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University of Oulu
Brown Bag seminar 15.10.2025: How do humans experience virtual reality?
Humans are embodied, social beings that have evolved to interact with and experience a physical environment. However, digital environments take up an increasing part of our daily lives which has an important impact on our everyday experience. Virtual reality (VR) is a digital environment that holds great promise for a more immersive, fuller experience, but does it live up to the expectations? Can we have an embodied experience in VR? How is social interaction possible in VR? How can we research the human experience of VR?
Seminar
15.10.2025
- 15.10.2025
Welcome to Brown Bag seminar on Wed 15th of October in Tellus Backstage to hear how humans experience virtual reality. The speakers in this seminar are Assistant Professor Matti Pouke from the Ubiquitous Computing Research Unit working with the Hybrid Intelligence research programme and Postdoctoral Researcher Laura Kohonen-Aho from the Research Unit for Languages and Literature.
Assistant Professor Pouke will talk about human perception and experience in VR, including the illusion of presence and the use of virtual avatars. His work combines insights from human-computer-interaction research and neuroscience.
Postdoctoral Researcher Kohonen-Aho will discuss social VR, looking at embodied and material interaction as well as the role of language in it. Her research approaches VR experience through the lens of social interaction.
This interdisciplinary seminar welcomes researchers, developers and other professionals from all fields interested in virtual reality and working with related issues to join the discussion and learn from each other! The seminar will take place on Wednesday 15th of October from 11 am to 12 pm at Tellus Backstage on Linnanmaa campus. Lunch will be provided for those who register by Monday 13th of October at 12 pm. The seminar will be in English.
If you cannot make it to the Linnanmaa campus, you can also participate via Zoom. If you participate via Zoom, you don’t need to register for the event.
Further details
Date and time
Fields
Humanities
Social sciences
Information and communication technologies
Language
English
Seminar street address
Tellus Backstage, Linnanmaa campus, Pentti Kaiteran katu 1, 90570 Oulu
Organiser
University of Oulu
Contact person
Heidi Peuraniemi
heidi.peuraniemi@oulu.fi