International Society
for Presence Research

Month: August 2026

  • Call: Digital Religion V: Interfaces of Discourse, Society, and Politics

    Published:

    [Note: In addition to the Call below, see the one for “Soul Sync: Exploring Technological Resonance in Religious and Spiritual Energy,” a workshop at the 2026 Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (NordiCHI 2026); note that that workshop has an August 10, 2026 submission deadline. –Matthew] Call for Papers: Digital Religion V: Interfaces of Discourse, Society, and PoliticsInternational ConferenceNovember 19-21, 2026University of Lodz, Department of Pragmatics, Polandhttps://www.ethicsinmedia.eu/digital-religion-2026 Deadline for submission of abstracts and bios: September 30, 2026 Positioned within contemporary struggles over public meaning, social affiliation and political legitimacy, digital religion is articulated through mediated practices in which claims about faith,…

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  • VR holds promise of filling medicines manufacturing workforce gaps

    Published:

    [This essay from The Pharmaceutical Journal describes many of the potential benefits of using presence-evoking technologies rather than just in-person experiences for recruiting and training workers, in this case in the context of manufacturing medicines in the UK. See the original version for a collage of three more images. –Matthew] [Image: An example of an immersive virtual reality experience to introduce students to the world of cell and gene therapy manufacturing] Virtual reality holds the promise of filling medicines manufacturing workforce gaps Will virtual reality technology enable the UK to meet the demands of training in the pharmaceutical industry and…

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  • Call: Digital Identities – Virtual Masks: Self-representation on Digital Media

    Published:

    Calls for Papers: Digital Identities – Virtual Masks: Social, Cultural, Economic and AI Aspects of Self-representation on Digital MediaFor a special issue of Communication Papershttps://communicationpapers.revistes.udg.edu/announcement/view/27 Guest Editors:Viktorija Car, University of Split, Communication and Media Antea Boko, University of Split, Communication and Media Deadline for submission of full papers: February 15, 2027 Digital identity is not only a digital version of physical identity but is a unique and complex construct that Robles-Carrillo (2024, p. 20) defines as “an attribute composed of information and data that enables identification, authentication, and authorization for access and participation in the digital world.” Summarizing the main…

    Read more: Call: Digital Identities – Virtual Masks: Self-representation on Digital Media

  • Your next car could become an immersive gaming arena

    Published:

    [Cars are increasingly being designed to create presence-evoking experiences, as reported in this story from StereoNET (where the original includes six more images). For more details see the press release via Business Wire. –Matthew] Your Next Car Could Become an Immersive Gaming Arena Cinemo and SmashLabs are developing an in-car gaming platform that brings vehicle audio, lighting, haptics and even climate systems into the action. By Jason SextonJuly 28, 2026 Cars already stream music, movies (and in some cases), games, but Cinemo and SmashLabs want to take the next step by making the vehicle itself part of the entertainment.…

    Read more: Your next car could become an immersive gaming arena

  • Call: Artificial others: Bridges or barriers? Discursive perspectives on robots in polarised societies

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Panel Title: Artificial Others: Bridges or Barriers? Discursive Perspectives on Robots in Polarised Societies20th International Pragmatics Conference (IPC20 Helsinki 2027)June 27 -July 2, 2027University of Helsinki, Finlandhttp://commlist.org/archive/all/2026-all/msg01016.html Panel organizers: Emma Lupano, Bettina Mottura, Natalia Riva Deadline for submission of abstracts: September 15, 2026 Bridges are not built only between people. They are also imagined through the figures, technologies, and social actors that societies create to negotiate difference. Among these figures, humanoid robots and biomimetic agents occupy a revealing position: they are simultaneously technological artefacts, cultural objects, and discursive constructions. In a period marked by growing social and…

    Read more: Call: Artificial others: Bridges or barriers? Discursive perspectives on robots in polarised societies

  • How VR and presence can transform behavioral science

    Published:

    [In a new paper, a large international team of researchers argues that the ability of virtual reality “to immerse [study] participants in hyper-realistic environments and control that environment down to the most minute detail”- and evoke presence and responses similar to those in nonmediated settings – means VR has immense potential to advance research on human behavior. But the team writes that that can only happen if researchers adopt rigorous and standardized practices such as the protocols they propose. The news release below from Dublin City University (and also available from University College London (UCL); the University of California, Merced…

    Read more: How VR and presence can transform behavioral science

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