Month: January 2026


  • Call: “AI Agents: Ethics, Safety, and Governance” for journal AI and Ethics

    Call for Papers: Topical Collection on AI Agents: Ethics, Safety, and GovernanceSpringer Journal AI and Ethicshttps://link.springer.com/journal/43681/updates/27832482 Guest Editors:Rebecca L. Johnson (The University of Sydney)Aida Mostafazadeh Davani (Google Research)Leslye Denisse Dias Duran (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford)Tricia A. Griffin (Maastricht University)Lorenn P. Ruster (The Australian National University)Jennifer Munt (The Australian National University) Deadline for submissions: May 31, 2026 Artificial intelligence is undergoing a structural shift. Systems once framed as tools that answer are becoming systems that act—planning, reasoning, executing multi-step procedures, coordinating with other agents, and adapting with limited oversight. These “AI agents” can use tools, write and…

    Read more: Call: “AI Agents: Ethics, Safety, and Governance” for journal AI and Ethics
  • New VR documentary puts you in the devastation of the L.A. fires – and might help you heal

    [This story from the Los Angeles Times describes a virtual reality film being created by a team led by our colleague Nonny de la Peña to document the emotional effects of devastating fires that occurred in that city a year ago. Note the indirect and direct references to presence. See the original version of the story for three large, vivid images.  –Matthew] [Image: Musician David Low plays the cello in a scene from the virtual reality film “Out of the Ashes,” a work in progress that aims to capture the devastation, rebuilding and emotional toll of Palisades and Eaton fires.…

    Read more: New VR documentary puts you in the devastation of the L.A. fires – and might help you heal
  • Call: Impact of Innovative, Disruptive and Emerging Technologies on Audiences and Society (IDEAS 2026)

    Call for Submissions: International Conference on Impact of Innovative, Disruptive and Emerging Technologies on Audiences and Society (IDEAS 2026)August 3-4, 2026Manchester, UKhttps://ideas-conference.org/ Deadline for submissions: May 31, 2026 New and disruptive technologies are rapidly transforming how people live, work, and connect, how organisations operate and perform, and how communities, societies and their interactions are managed and governed. For individuals, such technologies offer unprecedented access to information, new forms of communications, greater convenience in everyday life and new career opportunities, just to name some, but also raise concerns such as privacy, digital fatigue and job displacement. Organizations benefit from increased efficiency…

    Read more: Call: Impact of Innovative, Disruptive and Emerging Technologies on Audiences and Society (IDEAS 2026)
  • Bringing Van Gogh to life: How VR could redefine the way we experience art and culture

    [A team of researchers at the University of Florida studied audience reactions to different types of cultural experiences in presence-evoking virtual reality, with some interesting results. In addition to the link in the second paragraph below, you can read the research report at ResearchGate (at this writing at least). –Matthew] Bringing Van Gogh to life: How VR could redefine the way we experience art and culture By Alisha Katz, APRJanuary 7, 2026 Tampa crowds are currently sailing underneath Vincent van Gogh’s twinkling “Starry Night” and drifting through his golden “Wheat Fields” in the 360-degree digital art exhibition, “Van Gogh: The…

    Read more: Bringing Van Gogh to life: How VR could redefine the way we experience art and culture
  • Call: The Palgrave Handbook of Virtual Reality Literature (Re-CFP)

    Call for Papers: The Palgrave Handbook of Virtual Reality Literature (Re-CFP)Palgrave Macmillanhttps://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/01/06/the-palgrave-handbook-of-virtual-reality-literature-re-cfp Editors: Anik Sarkar and Ratul Nandi Note: This is a call for additional essays. Deadline for submissions of abstracts: February 10, 2026 About the book: A discernible surge in scholarship on virtual reality appears imminent on a global scale. Even as the materialization of long-imagined science-fictional imaginaries is undeniably compelling, it is an equally crucial task to approach these transformations critically, probing the implications and consequences of our constructed realities as they enter new experiential paradigms. Virtual Reality may encode, enhance, and reconstruct real-life experiences, unveiling new avenues…

    Read more: Call: The Palgrave Handbook of Virtual Reality Literature (Re-CFP)
  • Inside the VR mod that’s brought virtual reality to hundreds of games

