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Between September 15 and 17, the PhD student Silvino Martins took part in the II Encontro Psiquiatria e Saúde Mental Região Centro, held in Leiria, with a poster titled: “Integração de Elementos Narrativos e Lúdicos na Exposição Terapêutica a Fobias em Realidade Virtual: Protocolo de Estudo de Caso para Fobia Específica de Voo”.
The work features the case study protocol developed as part of the student’s doctoral research, which explores the use of a virtual reality tool to support phobia treatment in clinical psychology settings.
The poster received the Best Poster Award at the end of the event.
Several members of DigiMedia took part in the XR Salento – International Conference on eXtended Reality, held in Otranto, Italy, from June 17 to 20.
The team disseminated its research developed in the field of virtual reality, across different domains of application such as education and therapy, contributing to a program that included around 90 oral communications (full paper presentations) and 90 posters.
The following works, now published in a Springer volume, were presented by members of the research unit at the conference:
- Gomes, D., Vairinhos, M., & Pombo, P. (2026). Science Dissemination in STEAM Projects – A Virtual Reality Educational Game on Electrical Circuits. Em L. T. De Paolis, P. Arpaia, & M. Sacco (Eds.), Extended Reality (Vol. 15742, pp. 429–439). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-97778-7_32
- Martins, S., Vairinhos, M., Soares, S., Félix, A., Araújo, C., & Diniz, F. (2026). Evaluating Usability and Immersion in a Virtual Reality Game for Fear of Flying: A Pilot Study with a Non-phobic Sample. Em L. T. De Paolis, P. Arpaia, & M. Sacco (Eds.), Extended Reality (Vol. 15737, pp. 213–225). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-97763-3_16
- Reisinho, P., Raposo, R., Ribeiro, O., Zagalo, N., & Silva, J. (2026). Effects of a Pilot Virtual Reminiscence Intervention to Promote Storytelling in Older Adults with Dementia. Em L. T. De Paolis, P. Arpaia, & M. Sacco (Eds.), Extended Reality (Vol. 15739, pp. 198–209). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-97766-4_14
The Department of Communication and Art at the University of Aveiro hosted the first summer school of the Erasmus+ ABRAXAS project, an event focused on sharing knowledge and results under the theme “VR for Designers”. This initiative, organized by DigiMedia members Rui Raposo and Mário Vairinhos, aimed to test and validate the teaching materials and virtual reality applications developed within the project.
Students, faculty, and researchers from the University of Aveiro, Lodz University of Technology, the University of Vigo, and the Miguel Hernández University of Elche participated in this week-long summer school, from September 8th to 12th.
This event provided a dynamic and practical learning environment, where participants had the opportunity to interact with the new content and applications, participating in exercises and workshops. In addition to the practical sessions, the agenda included seminars by the PhD students in Information and Communication on Digital Platforms, Pedro Reisinho, Silvino Almeida, Rúben Carvalho, and Maria de Jesus Ferreira and a seminar by Bernardo Marques (DETI).
During the week, participants also had time to enjoy the city of Aveiro, socialize, create new friendships, and discuss possible future collaborations. They highlighted the inspiring atmosphere and valuable exchange of experiences, and the organizers believe the experience contributed to the improvement of the ABRAXAS project’s content.
For more information about the project, please visit the website.
Photos by Krzysztof Pagacz.
Rita Gomes, a researcher at Digimedia and a PhD candidate in the New Media doctoral program at the University of Aveiro, participated as a speaker at the 12th edition of the Urban Creativity conference. The event took place at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon, from July 3rd to 5th, 2025.
Her participation aimed to present key findings from a part of her doctoral research, while simultaneously strengthening ties with the academic community and fostering dialogue on the preservation of intangible cultural heritage in urban art.
The researcher presented the article entitled “Cultural Mapping in Street Art: A Systematic Literature Review,” in which she sought to offer a comprehensive overview of current cultural mapping practices, exploring the benefits, possibilities, and experiences resulting from the application of this methodology to urban art. The research highlighted the application of cultural mapping to various urban resources and artistic expressions, such as graffiti, public art, and photography, emphasizing the potential of this approach in documenting community interaction with urban space and enhancing the sense of place.
For Rita Gomes, the conference was an “excellent opportunity to meet other researchers who share the same passions as me, with whom I had the chance to validate the findings of my study, which underscore the urgent need for greater representation of graffiti and street art in academic research.”
Rita Gomes adds: “Cultural mapping is a powerful tool to give visibility to this art form and to safeguard cultural heritage before it’s too late — and it is crucial that the academic community, including Digimedia as an institution that contributes to the study of digital media, comes together to bridge this gap.”
The Urban Creativity 2025 conference, which adopted a fully hybrid model, is internationally recognized as a crucial forum for discussing and exploring topics related to urban creativity, design, public art, and the impact of artistic interventions in cities.
Photo by Urban Creativity.
Vanessa Pinto, a former Visiting researcher at DigiMedia, participated in the Binational Meeting Colombia-Brazil Graduate Researchers, organized by UNIRIO and Universidade Surcolombiana.
In this event, which took place from 11th to 15th August, Vanessa Pinto presented her international mobility experience at the University of Aveiro, in a partnership between DigiMedia and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
The researcher had the opportunity to talk about the work that began during the exchange and is still ongoing. She also emphasized that international mobility offers a rich cross-cultural exchange, essential for growth both academically and personally.
