Tuesday, October 6, 2026 · 2:00–5:00 PM · Bari, Italy + Hybrid
BehavXR’26 brings together perspectives from academia, healthcare, and industry through invited talks, research presentations, lightning talks, an interactive community session, and a cross-sector panel.
| Time | Session | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 2:00–2:10 | Welcome & Opening | Welcome, quick introductions, and a little grace for anyone still finding the room! |
| 2:10–2:35 | Keynote: Behavioral AI for Attention, Cognition, and Emotion |
Michael J. Proulx, PhD Senior Research Scientist, Meta Reality Labs Research / Professor, University of Bath About this talkBehavioral AI draws on attention, cognition, and emotion research to build technology that works with, rather than against, how people naturally perceive and act. Wearable research platforms like Project Aria, paired with multimodal sensing and machine learning, open new ways to study behavior egocentrically. I'll walk through recent case studies from our team: gaze dynamics and reading recognition in real-world settings, turn-taking prediction in conversation, and the hard problem of assessing cognition and emotion in the wild, along with what these mean for contextual AI and personalized computing. |
| 2:35–3:05 | Research Papers & Lightning Talks — Block I | |
| 2:35–2:45 | SimPathy: Simulation Design and Evaluation of an Aware Embodied Patient in Mixed Reality for Caregivers’ Soft Skills Training Asif Ahmmed (New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)), Ladda Thiamwong, Roghayeh (Leila) Barmaki, Boon Peng Ng, Julie R. Ancis, Salam Daher | |
| 2:45–2:55 | The Moment Before Disengagement: Predicting When Users Mentally Check Out in XR Nasim Ahmed (Kennesaw State University) | |
| 2:55–3:05 | A Research Agenda for Responsible Neuro-XR Marios Constantinides (CYENS Centre of Excellence), Kyriaki Kostoglou, Horia A. Maior, Fotis Liarokapis, Max L. Wilson, Christos Fidas | |
| 3:05–3:30 | Interactive Community Session | Erin J.K. Truesdell, PhD, Assistant Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology. Interactive discussion around responsible behavioral XR, representation, sensing, and community reporting practices. |
| 3:30–3:35 | Break | Short break and transition. |
| 3:35–3:55 | Featured Talk: From Efficacy to Delivery: Translating XR Healthcare Interventions for Older Adults |
Noah Robinson, PhD Chief Clinical Officer, XRHealth About this talkThis talk examines the translation of extended reality health interventions from experimental paradigms into scalable clinical services, using XRHealth's older adult population as the primary case. Two themes are developed: (1) the conditions under which laboratory-validated interventions can be delivered at scale within existing reimbursement and care-delivery structures, and (2) how XR treatments can be adapted for patients over the age of 65. Principles of scaling and adapting XR technology from the lab into the healthcare system will be identified and explored. |
| 3:55–4:25 | Research Papers & Lightning Talks — Block II | |
| 3:55–4:05 | A VR-Based Matrix Stroop Task and Normed Fixation Ratio for Assessing Substance-Related Attentional Bias: Work-in-Progress Pilot Results Russell Todd (University of Wyoming), Qin Zhu, Amy Banic, Reis Iken, Ryan Opitz | |
| 4:05–4:15 | A Virtual Reality Cognitive Training Platform for Brain Cancer Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment: Clinical Study-in-Progress Anthony Faiola (University of Cincinnati) | |
| 4:15–4:25 | Toward Intelligent Medical XR: Video Understanding, Spatial Reconstruction and Real-Time AI Ziqing Shi (Yale School of Medicine) | |
| 4:25–4:50 | Panel: Behavioral Health XR: From Research Lab to Hospital Ward to Tech Industry |
Moderator: Shu Wei, PhD (Yale School of Medicine) Panelists: Kimberly Hieftje, PhD (Yale School of Medicine); Asher Marks, MD (Yale New Haven Hospital); Michael J. Proulx, PhD (Meta Reality Labs Research / University of Bath). About the panelBringing together perspectives from academic behavioral health research, clinical medicine, and industry research, this panel explores what it takes to move behavioral health XR beyond promising prototypes toward responsible real-world use. The discussion will consider how we define success, where translation from research to practice breaks down, and what responsibilities emerge as XR becomes increasingly intelligent, adaptive, and sensor-rich. |
| 4:50–5:00 | Community Takeaways & What Comes Next | Shared reflections, emerging priorities, and next steps for the BehavXR community. |
Preliminary agenda: session ordering and individual presentation details may be refined as final speaker confirmations are received.