lecture
D 224 / 225
LUNCH 12 - 13
Researcher at the Universitat Politècnica de València (Alcoi Campus) and member of the Vertexlit research group (http://vertexlit.com), of the Valencian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (VRAIN) (http://www.vrain.upv.es). Currently studying the master degree on artificial intelligence and focusing my investigations on the use of artificial intelligence in education.
Rosó is an UX/UI researcher and designer. I have worked on digital projects for various companies, focusing on digital transformation and user experience. Currently, I teach in the Product Design Engineering program and the Master of Advanced Studies in Design (MBDesign) program at UPC. I hold a Ph.D., and my research focuses on the application of emerging technologies to design and education.
Saskia Best is a principal lecturer at the School of Communication, Media and Information Technology of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. She teaches undergraduate courses in Creative Concepting, Cultural Differences and Design and Innovation. She is also responsible for the International Relations within the school.
Hi! I'm Enric Brasó, an industrial design engineer and teacher. My passions are computational design and digital fabrication. I have worked on many digital fabrication projects for years, focusing on experimental fabrication and maker culture. Currently, I teach in the Product Design Engineering program at UPC.
A researcher and lecturer at Department of Information Technologies of the Prague University of Economics and Business, his work centers on the critical domains of Competitive Intelligence, Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), and Patent Intelligence. In my academic role, I also supervise university courses that delve deeply into these specialized areas, equipping students with the knowledge and skills necessary to understand intelligence and technology-related fields. My teaching emphasizes the strategic application of intelligence in business processes, fostering a new generation of experts in Competitive and Technology Intelligence, and OSINT.
Researcher at the Universitat Politècnica de València (Alcoi Campus) and member of the Vertexlit research group (http://vertexlit.com), of the Valencian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (VRAIN) (http://www.vrain.upv.es). Currently pursuing a Ph.D. with a focus on research in Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality.
Teacher and coach second and third years program. Speciality in Entrepeneurship, coach on entrepreneurial skills for creative developers. Business model generation & Value proposition design.
Computer Science engineer and PhD in Computer Science, research in AI and HCI
Xiaoou (Olivia) Ji is a PhD researcher at the research unit of Inter-Actions, LUCA School of Arts, KU Leuven (Belgium). Her research looks at the human-technology relationship through a philosophical lens, combining insights from various intellectual traditions and forwarding the perspective of the artist-researcher as a new, complementary, ontological position. She experiments with the creation of embodied and multisensory art works, which refers to as installation games, creating a circular dialogue between artistic creation, philosophical theory, reflection on social phenomena and player experience.
Jacob Kanbier is a UX design and philosophy lecturer at Creative Media & Game Technologies (CMGT) at UAS Rotterdam (NL). He is the coordinator of the 2nd-year CMGT program and its Social Impact track, as well as a project coach and student counsellor. Specializing in immersive and meaningful experiences through web-based Virtual Reality (VR), he was awarded Best Thesis of the Year (HSL20) for his research on artist meet-and-greets using real-time web-VR.
Mandy Keck is a professor of UX and Interaction Design at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. Her research focuses on data visualization, visualization literacy and education, interaction design, and visual exploration of multivariate information spaces.
Phd. in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) Professor and researcher of VRAIN (Valencian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence), where it leads the VertexLit Research Group. Teaching and researching activity focused on AI and interaction.
Julia Luteijn is a lecturer at the School of Communication, Media and Information Technology of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. She teaches undergraduate courses in Creative Technologies, and Design and Innovation.
Steven Malliet is a lecturer and researcher at LUCA School of Arts, where he teaches Meaningful Play and artistic research. He is a member of the academic board of the Re:Anima Erasmus Mundus master program in animation film. He is active in several research projects that involve the creation of game and interaction rules within artistic and applied contexts, in addition to investigating the relationship between music and visuals in audiovisual media production. His academic research addresses the socio-psychological characteristics of digital game play and the methodology of game text analysis – topics on which he has published in international journals.
John Morrison is a Lecturer of Digital Media and Interaction Design at Edinburgh Napier University and Co-founder of Liminal Studios. John's practice-based PhD employed Research through Design (RtD) as a trauma-senitive mode of inquiry. He is interested in contributing knowledge on generative techniques towards ways of knowing and understanding stigmatised communities and lens-based technologies.
