Aarhus University, Denmark
Ken Pfeuffer

Ken Pfeuffer

Associate Professor & Sapere Aude Research Leader
Human-Computer Interaction · XR · Eye-Hand Symbiosis

I'm an Associate Professor and Sapere Aude Research Leader in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) at Aarhus University in Denmark. I lead the XI team, where we explore how we can render technology more natural to use — especially through multimodal, spatial, and AI-driven techniques in emerging computer devices (mobiles, wearables, AR/VR).

Previously: PhD from Lancaster University (UK), postdoc at Bundeswehr University (Germany), and research internships at Microsoft and Google Research.

↗ Google Scholar Publications Contact
X / Twitter · LinkedIn · Medium
StylusPort: Investigating Teleportation Using Stylus in VR
▶
CHI '26
StylusPort: Investigating Teleportation Using Stylus in VR
At a Glance to Your Fingertips: SightWarp
▶
UIST '25
At a Glance to Your Fingertips: SightWarp
Multimodal Pen + Gaze Interaction for Shape Translation in XR
▶
ISMAR '25
Multimodal Pen + Gaze Interaction for Shape Translation in XR
Hands-on, Hands-off: Gaze-Assisted Bimanual 3D Interaction
▶
UIST '24
Hands-on, Hands-off: Gaze-Assisted Bimanual 3D Interaction
Eye-Hand Movement of Objects in Near Space Extended Reality
▶
UIST '24
Eye-Hand Movement of Objects in Near Space Extended Reality
Blended Whiteboard: Physicality and Reconfigurability in Remote Mixed Reality Collaboration
▶
CHI '24
Blended Whiteboard: Physicality and Reconfigurability in Remote Mixed Reality Collaboration
PalmGazer: Unimanual Eye-Hand Menus in Augmented Reality
▶
SUI '23
PalmGazer: Unimanual Eye-Hand Menus in Augmented Reality
A Fitts' Law Study of Gaze-Hand Alignment for Selection in 3D User Interfaces
▶
CHI '23
A Fitts' Law Study of Gaze-Hand Alignment for Selection in 3D User Interfaces
Partially Blended Realities: Aligning Dissimilar Spaces for Distributed Mixed Reality Meetings
▶
CHI '23
Partially Blended Realities: Aligning Dissimilar Spaces for Distributed Mixed Reality Meetings
Gaze-Hand Alignment: Eye Gaze and Mid-Air Pointing for Menus in AR
▶
ETRA '22
Gaze-Hand Alignment: Eye Gaze and Mid-Air Pointing for Menus in AR
Multi-user Gaze-based Interaction Techniques on Collaborative Touchscreens
▶
COGAIN @ ETRA '21
Multi-user Gaze-based Interaction Techniques on Collaborative Touchscreens
SpatialProto: Rapid Prototyping of Interactive Mixed Reality
▶
CHI '21
SpatialProto: Rapid Prototyping of Interactive Mixed Reality
ARtention: A Design Space for Gaze-Adaptive User Interfaces in Augmented Reality
▶
C&G '21
ARtention: A Design Space for Gaze-Adaptive User Interfaces in Augmented Reality
Gaze + Pinch Interaction in Virtual Reality
▶
SUI '17
Gaze + Pinch Interaction in Virtual Reality
Gaze-Shifting: Direct-Indirect Input with Pen and Touch Modulated by Gaze
▶
UIST '15
Gaze-Shifting: Direct-Indirect Input with Pen and Touch Modulated by Gaze
Gaze-Touch: Combining Gaze with Multi-touch on the Same Surface
▶
UIST '14
Gaze-Touch: Combining Gaze with Multi-touch on the Same Surface
1 / 16
01 / Research

Human-Computer Interaction

I study how people interact with computers — and how to make that interaction more natural, expressive, and powerful. My work sits at the intersection of input modalities, interface design, and human behavior, spanning devices from smartphones to AR/VR headsets and AI glasses.

A central theme is Eye-Hand Symbiosis: combining gaze and hand input to unlock a fundamentally richer interaction space, where you act on any object you see from any hand position. This line of work, running since 2013, now underpins interaction paradigms in devices like Apple Vision Pro.

