About the workshop
Digital twins (DT) and immersive technologies are often discussed hand-in-hand, with the assumption that DTs are synonymous with immersive visualisation. Much of the core value of a DT, including real-time state reflection, predictive modelling and system control, can be realised through conventional desktop interfaces. The question, then, is what immersion adds. When, how, and for whom do immersive technologies genuinely extend the capabilities of a digital twin beyond what desktop approaches can offer?
This workshop will establish and promote the area of immersive digital twins, focusing on where the affordances of immersive technologies can benefit DT applications. These affordances are spatial perception, embodied interaction, co-located and remote collaboration, and situated visualisation. We will articulate them into a research agenda that shows where they create substantive value.
The workshop combines short paper presentations with structured discussion and ends with a collaborative research agenda-setting session. The organisers will write up the outcomes, and contributing participants will be invited to co-author the resulting agenda paper. We welcome submissions from researchers working across immersive technologies, digital twin systems, human-computer interaction, visualisation, and application domains such as manufacturing, healthcare, infrastructure and defence.
Topics of interest
We welcome submissions on, but not limited to, the following topics. You can also explore them on the digital twin at the top of the page.
Affordances of immersive technologies for digital twins
- When and why immersive technologies add value over desktop approaches for DT interaction and visualisation
- Empirical comparisons of immersive and non-immersive DT interfaces
- Frameworks for reasoning about immersive technology fit in DT application design
Interaction design for immersive digital twins
- Gesture, gaze, voice and embodied interaction paradigms for DT manipulation and inspection
- Interface design for monitoring, control and reconfiguration of twin systems in immersive environments
Spatial and physical digital twins
- Immersive visualisation of infrastructure, industrial, architectural and environmental twins
- Situated AR applications where twins are co-located with their physical referent
- Scale, registration and fidelity in physically grounded twins
Abstract and non-physical digital twins
- Immersive representations of cognitive, biological and physiological twins
- Spatial metaphors and physicalisations for non-physical twins
Collaboration and multi-user applications
- Co-located and remote collaborative interaction with shared immersive twins
Training, simulation and decision support
- Immersive digital twins for skills training in high-risk or complex domains
Exemplars of immersive digital twins
- Descriptions of existing use of immersive technologies for digital twins in the wild
- Descriptions of wide-ranging planning by large industry and government for future use of digital twins
Accepted paper types
The workshop accepts application, technique and theory papers that focus on immersive technologies as they apply to digital twins. These include user studies and evaluations, real-world case studies, overview and review papers, and position papers on the future of immersive digital twins.
Important dates
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Paper submission | Monday, 7 December 2026 |
| Notification of acceptance | Thursday, 7 January 2027 |
| Camera-ready copy | Tuesday, 12 January 2027 |
| Workshop | 27 or 28 February 2027 (to be confirmed) |
Each deadline expires at 23:59:59 Anywhere on Earth (AoE).
Submission
- Papers are 2 to 4 pages, excluding references. We judge quality against length on a contribution-per-page basis.
- Papers must use the IEEE VGTC conference template.
- All submissions must be in English.
- Each submission receives at least two reviews from program committee members.
- At least one author of each accepted paper must register for the workshop and present.
- Accepted papers will be archived in the IEEE Xplore digital library through the IEEE VR workshop proceedings.
Program
The workshop runs as a half-day session of 3.5 hours. More than half of that time goes to structured group work, so this is not a mini-conference. Paper talks are short and seed the discussion that follows.
| Length | Session |
|---|---|
| 10 min | Welcome |
| 30 min | Keynote on the state of the art in digital twins (speaker to be confirmed) |
| 60 min | Lightning talks (5 minutes per accepted paper) |
| 30 min | Break with posters and demos |
| 45 min | Group work on the research agenda |
| 30 min | Synthesis |
| 5 min | Close |
The schedule is indicative. Exact session times will be posted once the conference program is set.
Keynote
Speaker and affiliation to be confirmed.
Building the research agenda
Participants split into four working groups. Each group follows structured prompts and produces a small set of clearly framed research questions, an assessment of the current evidence, and a view on the methods and collaborations needed to make progress.
Applications
Which domains and use cases offer the most compelling and realisable opportunities, from industrial twins to biological, cognitive and abstract systems? Where are the mature areas and the gaps?
Interaction
Which interaction paradigms suit which DT tasks, including control, manipulation and inspection, and the shift from passive monitoring to active intervention?
Visualisation
How should twins be represented in immersive space? This covers level of detail, abstraction, non-physical twins, and links to audio, haptics and data physicalisation.
Key affordances
Which affordances of immersive technology have a strong evidence base in DT contexts, which are only assumed, and what research would test those claims?
Organisers
- Andrew Cunningham
- Thierry Duval
- Neven ElSayed
- Cédric Fleury
- Bruce Thomas
- Gilles Coppin
- James Walsh
Contact
Questions about the workshop can go to the primary contact, Andrew Cunningham.
andrew.cunningham@adelaide.edu.au