Dr. Eddie Chua, Deputy Head of the Plasma Physics and Diagnostics Division at ASTAR (Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research), visited us and gave a talk titled: Data, Models, and Materials for Fusion Energy: Computational and AI-Driven Research at the ASTAR FEAT Centre
January 15, 2026
Mr. Kumpei Ogawa’s Doctoral Dissertation Final Defense (public session) was held.
The title of the dissertation was “Research on VR Redirection Techniques Incorporating Physical Space Constraints.”
January 15, 2026
The main research groups of the Interdisciplinary ICT Research Center for Cyber & Real Spaces have expanded their research activities by relocating from the main building of the Research Institute of Electrical Communication to the newly completed Global Connect Hub – Atelier Q∞, located directly south of it.
January 14, 2026
Dr. Woan-Shiuan (Winnie) Chien, an Incoming Assistant Professor at the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU), Taiwan, with whom we are conducting collaborative research, visited us and gave us a talk. The titke of her talk was “Multimodal Interaction Modeling: Bias-Aware Emotion Understanding in Interactive Contexts“.
January 14, 2026
Prof. Jason Orlosky from Augusta University, School of Computer and Cyber Sciences, with whom we are conducting collaborative research, visited us and gave us a talk. The titel of his talk was “Mixed Reality Interfaces for Industrial Workflows”.
January 9, 2026
Our joint research project with Asst. Prof. Yang Jianfei (School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) has been accepted for the “Tohoku University-NTU Singapore Joint Research Fund.” This fund was established to promote and encourage joint research between Tohoku University and NTU Singapore. Out of 15 applications, three projects were selected following a joint review by both universities.
- Project Title: Safeguarding Elderly Users in Embodied Task Planning with LLM
- NTU Principal Investigator: Asst. Prof. Yang Jianfei (School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering)
- Tohoku University Principal Investigator: Professor Yoshifumi Kitamura (Research Institute of Electrical Communication)
Article page of Global Engagement Division, Tohoku University
December 10, 2025
Professor Yasuaki Kakehi from the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, University of Tokyo, gave us a talk. He also visited our research theme demonstrations and provided us with many valuable comments.
December 8, 2025
December 8
As part of a joint research project (inter-organizational collaboration (international)) with the Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Prof. Rob Lindeman and Dr. Yasas Sri Wickramasinghe from HIT Lab NZ, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, visited us. They gave a presentation and we held a discussion on research themes.
December 5, 2025
Ryo Ooka’s presentation received the Interactive Presentation Award (Program Committee) At WISS 2025 (the 33rd Workshop on Interactive Systems and Software),
Dynamically Controllable Softness Seat Device
Ryo Ooka (Tohoku University), Kazuyuki Fujita (Tohoku University), Hana Nakamoto (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation), Yusuke Yokosuka (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation), Yoshifumi Kitamura (Tohoku University)
December 3, 2025
Mr. Manato Abe made a poster presentation at International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE 2025) held in Chennai, India.
November 29, 2025
November 26, 2025
Prof. Yoshifumi Kitamura gave a lecture titled “International Conference Networking Making Use of Unique Venues – from the Perspective of an Academician” at the “International Conference Networking at Unique Venues” event (a Japan Tourism Agency project) held at Sendai Ryokusaikan and Sendai City Museum.


November 25, 2025
An interview article featuring Professor Yoshifumi Kitamura and others regarding the organization of the international conference CHI 2025 held in Yokohama has been published.
November 18, 2025
On November 18, 2025, Professor Yoshifumi Kitamura served as a lecturer for the MICE Business Seminar: Practical Edition, hosted by the Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau, held at La Banque du Loa, a Yokohama City-designated Tangible Cultural Property located in Yamashita-cho, Naka Ward. He delivered a lecture titled “The Candid Thoughts of a University Researcher Hosting an International Conference.”
(Program link: https://business.yokohamajapan.com/mice/ja/news/detail/?id=3924)
November 16, 2025
At the 74th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Stomatognathic Function, held at the Iwate Medical University Hospital, Professor Yoshifumi Kitamura delivered an invited lecture titled “Exploring the Potential Contributions of XR Technologies to Stomatognathic Function Research.”
After the lecture, attendees had the opportunity to experience a demonstration of an XR-based dental cutting training system, presented together with student Yuhui Wang.
(Conference link : https://jssf.umin.ne.jp/news/74_meeting/conf_paper74.pdf)
November 13, 2025
At the ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST) 2025, held in Montreal, Canada, Yujian Fang delivered an oral presentation on the paper accepted to the conference:
In the Opening Session, Professor Yoshifumi Kitamura, serving as the Steering Committee Chair of VRST, gave the opening address. In the Closing Session, Associate Professor Kazuyuki Fujita announced that VRST 2026 will be held in Sendai, Japan next year.
October 16, 2025
Project Assistant Professor Miao CHENG and Project Researcher Victor SCHNEIDER presented a poster in the Late Breaking Results program at the 27th ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI 2025), held in Canberra, Australia, from October 13 to 17, 2025.
October 8, 2025
A New Database Highlights Cultural Nuances in Emotion-Infused Body Movements — DIEM-A, Intercultural E-Motion Database of Asian Performers
- Database DIEM-A Web Page
(https://www.cr-ict.riec.tohoku.ac.jp/diem-a/) - Press release (https://www.tohoku.ac.jp/en/press/new_database_highlights_cultural_nuances_in_emotioninfused_body_movements.html)
October 8, 2025
Project Assistant Professor Miao CHENG delivered an oral presentation and demonstration of an accepted paper at 13th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII 2025) held in Canberra, Australia.
- Cheng, Miao, Chia-huei Tseng, Ken Fujiwara, Victor Schneider, and Yoshifumi Kitamura, Asian Emotional Body Movement Database: Diverse Intercultural E-Motion Database of Asian Performers (DIEM-A), Conference Proceedings of 2025 13th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII) (to be published in IEEE Xplore)
September 26, 2025
We enjoyed craft beers produced by Jokun Brewing Lab.

