ACM SIGCHI Austria Summer Meetup 2026

This year, our ACM SIGCHI Austria summer meetup was held at the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Interfaces (AIHI), University of Salzburg.

The meeting carried some of the energy many of us had brought back from CHI’26 in Barcelona, but in a smaller setting. This time people had time to present work in progress, ask questions, and talk through ideas. We also like that chapter events can take different shapes: some larger, some smaller, and not always in the same city, so different people can attend more easily.

The program included short talks by Glenda Hannibal, Florian Michahelles, Antonia Saske, Faith Young, Vincent van Rheden, and Konstantin Lackner. Each presentation was followed by discussion, which made the afternoon feel open and full of useful feedback and connections.

We loved that the room included people from various academic levels, including MSc students, PhD students, postdocs, assistant professors, and full professors. That mix brought different perspectives into the feedback and made the discussions feel inclusive.

The meetup also gave us time to talk about what the chapter should become, and what kinds of meetings would be useful. One clear preference was for smaller groups, perhaps around shared topics, where people can go deeper than they usually can in a full-room discussion.

After the presentations, the group continued the conversation over a lush dinner at Restaurant Fuji.

Thanks to everyone who presented, joined the discussion, and helped make the meetup happen. Small chapter meetings like this help make the community more visible to itself.