Brief Bio

Dr. Jochen Huber is Professor of Computer Science at Furtwangen University. Previously, he was a Senior User Experience Researcher at Synaptics and an SUTD-MIT postdoctoral fellow in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT Media Lab and the Augmented Human Lab at Singapore University of Technology and Design. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and degrees in both Mathematics (Dipl.-Math.) and Computer Science (Dipl.-Inform.), all from Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany.

Before joining MIT and SUTD, Jochen was head of the Tangible Interaction group at the Telecooperation Lab at Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany (2012-2013). At the same time, he held regular positions as an adjunct lecturer in Interaction Design at the Institute for Media Design, University of Applied Sciences Mainz, Germany, since 2009. He was a visiting scholar at FXPAL (2011) and a research assisitant at the European Media Lab (2006-2008).

Research Interests

My research investigates technology that empowers people who find themselves at the edge of sensorial capability. I design, implement and study novel human-machine-interfaces that provide enhanced interactive and perceptive capabilities. Such augmenting technology can for instance assist a worker in a smart factory to perceive and understand its “invisible” AI processes. Yet, my approach goes beyond developing custom solutions that live in silos—the novelty lies in putting sensorial ability and disability on a continuum of usability for certain technology, rather than treat one or the other extreme as the focus. To give an example from a different application domain: a reading aid for the visually impaired can also double as a literacy development tool in early childhood education.

I call this research thrust “Assistive Augmentation”, an emerging subfield of applied computer science at the intersection of human-computer interaction and assistive technology. My work caters to the needs of our ongoing digital transformation with applications in mobile, healthcare, automotive and Industry 4.0 in general. It addresses high-impact societal problems like accessibility, sustainability and interoperability of human-machine interfaces.

Awards and Recognitions

  • SUTD-MIT Postdoctoral Fellowship (2013-2015)
    In June '13, I was awarded a two-year fellowship to conduct research on alternative feedback modalities for mobile interfaces within the SUTD-MIT Postdoctoral Program.
  • Finalist, Singapore Challenge, Global Young Scientist Summit (2014)
    A proposal on "Smart Adaptive Interfaces for Ageing Gracefully" I co-authored with fellows of the Augmented Senses Group at SUTD was selected for the final round of GYSS 2014.
  • Best Paper Award EuroiTV (2012)
    A paper I co-authored on PalmRC: Imaginary Palm-based Remote Control for Eyes-free Television Interaction was recognized with the EuroiTV best paper award 2012.
  • Full Ph.D. Scholarship, German Research Foundation (2008-2012)
    I was awarded a full Ph.D. scholarship funded by the German Research Foundation to pursue a doctoral dissertation within the graduate school on "Technology-enhanced Learning" at Technische Universität Darmstadt (DFG Graduiertenkolleg — GRK 1223).

