In a world where digital and physical experiences are rapidly merging, professional success isn’t just about excellence in one field. Now more than ever it hinges upon collaboration across disciplinary as well as cultural boundaries. In September 2026 HSD students will join forces with their japanese peers to explore the fascinating world of mixed media and human data interaction.
Whether you come from design, engineering, media studies, or beyond, this summer school invites you to venture outside of your traditional field of study and explore a new form of hands-on, experience-based learning.
Our 10-days intensive program at the newly established Centre for Digitalisation and Digitality (ZDD) in Düsseldorf brings together students from Germany and Japan to work on an interdisciplinary project that combines expertise from computer science with human-focused sciences. It leverages HSD’s state-of-the-art labs in digital transformation and technology while focusing on the human role in shaping digital futures.
The curriculum integrates human factors, human-machine interfaces, digitalisation, tracking, interactive broadcasting, virtual set environments, mixed reality, new interfaces, and data-driven graphics. Participants will get to explore scanning real environments or objects and turn them into digital versions (“digital twins”). They will then use this data in creative projects such as creating a live show in the virtual studio. The same data will further be reused in other ways, i.e. for augmented and virtual reality experiences in mobile apps and on websites. Students will also experiment with AI tools that can recognize objects to better understand scenes. All projects will include sound design that adapts to space and movement, making the experiences feel more immersive and realistic.
Lecturers and supervisors