Across all areas, I work through prototyping explorations, empirical studies, and design space research — building working systems, running controlled experiments, and mapping out the space of possibilities to distill findings into design guidelines grounded in real human behavior.

Teaching 3D User Interfaces — Dept. of Computer Science, Aarhus University
Center Co-lead, XR & 3D UI group — Danish Pioneer Center for AI
Grant DFF Sapere Aude — Spatial Human-AI Collaboration
Research Interests
Human-Computer Interaction
Input techniques, interaction paradigms, and UI design — with a strong empirical and human-centered foundation.
Extended Reality (XR)
Spatial computing across AR, VR, and AI glasses — designing 3D UIs that feel natural in the physical world.
Eye Tracking & Gaze Interaction
Gaze as a first-class input modality — from fundamental Fitts' Law studies to adaptive, attention-aware interfaces.
Multimodal Interaction
Combining eyes, hands, and context — especially Eye-Hand Symbiosis — to create richer, more expressive control.
Mixed Reality & Collaboration
Blending physical and virtual objects; supporting multi-user interaction in shared spatial environments.
Adaptive & AI-Driven UI
Interfaces that respond to attention, intent, and context — including spatial human-AI collaboration in XR.
02 / Publications

Publications

Click a year to expand. Full list on Google Scholar.

2026 5 papers
+
CHI
Preshaping Hand Behaviour for Direct and Indirect Manipulation of 3D Objects
Thorbjørn Mikkelsen, Qiushi Zhou, Mar Gonzalez-Franco, Hans Gellersen, Ken Pfeuffer
CHI
StylusPort: Investigating Teleportation Using Stylus in VR
Yang Liu, Qiushi Zhou, Mathias N. Lystbæk, Aidan Kehoe, Mario Gutierrez, Hans Gellersen, Ken Pfeuffer
CHI
Eyes on Many: Evaluating Gaze, Hand, and Voice for Multi-Object Selection in Extended Reality
Mohammad Raihanul Bashar, Aunnoy K Mutasim, Ken Pfeuffer, Anil Ufuk Batmaz
IEEE VR
Eye-Hand Interaction in XR Through the Lens of Instrumental Interaction
Qiushi Zhou, Ken Pfeuffer
ACM CGIT
Align-to-Scale: Mode Switching Technique for Unimanual 3D Object Manipulation with Gaze-Hand-Object Alignment in XR
Min-yung Kim, Jinwook Kim, Ken Pfeuffer, Sang Ho Yoon
2025 12 papers
+
CHI
PinchCatcher: Enabling Multi-Selection for Gaze + Pinch
Jinwook Kim, Sangmin Park, Qiushi Zhou, Mar Gonzalez-Franco, Jeongmi Lee, Ken Pfeuffer
CHI
Online-EYE: Multimodal Implicit Eye Tracking Calibration for XR
Baosheng James Hou, Lucy Abramyan, Prasanthi Gurumurthy, et al., Ken Pfeuffer, Hans Gellersen
UIST
At a Glance to Your Fingertips: Enabling Direct Manipulation of Distant Objects Through SightWarp
Yang Liu, Thorbjørn Mikkelsen, Zehai Liu, Gengchen Tian, Diako Mardanbegi, Qiushi Zhou, Hans Gellersen, Ken Pfeuffer
ISMAR
A Study of Multimodal Pen + Gaze Interaction Techniques for Shape Point Translation in XR
Uta Wagner, Jinwook Kim, Zhikun Wu, Qiushi Zhou, et al., Ken Pfeuffer
ISMAR
Mapping 6DOF Hand Movement to Concurrent 3DOF Controls of Translation and Rotation in XR
Thorbjørn Mikkelsen, Qiushi Zhou, Mathias N. Lystbæk, Yang Liu, Hans Gellersen, Ken Pfeuffer
ISMAR
DOF-Separation for 3D Manipulation in XR: Understanding Finger-Wrist Separation