DigiMedia researcher Mónica Aresta is serving as Associate Chair for the User Experience and Usability subcommittee at CHI 2026, one of the world’s leading conferences in Human–Computer Interaction.
Organized annually by ACM SIGCHI, CHI is the flagship international conference in the field and is widely regarded as its premier venue. The 2026 edition will take place at the Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona, from 13 to 17 April 2026.
The User Experience and Usability subcommittee focuses on research that advances the design, evaluation, and improvement of widely used technologies, with emphasis on practical contributions that make them more useful, usable, and desirable across diverse domains and communities. Mónica Aresta’s participation as Associate Chair reinforces DigiMedia’s international presence and its active engagement in advancing Human–Computer Interaction.
Maria Júlia Vieira, a doctoral student in the New Media Program, presented her work at two different events. The paper entitled “Examining the Representation and Inclusion of Women in Live Streaming: A Semiotic Analysis of Twitch’s Rules, Policies and Guidelines”, was presented at the 7th Global Conference on Women’s Studies. Maria Júlia also presented the pitch “Woman representation and participation in the culture of video game live streaming: a model for inclusion and gender equality” at the 2025 LARSyS Annual Meeting held on July 14 and 15 at Pavilhão de Portugal, Lisbon, along her co-supervisor, Dr. Luciana Lima, a member of the Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI) – LARSyS.
Both works are part of Maria Júlia’s doctoral thesis, which addresses key issues of gender representation and inclusion within the live streaming culture of video games
Maria Júlia Vieira’s participation in these events reinforces the relevance and impact of her contribution to the global discussion on the visibility and inclusion of women in new media and reinforces her commitment to fostering inclusive digital cultures through academic dialogue and collaboration.
The new issue of the Journal of Digital Media and Interaction (Vol. 8, No. 18) is now available.
Titled “Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age: Innovative Approaches to Preservation and Promotion”, this special issue is guest-edited by Ana Carla Amaro, Erik Champion, and Carmen Silva.
This edition explores how digital media can offer new ways to safeguard, interpret, and promote cultural heritage. From immersive technologies to participatory platforms, the selected articles highlight creative strategies and interdisciplinary approaches that are shaping the future of heritage in the digital era.
Read the full issue here: https://proa.ua.pt/index.php/jdmi/issue/view/1349
Renata Frade, a DigiMedia researcher and PhD Student of the Doctoral Program in Information and Communication on Digital Platforms and researcher, will present her PhD thesis “Storytelling in training, empowerment, and female inclusion in IT: Modeling and prototyping the impact on communities” on September 3, 2025, at 2:30 p.m., in Room 07.1.108 – Carlos Borrego Amphitheater, Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro.
The jury for these examinations can be found at https://www.ua.pt/file/85628
The research was supervised by Professor Mário Vairinhos, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Art at the University of Aveiro, and had financial support from the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).
Abstract: The primary objective of this research is to develop a technologically mediated communication model that enables the framing of characteristics of Portuguese and Brazilian technological feminist activism (TFA) through communities on digital platforms (DP). The model will connect women’s technology organizations that communicate and interact through digital platforms, transmedia communication strategies with storytelling, and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). It will be based on analyzing fieldwork surveys of these organizations and case studies involving technology development design.
This research aims to make relevant contributions to the scientific areas of Communication and Information Technologies, Communication Sciences, and Information Science, through the theoretical association of transmedia and storytelling, technological feminism, and HCI. The theoretical application, based on communicational and organizational modeling, in the development of a functional prototype in a community of women in technology, will represent an important social legacy in terms of diversity, inclusion, training, and education.
More than 50 people attended the final event of the 4th edition of Students@DigiMedia, organized by DigiMedia – Research Unit in Digital Interaction and Media, which took place on July 17 in the Auditorium of the Department of Communication and Art (DeCA) at Universidade de Aveiro (UAveiro).
Students@DigiMedia is an initiative that promotes student participation in scientific research activities. This year’s edition featured 15 projects, developed by 39 students.
Following last year’s edition where the participation was extended to students outside CTC area, and to further strength collaboration between the UA’s Research Units, the doors were opened to project proposals from researchers from all the UIs, regardless of their scientific area.
11 projects were presented at the Final Event, by researcher and students from Social Sciences, Design, Computer Science, Education, Biology, Health and Physics who worked together to develop the projects.
Maria Júlia Vieira and Catarina Feio, PhD students in New Media and members of DigiMedia Research Center, attended the 7th Sopcom Young Researchers Meeting, held on July 9, 2025, at the Fernando Pessoa University in Porto.
During the event, Maria Júlia presented a poster entitled “Harassment and Toxic Culture in Video Game Live Streaming: Challenges and Proposals for a More Inclusive Environment”. Her presentation was featured in the poster session, which showcased innovative research into communication, digital culture and inclusion.
Catarina Feio presented the communication: “Youth, News and Social Media – the News Consumption Practices of Young People in Portugal”, part of her PhD research. The talk was part of the session on “Audiences and News”.
The meeting brought together young researchers from all over the country, encouraging the exchange of knowledge and debate on emerging communication issues, with sessions dedicated to visual culture, digital literacies, journalism and society.
The participation of Maria Júlia and Catarina Feio highlights the commitment of DigiMedia and the PhD Program in New Media in promoting research with social impact and relevance.