    [This story from the PC gaming website Rock Paper Shotgun describes the presence-enhancing effects of a new free, open-source VR mod that turns 2D images into 3D interactions for thousands of existing games, The author reports that with the mod “it really starts feeling like you’re there in the thick of it, blasting raiders and sneaking through space stations,” and that with it he found himself “having to remind myself it was just a game.” See the original version of the story for two more images and a 2:29 minute video (also available on YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Gearbox Software]…

    Read more: Inside the VR mod that’s brought virtual reality to hundreds of games
  • Call: “Transformations of Reality in the Post-Truth Era” at MASS 2026

    Call for Submissions: 6th International Media and Society Symposium (MASS 2026)“Transformations of Reality in the Post-Truth Era”May 14-16, 2026Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey (and online)https://mass.istinye.edu.tr/en Deadline for submissions of abstracts: April 15, 2026 The Faculty of Communication at Istinye University is pleased to announce the 6th International Media and Society Symposium (MASS 2026), to be held on May 14-15-16, 2026, under the main theme “Post-Truth.” The event will feature academic sessions, exhibitions, and workshops in a hybrid format (online and on-site). Researchers conducting original theoretical or applied studies, as well as practitioners and artists producing creative works through digital technologies, are…

    Read more: Call: “Transformations of Reality in the Post-Truth Era” at MASS 2026
  • Texas A&M researchers use VR to reduce anxiety about death

    [A new study has demonstrated mostly positive effects of using virtual reality to simulate a near death experience. Details are in this story from Texas A&M University (also available from Medical Xpress). See also related ISPR Presence News posts from October 2022 and August 2017. –Matthew] [Image: Top left: Out-of-Body Experience, top right: Lights and Dark Tunnel, bottom left: Peaceful Landscape, bottom right: Encountering Friends and Family. Credit: Frontiers in Virtual Reality (2025). DOI: 10.3389/frvir.2025.1644131. Source: Medical Xpress] Texas A&M University researchers use virtual reality to reduce anxiety about death Pilot study finds immersive VR experience can significantly lower fear of death…

    Read more: Texas A&M researchers use VR to reduce anxiety about death
  • Men embodying women in VR report strong emotional reactions to verbal harassment

    [A new study demonstrates the positive impact of using presence-evoking virtual reality to provide users with the experience of others, in this case providing men with the experience of being a woman subject to verbal harassment. The story below is from Phys.org, where it includes two more images (the story is also available via the University of Bologna’s Unibo Magazine). See a May 2025 ISPR Presence News post for an earlier report on the project and its application in a public information campaign.  –Matthew] [Image: In the first scene, the female avatar was in her bedroom, standing in front of…

    Read more: Men embodying women in VR report strong emotional reactions to verbal harassment
  • Call: IFM 2026 – 8th Interactive Film and Media Annual Conference (free, online)

    Call for Proposals: IFM 20256: 8th Interactive Film and Media Annual ConferenceJune 9-12, 2025Via Zoomhttps://journals.library.torontomu.ca/index.php/InteractiveFilmMedia/cfphttp://commlist.org/archive/all/2025-all/msg01843.html Deadline for submissions: Monday, January 19, 2026 (extended) The 8th Interactive Film and Media Conference is excited to announce its Call for Proposals centered around the provocative and multifaceted theme of “Yet-To-Be-Known.” We live in trying times. Cascading crises—from climate collapse to social injustice to political upheaval—mean that uncertainty is a defining condition of our moment. But we need not see the horizons before us as insurmountable. Interactive Film and Media invites proposals for its eighth conference that engage with the yet-to-be-known.…

    Read more: Call: IFM 2026 – 8th Interactive Film and Media Annual Conference (free, online)
  • Ukrainian MedTech startup deploys VR system to treat phantom limb pain

    [This story and interview from the Kyiv Post describes how Russia’s war on Ukraine motivated a Ukrainian startup company to develop a rehabilitation device that uses presence-evoking virtual reality to treat the many patients suffering with phantom limb pain after amputations. See the original story for four more pictures, and the VRNOW Lab website for more information. –Matthew] [Image: A patient undergoes virtual reality-based rehabilitation using VRNOW Lab’s system to treat phantom limb pain following amputation. Credit: Photo by VRNOW Lab] Ukrainian MedTech Startup Deploys VR System to Treat Phantom Limb Pain Kyiv Post interviews founder of Ukrainian startup VRNOW,…

    Read more: Ukrainian MedTech startup deploys VR system to treat phantom limb pain

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