Workshops

Check out and register to the upcoming Academic Workshops!

The Academic Workshops will take place on the 8th of October. This year, we have the pleasure of hosting and inviting you to six workshops!

Please note that participants must be registered to the Academic Mindtrek conference with a ’Presenter/ Visitor/ DC’ pass or a separate ’Workshop’ pass.

Get Tickets!

A Card Game to Teach Creative and Analytical Thinking in Game Design

By Rafael Albuquerque and Flávio Santos

How to find the room: https://tinyurl.com/3arvnkuu

When: 8 October, 10:00-12:00
Where: Tampere University City Center Campus (Main Building, B07)
NO REGISTRATION NEEDED!

This workshop invites participants to experiment with a card game designed for teaching game design, encouraging critical reflection and the practical application of gameplay theories.

Drawing inspiration from game jams, the game condenses ideation into a rapid, iterative process. By simulating design challenges and supporting divergent thinking, the workshop equips educators and practitioners with a replicable tool for cultivating design literacy. It is especially relevant for instructors of game design but also benefits students, developers, and researchers interested in experiential learning through game-based methods.

Get your Academic Mindtrek ticket: www.mindtrek.org/academic-mindtrek-passes/

A Hands-on Workshop on Designing LLM-Powered Context-Aware Behavior for Companion Robots

By Eshtiak Ahmed, Bakhtawar Khan, Jiangnan Xu, Linas Kristupas Gabrielaitis, Juho Hamari and Oğuz’Oz’ Buruk

How to find the room: https://tinyurl.com/33a45xh2

When: 8 October, 10:00-17:00
Where: Tampere University City Center Campus (Main Building, C5)
Registration: Register here

Explore how large language models (LLMs) can make robots socially intelligent, expressive, and context-aware! In this interactive hands-on workshop, participants will design, test, and iterate context-aware behaviors for the Boston Dynamics Spot robot, guided by a structured framework for mapping robot persona, affordances, and responses.

Who can join?: Designers, researchers, AI enthusiasts, and anyone curious about human-robot interaction.
When: October 8, all day
Where: Tampere University City Center Campus (Specific room TBA)
What to Expect:

  • A comprehensive understanding of how LLMs can be leveraged to generate real-time robot behaviors.
  • A guided hands-on session of learning, ideating, and implementing your own representation of robot behavior generation.
  • A chance to interact with and work on the Spot robot by Boston Dynamics.
  • Generate new ideas for your thesis, research work, or just another fun project!

No extensive technical expertise is required — just curiosity and creativity!

For more information, visit the workshop website.

Get your Academic Mindtrek ticket: www.mindtrek.org/academic-mindtrek-passes/

Adaptive Media That Feels: A Futures Workshop Exploring Implications of Immersive Systems That Sense, Respond To, and Co-construct Perception

By Mila Bujić, Mattia Thibault and Juho Hamari

How to find the room: https://tinyurl.com/2p9wutzm

When: 8 October, 10:00-17:00
Where: Tampere University City Center Campus (Main Building, C1)
Registration: Register here

Bioadaptive media X Extended reality workshop
What if the next generation of media could read your emotions and adapt in real time? How might that change the way we play, learn, or connect?

Adaptive Media That Feels is a full-day interactive workshop at Academic Mindtrek 2025 (Oct 8 in Tampere, Finland from 10:00am to 17:00pm) that invites you to explore these questions together. Using playful speculative design, futures thinking, and role-play, we will imagine and enact future scenarios involving emerging tech like immersive XR, bioadaptation-driven media, and generative AI. Our focus is on participation, creativity, and critical inquiry of future sociotechnical landscapes – no technical expertise required.

Deadline for participant applications: September 25 via the form below. The deadline may be extended in case there are spots left.

For questions and inquiries please contact:
Mila Bujić (mila.bujic@tuni.fi), Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Tampere University
Mattia Thibault (mattia.thibault@tuni.fi), Professor, Tampere University

Get your Academic Mindtrek ticket: www.mindtrek.org/academic-mindtrek-passes/

Let’s speculate on generative AI’s stories about people with disabilities and chronic conditions

By Vasiliki Mylonopoulou, Neva Bojovic and Swen E. Gaudl

How to find the room: https://tinyurl.com/8brh4spx

When: 8 October, 10:00-13:00
Where: Tampere University City Center Campus (Main Building, A062)
Registration: Register here

Let’s speculate on generative AI’s stories about people with disabilities and chronic conditions.