Thorbjørn Mikkelsen, Qiushi Zhou, Mathias N. Lystbæk, Yang Liu, Hans Gellersen, Ken Pfeuffer
ISMAR
HeadDepth: Gaze Raycasting with Head Pitch for Depth Control
Haopeng Wang, Florian Weidner, Yasmeen Abdrabou, Ken Pfeuffer, Hans Gellersen
ISMAR-Adj.
SpatialPad — Air-taps for Interaction in XR
Juan Sánchez Esquivel, Lauren Zerbin, Qiushi Zhou, Ken Pfeuffer, Hans Gellersen
ISMAR-Adj.
Gaze + Mouth: Gaze-Directed Tongue Input with Intraoral Device for Selection in XR
Thorbjørn Mikkelsen, Yijing Jiang, Baris F. Coskun, Michael Wessely, Ken Pfeuffer
ISMAR-Adj.
Eyes on Target, Pen on Table: Precise VR Interaction with Gaze and Pen
Zhikun Wu, Uta Wagner, Mario Romero, Alessandro Iop, Andrii Matviienko, Ken Pfeuffer
IEEE VR
H²E: Hand, Head, Eye — A Multimodal Cascade of Natural Inputs
Khushman Patel, Vrushank Phadnis, Eric J. Gonzalez, Hans Gellersen, Ken Pfeuffer, Mar Gonzalez-Franco
CHI Ext.
Depth3DSketch: Freehand Sketching Out of Arm's Reach in Virtual Reality
Mohammad Raihanul Bashar, et al., Ken Pfeuffer
2024 9 papers
+
ISMAR
Filtering on the Go: Effect of Filters on Gaze Pointing Accuracy During Physical Locomotion in XR
Pavel Manakhov, Ludwig Sidenmark, Ken Pfeuffer, Hans Gellersen
PDF
UIST
Eye-Hand Movement of Objects in Near Space
Uta Wagner, Andreas Asferg Jacobsen, Tiare Feuchtner, Hans Gellersen, Ken Pfeuffer
PDF
UIST
Hands-on, Hands-off: Gaze-Assisted Bimanual 3D Interaction
Mathias N. Lystbæk, Thorbjørn Mikkelsen, Roland Krisztandl, Eric J. Gonzalez, Mar Gonzales-Franco, Hans Gellersen, Ken Pfeuffer
PDFDOI
ISS
Gaze, Wall, and Racket: Combining Gaze and Hand-controlled Plane for 3D Selection in Virtual Reality
Uta Wagner, Andreas Asferg Jacobsen, Matthias Albrecht, Haopeng Wang, Hans Gellersen, Ken Pfeuffer
PDF
IEEE CG&A
Design Principles and Challenges for Gaze + Pinch Interaction in XR
Ken Pfeuffer, Hans Gellersen, Mar Gonzalez-Franco
DOIarXiv
CHI
Gaze on the Go: Effect of Spatial Reference Frame on Visual Target Acquisition During Physical Locomotion in XR
Pavel Manakhov, Ludwig Sidenmark, Ken Pfeuffer, Hans Gellersen
DOIVideo
CHI
EyeGuide & EyeConGuide: Gaze-based Visual Guides to Improve 3D Sketching Systems
Rumeysa Turkmen, Zeynep Ecem Gelmez, Anil Ufuk Batmaz, Wolfgang Stuerzlinger, Paul Asente, Mine Sarac, Ken Pfeuffer, Mayra Donaji Barrera Machuca
DOI
CHI
Spatial Gaze Markers: Supporting Effective Task Switching in Augmented Reality
Mathias N. Lystbæk, Ken Pfeuffer, Tobias Langlotz, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, Hans Gellersen
PDFDOI
CHI
Blended Whiteboard: Physicality and Reconfigurability in Remote Mixed Reality Collaboration
Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, Juan Sánchez Esquivel, Germán Leiva, Eduardo Velloso, Hans Gellersen, Ken Pfeuffer
DOI
2023 10 papers
+
MuC
How Unique do we Move? Understanding the Human Body and Context Factors for User Identification
Yasmeen Abdrabou, Lukas Mecke, Radiah Rivu, Sarah Prange, Quy Dat Nguyen, Vanessa Voigt, Florian Alt, Ken Pfeuffer
DOI
INTERACT
Empowering Users: Leveraging Interface Cues to Enhance Password Security
Yasmeen Abdrabou, Marco Asbeck, Ken Pfeuffer, Yomna Abdelrahman, Mariam Hassib, Florian Alt
