We combine science, engineering, and design to create breakthrough digital solutions that enhance human capabilities and serve society. Our approach balances fundamental research with real-world applications to drive meaningful innovation.

Our work is situated in four main research themes: this is where our research domains meet with both internal and external partners and colleagues. We work on the following topics:

Collective Work and Living

This research track aims to design technologies for collective work and living, connecting people and bringing large groups of actors together in daily life and work environments. Future technologies should connect people, create comfortable and personalized work environments, and contribute to a sustainable society. As a Flanders Make core lab, we are in particular interested in transforming work environments for the manufacturing industry, creating digital support tools to make work more efficient, enjoyable, sustainable and healthy. 

We work on, amongst others;

• Solutions that improve worker wellbeing while maintaining worker efficiency
• Process mining and analytics for various domains such as healthcare settings, auditing, and business support systems
• Support work and citizen participation in developing countries

Connected Immersive XR

A seamless digital environment requires a safe, accessible, and immersive virtual counterpart. Our research focuses on Mixed, Augmented, Extended and Virtual Reality (MAXVR) to enhance human perception and interaction in digital spaces, making virtual collaboration, training, and exploration more natural and effective.

We leverage photorealistic visualizations, real-time tracking, and adaptive rendering to create environments where users can move freely beyond confined physical spaces. This includes light-field visualizations, spatially-aware virtual interactions, and AI-driven cognitive support, ensuring accessibility for diverse users and tasks.

Our extensive MAXVR infrastructure supports cutting-edge VR, AR, MR, and XR applications, integrating haptic feedback, eye tracking, large-area tracking, and hybrid virtual twins for real-world impact in industry, healthcare, and education. Our infrastructure is available for externals and research partners (more information available soon) to support and boost their digital transformation needs.

We work on, amongst others;

• AI-assisted XR environments for enhanced learning and collaboration
• Digital and Virtual twins for training, simulation and task execution in industrial settings, medical environments and media events
• Haptic-enhanced VR for simulating real-world interactions
• AR operator guidance & state tracking for industrial workflows
• Multi-user immersive spaces for co-located virtual collaboration

AI for Human & Societal Capabilities

We believe that technology can transcend the goal of merely supporting humans, and we want to explore, design, implement and evaluate how modern AI technologies and approaches can improve human health, skills, wealth and knowledge. Whenever possible, (new) AI solutions should be actively used to advance the human condition and leverage human and societal capabilities while ensuring these solutions are also easily accessible and usable for a wide range of potential users. While AI can potentially replace certain types of human labor, it also holds the potential to educate, train, and empower individuals and groups, enabling them to excel in their respective tasks and reach their goals. Individuals can improve the quality of their work, leading to further advancements in areas such as writing, art & design, healthcare and training. This is an important factor to ensure inclusiveness of future digital solutions and to promote a healthy lifestyle.

We work on, amongst others;

• Computer Vision and Synthetic Data Generation
• Interactive AI and Human-in-the-loop AI systems
• Process and datamining
• Fair, eXplainable, Accountable and Transparant AI
• AI for Creativity
• AI in Education and Training
• AI for Wellbeing and Health

Technology for Sustainable Transitions

We research the role of technology in transitioning materials, organizations, and production processes towards sustainability. Our focus includes digital solutions for repurposing landscapes, industrial sites, work processes and work and living spaces. By making design processes open, comprehensible and transparent, we foster broader stakeholder engagement. As part of this research theme, we engage a.o. in living labs, participatory design workshops and other methods that ensure the direct involvement of people in the design of things, spaces and technologies they use.

Fabrication, Design and Smart Materials

Our research aims to democratize fabrication and manufacturing - supporting a wide and diverse community of makers, creators and enthousiast to design, make and use things. Our work spans fabrication, electronics, creative design and human-computer interaction, enabling objects like textiles, silicone, paper, and glass to sense, compute, and respond to human interactions.

