Dr. Erik Wolf

Research Associate

E-Mail: erik.wolf"AT"uni-hamburg.de
Phone: +49 40 42883-2553

Office hours: By arrangement (please send me an e-mail)

Vogt-Kölln-Str. 30, Room: F-130
D-22527 Hamburg, Germany

Short Bio

Erik Wolf is currently a dedicated research associate within the Human-Computer Interaction Group at the University of Hamburg. His primary focus lies within the Horizon Europe project „PRESENCE“, where he delves into exploring and optimizing presence in extended reality (XR) experiences, specifically investigating the impacts of plausibility, co-presence, and place illusion on user experiences. The project aims to enhance the quality of XR interactions by addressing challenges such as creating realistic visual interactions among remote individuals, enabling authentic touch sensations, and fostering social interactions among users, intelligent virtual humans, and smart avatars. Its ultimate goal is to bring users closer to the dream of seamless virtual experiences.

Prior to joining the University of Hamburg, Erik completed his PhD thesis at the Human-Computer Interaction Group at the University of Würzburg. His dissertation, titled “Individual-, System-, and Application-Related Factors Influencing the Perception of Virtual Humans in Virtual Environments”, is currently under review by his advisor Prof. Dr. Marc Erich Latoschik and Dr. Richard Skarbez. During his PhD, he received the Meta PhD Research Fellowship for “AR/VR Future Technologies” and successfully contributed to the BMBF-funded project „ViTraS“, which aimed to explore methods utilizing controlled modulation of body perception and behavior patterns through XR technologies.

Erik's educational background includes a Bachelor's degree in Human-Computer-Systems and a Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction, both earned at the University of Würzburg. From 2016 to 2017, he was a visiting researcher in the Cognitive Engineering Research Group at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, led by Prof. Dr. Penelope Sanderson.

Research Interest

Everything exciting in Human-Computer Interaction, particularly in VR/AR/XR
User Experience of VR/AR/XR
Perception in VR/AR/XR, particularly of Virtual Humans
VR/AR/XR in Digital Health

Scholarships

Meta PhD Research Fellowship for AR/VR Future Technologies
SBB Master’s Degree Scholarship
SBB Bachelor's Degree Scholarship

Media

Awards

Honorable Mention: Döllinger, N., Wolf, E., Botsch, M., Latoschik, M.E., & Wienrich, C. (2023) Are Embodied Avatars Harmful to our Self-Experience? The
Impact of Virtual Embodiment on Body Awareness. In 2023 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI).
Best Paper Nominee: Zimmerer, C., Wolf, E., Wolf, S., Fischbach, M., Lugrin, J.-L., & Latoschik, M. E. (2020). Finally on Par?! Multimodal and Unimodal
Interaction for Open Creative Design Tasks in Virtual Reality, In 2020 International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI).
Best Paper Runner-Up: Wolf, E., Klüber, S., Zimmerer, C., Lugrin, J.-L., & Latoschik, M. E. (2019). “Paint that object yello”: Multimodal Interaction to Enhance Creativity During Design Tasks in VR. In 2019 International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI)
DIVR Science Award 2019 for "Best Impact"

Academic Services

Review History: IEEE VR (2020-2024), IEEE ISMAR (2021, 2023-2024), ACM CHI (2022, 2024), ACM VRST (2023), ACM SUI (2022), I-com Journal (2022), ACM UIST (2020), Mensch und Computer (2019-2020)

Teaching Experience

HCI Master Project, Master of Human-Computer Interaction, Department of Informatics, University of Würzburg, 2021-2022, 2023-2024.
Computer Graphics Exercises, Bachelor of Human-Computer Systems, Department of Informatics, University of Würzburg, 2018.

Supervised Theses

L. Holderrieth, Exploring the Impact of Embodying Personalized Avatars With Idealized Body Weight on Self-Esteem and Body Perception in Virtual Reality, Master thesis, Human-Computer Interaction, Department of Informatics, University of Würzburg, 2024
M. Fiedler, The Influence of Embodiment and Personalization of Photorealistic Avatars on Body Perception in Virtual Reality, Master thesis, Human-Computer Interaction, Department of Informatics, University of Würzburg, 2022
P. Martinez Pankotsch, Is This Me? Effects on Body Perception After Exposure to a Modulated Self in Virtual Reality, Bachelor thesis, Human-Computer-Systems, Department of Informatics, University of Würzburg, 2022.
V. Frohnapfel, Comparing the Allocentric Perception of Personalized Virtual Humans between Virtual and Augmented Reality, Bachelor thesis, Human-Computer-Systems, Department of Informatics, University of Würzburg, 2021.
N. Erdmansdörfer, Gestic and Facial Animations – Testing Body-Awareness in an Immersive 3D Environment, Bachelor thesis, Human-Computer-Systems, Department of Informatics, University of Würzburg, 2021.