Maja Pivec, Ph.D, is professor of Applied Game Design and Gamification at the FH JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences in Graz, Austria. Her research interests are in the field of affective and emotional aspects of human-computer interaction, with emphasis on gamification, game design, game-based learning and innovative learning approaches, and different aspects of e-learning.
Kathrin Probst ist a professor of Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience Design at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. Her research focuses on the design of interactive environments, as well as human-centered design of user interfaces and interactions with a strong background in ubiquitous and tangible interfaces.
Lecturer at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), where she conducts research on the interplay between human factors and engineering. She obtained her degree in Product Design from Universitat Ramon Llull (Spain, 2012), and her PhD in Industrial Technologies and Materials from Universitat Jaume I (Spain, 2022).
Florian Temel is a Lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences FH-JOANNEUM in Austria. His major topics of interest are Cyber Security and Distributed Ledger Technologies. Throughout his career Florian worked in many different roles in the IT area, before he joined the university in 2023, he was a Security Engineer for multiple years at an international manufacturing company, where he was dealing with topics like malware protection, security awareness, data leak prevention and incident response.
My name is Jurgen, I am a teacher of English, projects and individual coach and Internationalisation coordinator at CMGT, Rotterdam. I work and live in the most beautiful city of the Netherlands. I am an education dinosaur, beer afficionado and all round music lover.
Sorted by presenter name
Aliaga Torró, Carlos; Ferri Mollá, Isabel; Izquierdo Domenech, Juan Jesús
This session combines both theory and practice to provide an overview of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its generative branch. The first part will cover fundamental AI concepts, basic principles, and various current applications, focusing on how these technologies are transforming different fields. Additionally, an introduction to generative AI will explore its scope and possibilities. The second part will involve practical activities, showcasing tools for generative AI to perform tasks such as creating images, text, or 3D models, with examples tailored to specific professional domains. This session aims to offer a foundational understanding alongside hands-on experience to explore the potential and limitations of AI in diverse contexts.
Baltà Salvador, Rosó; Puig-Poch, Mireia
If you're planning to create a digital product—whether it's a mobile app, a game, a website, or any other digital platform—it's crucial to consider your users, their needs, and how they will interact with the interface. This is key to ensuring the success of your project. In this workshop, we will explore how to integrate UX practices into the conceptualization phase of digital product design through hands-on exercises.
Best, Saskia; Luteijn, Julia
Creative User Research: Ritual Design In this workshop on Ritual Design you will be exploring the significance of rituals and their role in creating meaningful experiences. Ritual Design starts with empathy-driven user research. Through hands-on activities, you will design new rituals aimed at behaviorial impact, integrating elements such as values and symbolism.
Brasó Vives, Enric
In this session, we will introduce the basics of computational design, a framework that enables advanced geometries. In addition, we will work on an exciting application: non-planar 3D printing. Combining computational design with this printing method allows us to create efficient and visually interesting designs, exploring what's possible with 3D printing.
Černý, Jan
Open-source intelligence (OSINT) has become one of the key trends in modern security, leveraging publicly accessible data to tackle complex global challenges. This lecture will describe the broader applications of OSINT, demonstrating its value in addressing global issues beyond traditional security frameworks. We will explore how various OSINT projects contribute to understanding the impacts of extensive fishing, detecting and mitigating ocean plastic pollution, aiding missing persons investigations, and protecting endangered animal species. Through case studies of significant contemporary initiatives, we’ll illustrate OSINT’s far-reaching influence. Furthermore, we will analyze the security implications and the transformative role of artificial intelligence in advancing OSINT capabilities.
Hooiring, Roel
Just a tool to develop products and services for a specific target group, a look @development from an other perspective.
Ji, Xiaoou (Olivia); Malliet, Steven
In game design, metaphor is a tool that uses familiar concepts, images, or systems to present more complex, abstract, or layered meanings in the game. By embedding metaphors into mechanics, visuals, narratives, or systems, game designers can evoke emotions, make complex ideas easier to understand, or encourage players to reflect on real-world issues in a symbolic way. Through case analysis and practical exercises, you will explore how to apply critical design methods to construct metaphors within game narratives and uncover the essence of societal issues such as environmental challenges, social justice, and technological ethics in this workshop.