This includes, amongst others;

• Computational Fabrication – embedding interactivity directly into materials using novel digital manufacturing techniques.
• Shape-Changing Interfaces – designing materials that physically transform in response to digital inputs.
• Interactive Textiles & Flexible Devices – integrating sensors, electronics actuators, and embedded computation into everyday materials.
• More-than-Human Crafting – blending Humans, AI, machine learning, and traditional making techniques for new creative workflows and societal challenges.

We invest in a Personal Fabrication and Digital Manufacturing Infrastructure; we have various robot setups, 3D printers, laser cutters, assembly stations, crafting environments  and both low-fidelity and high-fidelity (physical) prototyping tools that support our research. We also o the operational management of the UHasselt/PXL Makerspace,  This infrastructure allows us to collaborate with both external partners as well as colleagues on real-life and high impact solutions.

Computer Science & Engineering

• Visual Computing & AI: Advanced computer graphics, computer vision, and AI applications. (Contacts: prof. dr. Nick Michiels, prof. dr. Frank Van Reeth, prof. dr. Fabian Di Fiore)
• Intelligible Interactive Systems & Human-AI Interaction: Human-AI interaction and explainable AI. (Contacts: prof. dr. Gustavo Rovelo Ruiz, prof. dr. Davy Vanacken, prof. dr. Kris Luyten)
• Networked & Secure Systems: Computer networks and cybersecurity. (Contacts: prof. dr. Peter Quax, prof. dr. Wim Lamotte, prof. dr. Pieter Robyns)
• Computational Science: High-performance computing and scientific computing. (Contacts: prof. dr. Jori Liesenborgs, prof. dr. Wim Lamotte, prof. dr. Frank Van Reeth)
• Computational Design & Fabrication: Digital manufacturing and interactive materials. (Contact: prof. dr. Raf Ramakers)
• Human-Computer & -Machine Interaction: User Interface Software and Technology, Engineering Interactive Computing Systems, Human-Robot Collaboration and Intelligent and Multimodal User Interfaces. (Contacts: prof. dr. Raf Ramakers, prof. dr. Gustavo Rovelo Ruiz, prof. dr. Davy Vanacken, prof. dr. Frank Van Reeth, prof. dr. Kris Luyten)

Business Informatics & Process Analytics

• Audit Analytics: Data-driven auditing and process monitoring. (Contact: prof. dr. Mieke Jans)
• Behavioral Analytics: Understanding and modeling human behavior. (Contact: prof. dr. Benoît Depaire)
• Process Analytics in Healthcare: Healthcare process optimization. (Contacts: prof. dr. Niels Martin, dr. Gert Janssenswillen)
• Business Process Intelligence: Process mining and analysis. (Contacts: prof. dr. Mieke Jans, prof. dr. Benoît Depaire, prof. dr. Niels Martin)
• BIARU: data analytics, business process management, process- and datamining, AI and machine learning for SMEs and the broader community.  (Contacts: prof. dr. Benoît Depaire)

Architecture & Design

• Sustainable Design: Design for sustainability and circular economy. (Contact: prof. dr. Liesbeth Huybrechts)
• Participatory Processes: Co-design and community engagement. (Contact: prof. dr. Liesbeth Huybrechts)
• Media Arts & Design: Creative technology and digital arts, AI in media and design. (Contact: prof. dr. Bert Willems)

Our research centre is involved in many different types of projects, with a variety of funding sources. Below you can find a selection of project types we are involved in.

Flanders Make projects - SBO, IRVA, ...

• SBO projects
• IRVA projects

European Projects - Horizon Europe, Interreg, ...

• Horizon Europe: 9th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development
• Interreg: Different types of Interreg-funded projects, including Interreg-EMR, Interreg-Vlaanderen-Nederland and ERDF (European Regional Development Fund)
• European Digital Innovation Hub: our research center is a key partner in Flanders AI EDIH

Flemish Funded Projects

• VLAIO TETRA
• Proeftuinprojecten

Regionally Funded Projects

• XR-Innovation Fund (POM Limburg)

Want to know more about a specific type of projects or want to learn about some of our ongoing or completed projects? Please contact us!