Editorials, Chairing and Organization

  • ACM SIGMM Records -- co-editor of column on multidisciplinary research in multimedia -- since June 2017
    — with Cynthia C. S. Liem.
  • ACM Creativity & Cognition 2017 Demonstrations Chair
  • ACM International Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (ISS) 2017 Sponsorship Co-Chair
    — with Stacey Scott.
  • ACM TVX 2016 Technical Program Co-chair
    — with Noor Ali-Hasan.
  • ACM Multimedia 2016 Track Co-chair "Mobile Multimedia"
  • Augmented Human 2015 Technical Program Co-Chair
    — with Jun Rekimoto and Bing-Yu Chen.
  • ACM Multimedia 2015 Track Co-Chair "Mobile Multimedia"
  • ACM CHI 2014 Workshop on "Assistive Augmentation"
    — with Jun Rekimoto, Masahiko Inami, Roy Shilkrot, Pattie Maes, Meng Ee Wong, Graham Pullin and Suranga Nanayakkara.
  • ACM TVX 2014 Media Chair
  • ACM IUI 2014 Third Workshop on "Interacting with Smart Objects"
    — with Dirk Schnelle-Walka, Stefan Radomski, Oliver Brdiczka, Kris Luyten and Max Mühlhäuser.
  • ACM Multimedia 2013 Track Co-Chair "Mobile & Multi-device"
  • Guest Editorial, Springer Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, Special Issue "Educational Interfaces, Software and Technology", 2013
  • ACM IUI 2013 Second Workshop on "Interacting with Smart Objects"
    — with Dirk Schnelle-Walka, Roman Lissermann, Oliver Bdriczka, Kris Luyten and Max Mühlhäuser.
  • Guest Editorial, Springer Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, Special Issue "Child-Computer Interaction", 2012
  • ACM CHI 2012 Workshop on "Educational Interfaces, Software and Technology: UI Technologies and Educational Pedagogy"
    — with Edward Tse, Lynn Marentette, Syed I. Ahmed, Alexander Thayer, Max Mühlhäuser, Si Jung Kim and Quincy Brown.
  • ACM CHI 2011 Workshop on "Child Computer Interaction: Workshop on UI Technologies and Educational Pedagogy"
    — with Edward Tse, Johannes Schöning, Lynn Marentette, Richard Beckwith, Yvonne Rogers and Max Mühlhäuser.
  • Mensch & Computer 2011 Workshop on "Be-greifbare Interaktionen in gemischten Wirklichkeiten" (Tangible Interaction)
    — with Rolf Kruse, Alexander Kulik and Jens Ziegler.
  • Conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Technology-enhanced Learning (IATEL) 2009

Academic Service

I regularly review papers for major conferences (e.g. CHI, ACM Multimedia, IUI, Augmented Human, MobileHCI, TEI, ITS), journals (e.g. Springer PUC, IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, IEEE Computer), as well as books for the Oxford University Press.

Also, I serve(d) as a program committee member for:

  • ACM International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI) 2020
  • ACM International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces (AutoUI) 2019
  • Augmented Human 2019
  • IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia (ISM) 2019
  • ACM International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI) 2019
  • Iternational Workshop on Sensor-based Activity Recognition and Interaction (iWOAR) 2019
  • Augmented Human 2018
  • IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia (ISM) 2018
  • Iternational Workshop on Sensor-based Activity Recognition and Interaction (iWOAR) 2018
  • Augmented Human 2017
  • IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia (ISM) 2017
  • ACM International Conference on Multimedia (MM) 2017
  • Iternational Workshop on Sensor-based Activity Recognition and Interaction (iWOAR) 2017
  • ICCV 2nd Workshop on International Workshop on Egocentric Perception, Interaction and Computing 2017
  • IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia (ISM) 2016
  • ACM International Conference on Multimedia (MM) 2016
  • Augmented Human 2016
  • Iternational Workshop on Sensor-based Activity Recognition and Interaction (iWOAR) 2016
  • IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia (ISM) 2015
  • ACM International Conference on Multimedia (MM) 2015
  • Augmented Human 2015
  • ICME Workshop on International Workshop on Wearable and Ego-vision Systems for Augmented Experience (WEsAX) 2015
  • International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI) 2015
  • Iternational Workshop on Sensor-based Activity Recognition and Interaction (iWOAR) 2015
  • British Computer Society Human Computer Interaction Conference (BCS HCI) 2014
  • ACM International Workshop on Socially-Aware Multimedia (SAM) 2014
  • IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia (ISM) 2014
  • ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing (CHI) 2014 — Workshop Track
  • Augmented Human 2014
  • International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI) 2014
  • ACM International Conference on Multimedia (MM) 2013
  • ACM International Workshop on Socially-Aware Multimedia (SAM) 2013
  • British Computer Society Human Computer Interaction Conference (BCS HCI) 2013
  • International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI) 2013 — Posters and Demos Track
  • British Computer Society Human Computer Interaction Conference (BCS HCI) 2012
  • Workshop on "Be-greifbare Interaktionen" (Tangible Interactions) 2012-2015

Press Coverage

My work has been featured internationally in a variety of broadcast, print and online media. Please find selected press coverages below.

Broadcast, TV and Video
Newspapers, Magazines and Blogs