DOI
SUI
PalmGazer: Unimanual Eye-Hand Menus in Augmented Reality
Ken Pfeuffer, Jan Obernolte, Felix Dietz, Ville Mäkelä, Ludwig Sidenmark, Pavel Manakhov, Minna Pakanen, Florian Alt
arXiv
UIST
Towards Flexible and Robust User Interface Adaptations With Multiple Objectives
Christoph Albert Johns, João Marcelo Evangelista Belo, Anna Maria Feit, Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose, Ken Pfeuffer
DOI
ETRA
Gaze-based Mode-Switching to Enhance Interaction with Menus on Tablets
Yanfei Hu, Hemant Surale, Florian Alt, Ken Pfeuffer
DOI
arXiv
Revealing the Hidden Effects of Phishing Emails: An Analysis of Eye and Mouse Movements in Email Sorting Tasks
Yasmeen Abdrabou, Felix Dietz, Ahmed Shams, Pascal Knierim, Yomna Abdelrahman, Ken Pfeuffer, Mariam Hassib, Florian Alt
arXiv
CHI Ext.
Pareto Optimal Layouts for Adaptive Mixed Reality
Christoph Albert Johns, João Marcelo Evangelista Belo, Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose, Ken Pfeuffer
DOI
CHI
A Fitts' Law Study of Gaze-Hand Alignment for Selection in 3D User Interfaces
Uta Wagner, Mathias N. Lystbæk, Pavel Manakhov, Jens Emil Grønbæk, Ken Pfeuffer, Hans Gellersen
DOI
CHI
Partially Blended Realities: Aligning Dissimilar Spaces for Distributed Mixed Reality Meetings
Jens Emil Grønbæk, Ken Pfeuffer, Eduardo Velloso, Morten Astrup, Melanie Sønderkær Pedersen, Martin Kjær, Germán Leiva, Hans Gellersen
DOI
CHI
Vergence Matching: Inferring Attention to Objects in 3D Environments for Gaze-Assisted Selection
Ludwig Sidenmark, Christopher Clarke, Joshua Newn, Mathias N. Lystbæk, Ken Pfeuffer, Hans Gellersen
DOI
2022 8 papers
+
MUM
A Practical Method to Eye-tracking on the Phone: Toolkit, Accuracy and Precision
Thanh Le, Felix Dietz, Ken Pfeuffer, Florian Alt
DOI
UIST
AUIT — The Adaptive User Interfaces Toolkit for Designing XR Applications
João Marcelo Evangelista Belo, Mathias N. Lystbæk, Anna Maria Feit, Ken Pfeuffer, Peter Kán, Antti Oulasvirta, Kaj Grønbæk
DOI
IMWUT
One-handed Input for Mobile Devices via Motion Matching and Orbits Controls
Augusto Esteves, Elizabeth Bouquet, Ken Pfeuffer, Florian Alt
DOI
ETRA
Look & Turn: One-handed and Expressive Menu Interaction by Gaze and Arm Turns in VR
Katharina Reiter, Ken Pfeuffer, Augusto Esteves, Tim Mittermeier, Florian Alt
DOI
ETRA
Exploring Gaze for Assisting Freehand Selection-based Text Entry in AR
Mathias N. Lystbæk, Ken Pfeuffer, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, Hans Gellersen
DOI
ETRA
Gaze-Hand Alignment: Combining Eye Gaze and Mid-Air Pointing for Interacting with Menus in Augmented Reality
Mathias N. Lystbæk, Peter Rosenberg, Ken Pfeuffer, Jens Emil Grønbæk, Hans Gellersen
DOI
CHI
"Your Eyes Tell You Have Used This Password Before": Identifying Password Reuse from Gaze and Keystroke Dynamics
Yasmeen Abdrabou, Johannes Schütte, Ahmed Shams, Ken Pfeuffer, Daniel Buschek, Mohamed Khamis, Florian Alt
DOI
CHI Ext.
Exploring Discrete Drawing Guides to Assist Users in Accurate Mid-air Sketching in VR
Rumeysa Türkmen, Ken Pfeuffer, Mayra Donaji Barrera Machuca, Anil Ufuk Batmaz, Hans Gellersen
DOI
2021 10 papers
+
TOCHI