Kanbier, Jacob
In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn how to create your own virtual reality (VR) world using the A-Frame framework. We’ll start with an introduction to key guidelines for designing and developing VR environments, assuming a basic understanding of HTML and JavaScript. Over the course of 2-3 hours, you will dive into the practical side of web-based VR development, coding your way through the creation of a simple virtual world. This interactive session will allow you to see immediate results from your efforts, providing a solid foundation for future VR projects. Prepare to get hands-on and experience the creative process of building immersive experiences.
Keck, Mandy; Probst, Kathrin
This workshop introduces students to the exciting fusion of multiple design domains: UX Design, Data Visualization & Physicalization, and Inclusive Design. The primary focus is on empowering participants to create engaging prototypes that make data experienceable for diverse audiences. In a combination of theoretical and hands-on sessions, participants will explore fundamental theories and practical applications of encoding and interacting with data. They will engage in activities such as data sketching, exploration of material affordances, creating multimodal encodings and interactions, and hands-on construction of data physicalizations using various materials.
Linares, Jordi
We stand at what may be humanity's most decisive moment. Artificial Intelligence has evolved to achieve capabilities we never imagined possible, challenging humans in our most distinctive traits: creativity, complex problem-solving, comprehension, and reasoning. This raises profound questions about our future relationship with AI and our place in the world we're creating. This comprehensive three-hour lecture explores the past, present, and future of AI, examining whether our current definition of 'intelligence' truly captures what we're witnessing. We'll propose that while AI is genuinely intelligent, it might be better understood as an 'alternative intelligence' rather than an artificial one. We'll delve into crucial questions: Is AI truly creative? Can it reason in meaningful ways? What are its current capabilities, and what developments lie on the horizon? Most importantly, we'll examine how AI's evolution might transform our role from being at the pinnacle of intelligence to becoming observers of technological, scientific, and creative progress. Through a multidisciplinary lens, accessible to both technical and non-technical audiences, we'll explore modern AI's nature and its potential trajectories. We'll analyze its impact on society, ethics, and human potential, while considering the responsibilities and challenges we face as we navigate this technological revolution.
Luteijn, Julia; Best, Saskia
Designing Speculative Futures In this workshop on Speculative Futures, you will explore various future scenarios, using speculative design as a tool to question assumptions and imagine new possibilities. You will develop concepts and bring these scenarios to life through prototyping and role-playing.
Morrison, John
This lecture and interactive demo will focus on two recent projects involving co-creating augmented reality artefacts that convey themes important to communities that have experienced stigma. Drawing on principles of Augusto Boals’s activist theatre recast in a digital age, I will share the trauma-sensitive co-design process and the role AI motion capture and augmented reality played in bringing the projects to public audiences. The outcomes create new channels for youth expression while protecting anonymity that bridges art, immersive technology, and youth voice to challenge stereotypes and inspire change in policy and practice.
Pivec, Maja
In this fun, interactive workshop, you’ll dive into the world of games—both board games and digital ones—to discover how they can spark interest in topics like citizenship, conflict resolution, negotiation, peace, and respectful communication. You'll get to know the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture and use it as inspiration to creatively redesign games with your own ideas. Get ready to learn, play, and transform games to make them meaningful and impactful!
Temel, Florian
With the launch of Bitcoin 2009 a new era for the internet, known as Web3, began. These new paradigm of decentralized systems changes how we will interact and use technologies in the future, but also the security implications and requirements to do so in a safe way differ from known concepts. This Talk is meant to give a high-level overview of the technology behind Bitcoin, Ethereum and other Cryptocurrencies which is needed to use Web3 applications in a secure way. Common Attack vectors will be described as well as the role of scams, frauds and cybercrime in this context. Finally, security best practices are given and an outlook on further developments and use cases will be discussed.
Van Raak, Jurgen
Even though English is not the first language for many Europeans, English ís commonly used in intercultural situations in Europe and beyond. But what are the standards? Is it British English, or American? And what are the actual differences in vocabulary, pronunciation and/or spelling? And what else can go wrong? This workshop will show you!