InterReality
Playing and Researching between Worlds.
About the Research Group
InterReality is a multidisciplinary research group focusing on the interrelations between different virtual spaces (including both “digital” and “possible”) and the real world.
Our research is situated at intersection between the Humanities (Semiotics, Translation Studies, Speculative Design, Architecture) and Social Sciences (HCI, Media Studies, Game Research, Participatory design).
InterReality is part of the PLURAL (Multidisciplinary research centre for languages and cultures).
Learn more on our 🔗 Website.
Key Highlights
- In 2024, Associate Professor Mattia Thibault has secured a €1.5 million ERC Starting Grant to explore the evolving mediascape and inter‑real translations in the emerging media multiverse.
Examples of Our Projects
InterReal
Timeline: 2024–2029
What will be the shape of the mediated reality to come? Will it be a single metaverse? A physical reality integrated with ambient technology? Or will the bubble burst, and we will head towards a post-digital era? InterReal argues that the most probable outcome, in the near future, will not be the identification of a clear avenue, but rather a multiplication of “realities”: a Media Multiverse. InterReal aims to establish a new approach to study and understand translations between different “realities”, and how they could influence our future.
Funded by European Research Council (ERC).
Other Projects
- Mobility Mindshift: The project aims to address the challenge of mobility-based emissions in Tampere, by supporting a change in the behavior and mindset of young adults towards sustainable mobility. Timeline: 2024–2026. Funded by NetZeroCities EU.
- NEXR: The project aims to boost the growth, enhance the competitiveness, and foster the sustainable development of the Finnish creative industries by developing an innovative paradigm for the design, deployment, and adoption of Extended Reality (XR) technologies. Timeline: 2023–2025. Funded by Business Finland.
- Convergence: The project aims to explore transition between different realities and develop a design framework that seamlessly and meaningfully connect the physical and extended digital domains. Timeline: 2023–2027. Funded by Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation.
Our People
Mattia Thibault
Group Leader
Professor
Mattia is a Professor in Translation in the Creative Industries at Tampere University and has a PhD in Semiotics and Media (Turin University). His research interests include semiotics and translation, extended realities, speculative research, and playfulness in the built environment (real and digital). He researches the interactions between different types of spatiality (cities, extended realities) and meaning-making (semiotics, translation).
✉️ mattia.thibault@tuni.fi
🔗 TUNI ● Google Scholar ● Research Group Website
Riku Haapaniemi
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Riku serves as the project coordinator and postdoctoral researcher for the ERC‑StG InterReal project, where he examines the translational relationships between physical and virtual textualities. With a PhD in Translation Studies, his scholarship explores the semiotic implications of textual materiality throughout translation processes.
✉️ riku.haapaniemi@tuni.fi
🔗 Google Scholar ● ORCID ● LinkedIn
Janset Shawash
Post-Doctoral Researcher
✉️ janset.shawash@tuni.fi
Narmeen Marji
Doctoral Researcher
✉️ narmeen.marji@tuni.fi
Shuman Yang
Doctoral Researcher
✉️ shuman.yang@tuni.fi
Mariam Tharwat
Doctoral Researcher
Mariam is an architect and researcher at the Gamification Group, Tampere University. She holds a MSc in Architecture from KU Leuven, specializing in urban cultures, as well as a MSc in Architectural Sciences from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), focusing on architecture in virtual reality.
Tippayaporn (Anns) Pavavimol
Doctoral Researcher
Anns is a doctoral researcher in the CONVERGENCE project, specializing in media design and production within extended reality. Her interdisciplinary work blends media and communication studies with telecommunications engineering to develop design frameworks that enable seamless, meaningful transitions between physical, virtual, and hybrid spaces, enhancing immersion, narrative coherence, and user comfort across XR applications.
✉️ tippayaporn.pavavimol@tuni.fi
🔗 ORCID ● Google Scholar ● LinkedIn
Gustavo Moreira Kares
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Gustavo is a doctoral researcher at InterReal, investigating the semiotics of game design as a form of inter‑semiotic translation. With dual bachelor’s degrees in game programming and design, a master’s in game studies, and nearly a decade of experience creating advergames and learning games, he combines generative semiotics, actor‑network theory, and participatory design to explore how games translate meaning across fragmented virtual media multiverses.
Xinyan 'Shelly' Zhao
Doctoral Researcher
Xinyan (Shelly) is a researcher and designer in Human–Computer Interaction whose interdisciplinary work explores multimodal interaction and cross-reality translation between physical and virtual environments, especially for visually impaired people. Their research interests also include audio interaction, experimental theatre, and the expression of identity and gender in XR.
Cláudia Mendes
Doctoral Researcher
Cláudia is a doctoral researcher who is interested in multimodal machine translation—especially with large language models (LLMs)—and how it might help us address context‑related translation issues in mixed‑reality applications. Previously, Cláudia completed a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Languages and a Master’s degree in Applied Languages.
Nima Sharafi Rohani
Doctoral Researcher
Nima is a doctoral researcher, an architect and landscape architect. He earned his master’s degree from Istanbul Technical University, where he specialized in spatial augmented‑reality installations that fuse human emotion with public spaces. He now researches how XR and generative AI can turn cities into immersive, playful canvases, while also pursuing entrepreneurial ventures such as the Artech startup.
Selin Agic
Research Assistant
Selin is a Sustainable Architecture master’s student at Tampere University, researching urban gamification, speculative design, co‑design, and sustainable mobility while serving as a research assistant on the Mobility Mindshift project. Selin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University.
✉️ selin.agic@tuni.fi
🔗 ORCID ● LinkedIn
Prageeth Amarasinghe
Researcher
Prageeth is a researcher and XR developer specializing in the application of augmented and virtual reality within the fields of architecture and human-building interaction.
Laura Kastepohja
Research Assistant
Laura has an MA in Translation Studies from Tampere University and has joined the InterReality Research Group as part of the Mobility Mindshift project. Working first as a translator and research assistant, she recently took on the role of project coordinator on the project. With a background in the performing arts, Laura’s research interests centre on bodily interaction and translating between embodied and verbal knowledges.
Remote Members
Vincenzo Idone Cassone
Associate Professor
Vincenzo investigates how games and play shape contemporary culture and how we can use playful mindset and game design to change the way we see/do things.
✉️ idone@fun.ac.jp
🔗 Profile ● Google Scholar
Selahattin Karagoz
Postdoctoral Researcher
✉️ selahattin.karagoz.akd@gmail.com