Remote VR Studies: A Framework for Running Virtual Reality Studies Remotely Via Participant-Owned HMDs
Rivu Radiah, Ville Mäkelä, Sarah Prange, et al., Ken Pfeuffer
DOI
SUI
Altering Non-verbal Cues to Implicitly Direct Attention in Social VR
Radiah Rivu, Ken Pfeuffer, Philipp Müller, Yomna Abdelrahman, Andreas Bulling, Florian Alt
DOI
SUI
I'm in Control! Transferring Object Ownership Between Remote Users with Haptic Props in VR
Jonas Auda, Leon Busse, Ken Pfeuffer, Uwe Gruenefeld, Radiah Rivu, Florian Alt, Stefan Schneegass
DOI
UIST
Bi-3D: Bi-Manual Pen-and-Touch Interaction for 3D Manipulation on Tablets
Ken Pfeuffer, Abdullatif Dinc, Jan Obernolte, Radiah Rivu, Yasmeen Abdrabou, Franziska Shelter, Yomna Abdelrahman, Florian Alt
ETRA
Multi-user Gaze-based Interaction Techniques on Collaborative Touchscreens
Ken Pfeuffer, Jason Alexander, Hans Gellersen
DOI
ETRA
Did You Understand This? Leveraging Gaze Behavior to Assess Questionnaire Comprehension
Radiah Rivu, Yasmeen Abdrabou, Yomna Abdelrahman, Ken Pfeuffer, Dagmar Kern, Cornelia Neuert, Daniel Buschek, Florian Alt
DOI
CHI
SpatialProto: Using Real-World Captures for Rapid Prototyping of Mixed Reality Experiences
Leon Müller, Ken Pfeuffer, Jan Gugenheimer, Sarah Prange, Bastian Pfleging, Florian Alt
DOI
C&G
ARtention: A Design Space for Gaze-Adaptive User Interfaces in Augmented Reality
Ken Pfeuffer, Yasmeen Abdrabou, Augusto Esteves, Radiah Rivu, Yomna Abdelrahman, Stefanie Meitner, Amr Saadi, Florian Alt
DOI
INTERACT
Looking for Info: Evaluation of Gaze Based Information Retrieval in Augmented Reality
Robin Piening, Ken Pfeuffer, Augusto Esteves, Tim Mittermeier, Sarah Prange, Philippe Schröder, Florian Alt
DOI
Book Ch.
Human Performance Modeling with Deep Learning
Arianna Yuan, Ken Pfeuffer, Yang Li
DOI
2020 5 papers
+
MUM
PIANX — A Platform for Piano Players to Alleviate Music Performance Anxiety Using Mixed Reality
Yara Fanger, Ken Pfeuffer, Udo Helmbrecht, Florian Alt
DOI
VRST
Empirical Evaluation of Gaze-enhanced Menus in Virtual Reality
Ken Pfeuffer, Lukas Mecke, Sarah Delgado Rodriguez, Mariam Hassib, Hannah Maier, Florian Alt
DOI
ETRA
GazeLockPatterns: Comparing Authentication Using Gaze and Touch for Entering Lock Patterns
Yasmeen Abdrabou, Ken Pfeuffer, Mohamed Khamis, Florian Alt
DOI
ETRA
StARe: Gaze-Assisted Face-to-Face Communication in Augmented Reality
Radiah Rivu, Yasmeen Abdrabou, Ken Pfeuffer, Augusto Esteves, Stefanie Meitner, Florian Alt
DOI
CHI Ext.
Gaze'N'Touch: Enhancing Text Selection on Mobile Devices Using Gaze
Radiah Rivu, Yasmeen Abdrabou, Ken Pfeuffer, Mariam Hassib, Florian Alt
DOI
2019 6 papers
+
MUM
Exploring the Domestication of Thermal Imaging
Yomna Abdelrahman, Paweł W. Woźniak, Pascal Knierim, Dominik Weber, Ken Pfeuffer, Niels Henze, Albrecht Schmidt, Florian Alt
DOI
ETRA
Time- and Space-Efficient Eye Tracker Calibration
Heiko Drewes, Ken Pfeuffer, Florian Alt
DOI
IEEE VR
EyeSeeThrough: Unifying Tool Selection and Application in Virtual Environments
Diako Mardanbegi, Benedikt Mayer, Ken Pfeuffer, Shahram Jalaliniya, Hans Gellersen, Alexander Perzl
DOI
ETRA
GazeButton: Enhancing Buttons with Eye Gaze Interactions
Sheikh Rivu, Yasmeen Abdrabou, Thomas Mayer, Ken Pfeuffer, Florian Alt
