XRTG @ HFES Annual Meetings
See you in Chicago, IL,
October 13 - 17, 2025
Join Us for our TG Business Meeting
Tuesday October 14th 12:30-1:30 PM in Grand Hall M/N
The 69th International Annual Meeting - ASPIRE - Convenes
October 13 - 17, 2025 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago Hotel. Make plans to join us for outstanding education, networking opportunities, and more!
Gain new knowledge and network with colleagues at the 68th International Annual Meeting - ASPIRE - convening October 13 – 17, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago Hotel. The meeting is planned to attract nearly 2,000 attendees from academia, government, and industry and will feature more than 600 technical presentations including curated special sessions. A variety of special sessions, from workshops to keynotes to panels provides the opportunity to learn from thought leaders in the field of human factors and ergonomics and the industries we shape. The meeting is a friendly gathering with a variety of networking opportunities including receptions and other social activities for students and early career professionals. ARPIRE will also feature a Job Fair, a one-stop hub for your next career move, and an exhibition component. Partake in focused workshops, technical tours at local facilities, and more. Other features include an embedded Practitioner Day with a strong emphasis on sharing hands-on and applied project findings, mentorship activities, UX Day–a day devoted to topics in user experience, a Women's Affinity Group luncheon, poster sessions (including Posters with Fellows), and much more.
XRTG Schedule at a Glance
Tuesday, Oct 14th
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm CDT
XR1: Foundations and Frameworks in XR
Presentations:
1. Understanding User Privacy and Disclosure Decisions in Virtual Reality
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2. Mental Models of Gestural Interaction for Information Processing in Virtual Reality
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3. Which Reality Are We In ? Deconstructing XR Terms and Taxonomies–Survey and Analysis of Who Cares and Why it Matters
Wednesday, Oct 15th
11:30 am - 12:30 pm CDT
XR2: Designing Interfaces for Perception and Comfort
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm CDT
XR3: Enhancing Performance in High Stakes XR Environments
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm CDT
XR4: Visual Guidance and Spatial Navigation in XR
Thursday, Oct 16th
9:30 am - 11:00 am CDT
XR5: Discussion on the Impact of Terminology in XR: Perspectives from Experts and Enthusiasts
Discussion Panel, Industry/Practitioner Content
Session Moderator:
Description:
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As of 2025, extended reality (XR), as a term, encompasses a spectrum of technologies including augmented reality (AR), augmented virtuality (AV), mixed reality (MR), virtual reality (VR). Terminology is changing as capabilities grow and new use cases emerge. The meanings of the different terms must change to reflect this fact, yet this can cause confusion. Shifting terminology and rapidly evolving capabilities (as well as limitations) can cause confusion not only for the casual end user but for developers, researchers, instructors, and decision makers. In the spirit of exploration and open communication, this discussion panel with feature experts and enthusiasts to converse on XR terminologies and uses, how different understandings of hardware and software can impact collaboration, how we can better communicate, and which terms we love (and love to hate). As such, we aim to elicit perspectives on when and why these terminologies and taxonomies matter in the development, use, and evaluation of XR technologies and conclude with ideas for how the Human Factors community can better represent and delineate these terms while effectively engaging decision-makers and end users. The panel includes representatives from academia, industry, and the military, as well as representation from users, researchers, developers, and decision makers.
11:30 am - 12:30 pm CDT
XR6: Understanding Human Performance and Physiological Responses in XR
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm CDT
XR7: Understanding Human Performance and Physiological Responses in XR
Friday, Oct 17th
8:30 am - 11:00 am CDT
This alternative format session will provide students, researchers, faculty, and practitioners with a forum to showcase how they are using state-of-the-art Extended reality (XR) applications to address critical human factors questions in academia, defense, and industry. This is an interactive session. It’s much like an interactive poster session but with XR applications. The session will begin with each presenter briefly introducing (<2 mins) their application. Once this lightning round of introductions is finished, audience members will be free to move around the room and interact with all the demonstrations. Last year’s XR Showcase included demonstrations from academia, industry, and government and attracted +100 attendees. This year’s demonstrations include XR applications for STEM education, medical training, forensics, homeland security, and military training. The goal is to allow attendees to be immersed in the technologies presented in the showcase and learn how human factors professionals use XR to support human factors-oriented research.