Is GenAI failing job applicants with invisble disabilities/ chronic conditions?
We tested it. We tweaked it. We tried to make it fair. It rarely worked.

This workshop invites professionals across AI working with engineering, IT, law, education, and social sciences to explore how we can build better, fairer systems and what could happen if we don’t.

Register today and read more
When: 8th of October
Where: Tampere, Finland
Duration: 3 hours
Cannot attend, but interested? There is a space for you on the registration form.

More information about the workshop: https://vasilikimylo.wixsite.com/ai-disability/workshops

Get your Academic Mindtrek ticket: www.mindtrek.org/academic-mindtrek-passes/

Speculative Design for Urban Digital Twins: Anti-experience in Culture-Driven Phygital Interactions

By Vahide Sena Coban, Serra Cilizoglu and Asım Evren Yantac

How to find the room: https://tinyurl.com/4s7fezva

When: 8 October, 10:00-17:00
Where: Tampere University City Center Campus (Main Building, B05)
Registration: Register here

This is a full-day interactive workshop at Academic Mindtrek 2025 (Oct 8 in Tampere University, City Centre Campus from 10:00 to 17:00) , which will bring together designers, researchers, and creative thinkers to imagine the potential of emerging technologies in shaping our urban experiences.

We will delve into the intersections of hybrid interactions, digital cultural heritage, and social extended reality (XR). Through a participatory speculative design methodology, incorporating role-playing and co-design activities, we will collectively explore the diverse dimensions of phygitality in the city. Our goal is to uncover novel opportunities and critically examine the implications of technologies like Urban Digital Twins (UDTs) for public spaces and cultural heritage.

We invite you to contribute your unique perspective on topics such as:

  • Integrating co-design into data-driven technologies.
  • Digitizing the affective and sociotechnical dimensions of our cities.
  • Covering diverse human and more-than-human actor perspectives in urban design.

This workshop is open to all, but we especially encourage the participation of those working with or related to speculative design, digital heritage, smart cities, XR, and phygital interaction. Let’s collaboratively envision and shape the future of our hybrid urban environments.

Deadline for participant applications: September 25 via the form below. The deadline may be extended in case there are spots left.

If you have any questions, you can reach Vahide Sena Çoban vcoban17@ku.edu.tr, Serra Cılızoğlu scilizoglu22@ku.edu.tr, and/or Asım Evren Yantaç eyantac@ku.edu.tr

We look forward to your participation in this exciting exploration of our hybrid future!

Get your Academic Mindtrek ticket: www.mindtrek.org/academic-mindtrek-passes/

The Immersive Cookbook: Co-Designing Recipes for Spatial XR in the Creative Industries

By Janset Shawash and Mattia Thibault

How to find the room: https://tinyurl.com/yh7hrjeb

When: 8 October, 10:00-17:00
Where: Tampere University City Center Campus (Pinni B, B1083)
Registration: Register here

Cook up the future of XR at Academic Mindtrek 2025 Workshop!

What if XR was a recipe – which ingredients would you choose? At The Immersive Cookbook: Co-Designing Recipes for Spatial XR, we’ll explore that question together. This full-day, hands-on workshop invites you to experiment with XR “ingredients”, technologies, stories, and spaces, and mix them into imaginative “recipes” for future experiences across:

  • Urban environments
  • Museums & heritage
  • Journalism & entertainment
  • Games & play

8 October 2025
Tampere University, City Centre Campus (Pinni B, B1083)
Open to students, professionals, and creatives – no prior XR experience required.

Read more about the Workshop: https://finlandfutures.com/the-immersive-cookbook

Come curious, leave with new ideas (and maybe a few recipes to share).

Get your Academic Mindtrek ticket: www.mindtrek.org/academic-mindtrek-passes/