DOI
CHI
Behavioural Biometrics in VR: Identifying People from Body Motion and Relations in Virtual Reality
Ken Pfeuffer, Matthias J. Geiger, Sarah Prange, Lukas Mecke, Daniel Buschek, Florian Alt
CHI Ext.
Go for GOLD: Investigating User Behaviour in Goal-Oriented Tasks
Sarah Prange, Daniel Buschek, Ken Pfeuffer, Lukas Mecke, Peter Ehrich, Jens Le, Florian Alt
DOI
2018 4 papers
+
MUM
Open Sesame!: User Perception of Physical, Biometric, and Behavioural Authentication Concepts to Open Doors
Lukas Mecke, Ken Pfeuffer, Sarah Prange, Florian Alt
DOI
UbiComp
Experience Sampling as Information Transmission: Perspective and Implications
Daniel Buschek, Sarah Völkel, Clemens Stachl, Lukas Mecke, Sarah Prange, Ken Pfeuffer
DOI
IMWUT
Visual Attention-Based Access: Granting Access Based on Users' Joint Attention on Shared Workspaces
Barış Serim, Ken Pfeuffer, Hans Gellersen, Giulio Jacucci
DOI
CHI
Analysis and Modelling of Grid Performance on Touchscreen Mobile Devices
Ken Pfeuffer, Yang Li
2017 4 papers
+
PhD Thesis
Extending Touch with Eye Gaze Input
Ken Pfeuffer, Lancaster University, UK
SUI
Gaze + Pinch Interaction in Virtual Reality
Ken Pfeuffer, Benedikt Mayer, Diako Mardanbegi, Hans Gellersen
Video
CHI
Thumb + Pen Interaction on Tablets
Ken Pfeuffer, Ken Hinckley, Michel Pahud, Bill Buxton
UBICOMP
Look Together: Using Gaze for Assisting Co-located Collaborative Search
Yanxia Zhang, Ken Pfeuffer, Ming Ki Chong, Jason Alexander, Andreas Bulling, Hans Gellersen
2016 3 papers
+
MUM
GazeArchers: Playing with Individual and Shared Attention in a Two-Player Look&Shoot Tabletop Game
Ken Pfeuffer, Jason Alexander, Hans Gellersen
UIST
Gaze and Touch Interaction on Tablets
Ken Pfeuffer, Hans Gellersen
Video
CHI
Partially-Indirect Bimanual Input with Gaze, Pen, and Touch for Pan, Zoom, and Ink Interaction
Ken Pfeuffer, Jason Alexander, Hans Gellersen
2015 3 papers
+
UIST
Gaze-Shifting: Direct-Indirect Input with Pen and Touch Modulated by Gaze (Best Paper Nominee)
Ken Pfeuffer, Jason Alexander, Ming Ki Chong, Yanxia Zhang, Hans Gellersen
UbiComp Adj.
A Collaborative Gaze Aware Information Display
Ken Pfeuffer, Yanxia Zhang, Hans Gellersen
INTERACT
Gaze+Touch vs. Touch: What's the Trade-off When Using Gaze to Extend Touch to Remote Displays?
Ken Pfeuffer, Jason Alexander, Hans Gellersen
2014 1 papers
+
UIST
Gaze-Touch: Combining Gaze with Multi-touch for Interaction on the Same Surface
Ken Pfeuffer, Jason Alexander, Ming Ki Chong, Hans Gellersen
2013 2 papers
+
UIST
Pursuit Calibration: Making Gaze Calibration Less Tedious and More Flexible
Ken Pfeuffer, Melodie Vidal, Jayson Turner, Andreas Bulling, Hans Gellersen
CHI Ext.
Pursuits: Eye-based Interaction with Moving Targets
Mélodie Vidal, Ken Pfeuffer, Andreas Bulling, Hans W. Gellersen
2012 1 papers
+
ITS
Investigating Mid-air Pointing Interaction for Projector Phones
Christian Winkler, Ken Pfeuffer, Enrico Rukzio
2011 1 papers
+
PERCOM Ws.
Exploring Ambient Visualizations of Context Information
Florian Alt, Alireza Sahami Shirazi, Andreas Kaiser, Ken Pfeuffer, Emre Gürkan, Albrecht Schmidt, Paul Holleis, Matthias Wagner
Full list on Google Scholar ↗
04 / Writing

Popular Science

Articles aimed at a broader audience — high-level overviews of research and reflections on the evolution of human-computer interaction.

Eyes & Hands in AR: A Sci-Fi-Inspired Mobile UI Research Oct 2023 · Medium Design Principles & Issues for Gaze and Pinch Interaction Jan 2024 · Medium History of Eyes and Hands for Computer Control Mar 2024 · Medium The Role of Eyes and Hands in the Evolution of Computer Interfaces Nov 2024 · Future of Text Blending Direct and Indirect Interaction: A Concept for Seamless Computer Interfaces Dec 2024 · Medium
03 / Team

Extended Interaction (XI)

A multidisciplinary group at Aarhus University studying how people interact with digital worlds through the synergy of body modalities — gaze, hand, finger, arm — and emerging computing platforms. Open to internships, thesis projects, and research collaborations.

Ken Pfeuffer
Associate Professor · Co-Lead
HCI, XR, UI Design, Eye-tracking
Hans Gellersen
Professor · Co-Lead
HCI, XR, Eye-tracking, Ubiquitous Computing
Juan Sánchez Esquivel
PhD Researcher
Spatial Interaction for XR
Thorbjørn Mikkelsen
PhD Researcher
Eye-hand Manipulation in 3D
Connor Pugh
PhD Researcher
Spatial Interaction & XR
Yang Liu
PhD Researcher
3D Interaction in XR
Jens Emil Grønbæk
Postdoc → Asst. Professor, AU
Collaborative XR
Mathias N. Lystbæk
PhD → Postdoc, AU
Visual Attention in AR for Manufacturing
Pavel Manakhov
Alumni · PhD → Postdoc, Lancaster
Mobile Spatial Interaction in XR
Christoph Johns
Alumni · PhD → Postdoc, Oldenburg
Adaptive Interaction & Multi-objective Optimization
Uta Wagner
Alumni · PhD → Postdoc, Konstanz
Gaze-based 3D Interaction
Qiushi Zhou
Alumni · Postdoc → Asst. Professor, HKUST
HCI in Extended Reality
05 / Talks

Talks & Presentations

2026
Upcoming · SciExplor Webinar
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
Forthcoming webinar talk. Event details ↗
2026
June 2026 · GAZE Workshop @ CVPR 2026 — Denver, Colorado (7th Iteration)
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
Invited talk at the GAZE workshop, co-located with CVPR 2026. Workshop site ↗
2026
2026 · University of Tokyo
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
Invited guest talk at the University of Tokyo.
2025
Future of Text — May 19, 2025
Evolution of XR Input
An exploration of how input paradigms in extended reality have evolved and where they're headed — from gaze-touch to AI-adaptive interfaces.

Watch on YouTube ↗
2024
XR Design Community — March 9, 2024
How to Design for Gaze + Hand Tracking
Design principles, pitfalls, and opportunities for developers and researchers working with gaze and hand input on spatial computing platforms.

Watch on YouTube ↗
2017
ACM SUI '17
Gaze + Pinch Interaction in Virtual Reality
The original presentation of gaze-pinch, now a foundational interaction paradigm in Apple Vision Pro and other XR devices.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Full Talk Archive (2016–2025) +
25/11/2025
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day, 2025, Aarhus, Denmark
02/10/2025
The Evolution of User Interfaces
GOTO Copenhagen 2025, Copenhagen, Denmark
08/07/2025
XR UI Evolution & Recent Eye-Hand Research
Google Seminar (Online)
19/05/2025
Evolution of XR Input
Future of Text (Online)
06/05/2025
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
Ludwig-Fresenius-Schule, Minden/NRW (Online)
18/03/2025
Unified Eye and Hand-based Interfaces
Logitech XR (Online)
16/01/2025
WASP Winter Conference 2025
Linköping, Sweden
08/11/2024
Guest Talk at ETH Zurich – Eye-Hand Symbiosis
ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
06/11/2024
Guest Talk at HCI Group – Eye-Hand Symbiosis
University of Konstanz, Germany
02/12/2024
Guest Talk at TUM – Eye-Hand Symbiosis
Munich, Germany
23/11/2024
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
Future of Text Symposium, Vancouver, USA
31/10/2024
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
HCI@KAIST Fall Colloquium (Online)
30-31/10/2024
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
Digital Tech Summit, Copenhagen, Denmark
22-23/10/2024
Same Same or Different – The UI of AI
D3A, Copenhagen, Denmark
27/09/2024
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
P1 Last Fridays Talk, Copenhagen, Denmark
26/09/2024
Guest Talk in Prof. Eve Hoggan's Course on Multimodal Interaction
Aarhus University, Denmark
11/04/2024
Extended Reality: Learning and Pioneering What Comes After the Smartphone
AI Expert Talk at Uddannelses- og Forskningsmødet 2024, Kolding, Denmark
09/03/2024
How to Design for Gaze and Hand Tracking
Industry Talk at XR Design Discord (Virtual)
07/03/2024
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal (Virtual)
07/12/2023
The Power of Gaze
Research Seminar, Google, USA (Virtual)
09/11/2023
The Next-Generation of Immersive, Spatial UI
Digital Tech Summit, Copenhagen, Denmark
04/10/2023
Moonshot Projects in XR at Aarhus University
XR Moonshot Workshop, Copenhagen, Denmark
01/05/2023
XR Interaction
Post-CHI XR Summer School, Copenhagen, Denmark
01/02/2023
Gaze + Pinch: Interface for Future XR
"Is This the Year of the Metaverse?" @ The Kitchen, Aarhus, Denmark
03/10/2022
Multimodal Gaze Interaction
Guest Talk, Multimodal Interaction Course, Aarhus University
02/12/2021
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
DTU, Copenhagen, Denmark
30/11/2021
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
Digital Tech Summit, Copenhagen, Denmark
29/11/2021
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
20/10/2021
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
XR Monthly / Cornell Tech, New York, USA
13/10/2021
Multimodal Gaze Interaction
Guest Talk, Multimodal Interaction Course, Aarhus University
09/12/2020
Eye-Hand Symbiosis
Facebook Reality Labs, Redmond, WA, USA
09/12/2020
Multimodal Eye-Based Human-Computer Interaction
HCI Group, Bayreuth University, Germany
28/10/2020
Designing Multimodal Interaction with Gaze & Touch
Aarhus University, Denmark
10/10/2019
Exploring Perception in Mixed Reality
Internal Doctoral Colloquium (IDC), Vienna, Austria
06/2019
Future Multimodal UI
FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
01/2019
Exploring Eye-Based Multimodal UI
University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
11/2018
Future Eye-Based and Multimodal UI
Colloquium Cognitive Systems, Ulm University, Germany
09/2018
Novel Multimodal Interaction Techniques and UI
Internal Doctoral Colloquium (IDC), Venice, Italy
03/2018
Using Visual Attention for Intelligent UI
HCILab 4th Winter School, Hirschegg, Austria
07/2016
Gaze-Shifting: Direct-Indirect Input with Pen and Touch
UIST Reprise Session @ ACM SIGGRAPH
05 / Contact

Get in Touch

Interested in HCI, XR, or eye-hand interaction research? I'm always open to conversations about collaborations, student projects, internships, or research stays.

Reach me at ken@cs.au.dk

Department of Computer Science
Aarhus University, Denmark

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