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Professor Mads Haahr

Professor In (Computer Science)
Non College Properties
      
Profile Photo

Professor Mads Haahr

Professor In (Computer Science)
Non College Properties

 Mads.Haahr@tcd.ie

 3531896 1540


True multidisciplinarian, equally at home in the arts and sciences, and with a proven track-record in multidisciplinary research and teaching. Proven record in entrepreneurship and research commercialisation, and founder of two Irish technology companies, one of which is a TCD campus company.
  Art and Technology   Artificial Intelligence   Computer & Video Games   Computer Applications   Computer Science   Computer Software   Computing   Cyberspace   Databases   Distributed systems   Electronic Commerce   Electronic commerce,Payment, Signature   Electronic Publishing   Electronic publishing, Authoring tools   Information Technology   Internet   Internet technologies   Internet Technology   Middleware   Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing   Mobile Computing   Multimedia   Networks   Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID)   Software   Technology & Culture   Telecommunications   Ubiquitous Computing   Virtuality   Web Services   Wireless Networks   World Wide Web   XML
Project Title
 LoGaCulture
From
1 April 2023
To
31 March 2026
Summary
LoGaCulture brings together the European academic leaders in digital locative experiences to explore how a new generation of innovative locative games might benefit European society through its cultural heritage sites. Locative Games are in the process of entering the mainstream. Typically, they are applications or websites accessed on a location-aware smartphone with content and interactions that are triggered by locations. Thus, the experience is one of mixed reality, combining both elements of the digital and of the real place. Currently, locative cultural heritage games and experiences take the form of digital tours, narrative games, locative literature, or interactive puzzles at cultural heritage sites, and enable visitors to see places `with new eyes", revealing hidden aspects and creating new types of interaction. This has resulted in a great deal of experimentation. Unfortunately, design knowledge for locative games is spread thinly through a vast body of literature. In addition, the experimental nature of these systems means there is less focus on sustainable deployments, with many having a limited lifespan, highlighting a lack of understanding about how they could be deployed for the longer term in real cultural heritage locations, supported by existing heritage staff and structures.
Funding Agency
European Union
Programme
Horizon Europe
Project Title
 Viking Ghost Hunt (VGH)
From
October 2008
To
December 2010
Summary
A translational research project to develop a new type of location-based mobile game, initially based on the Dublin Vikings. The work uses augmented reality (visual and audio) to create a high degree of player immersion. The technology (now Viking-independent) is being brought to market by campus company Haunted Planet Studios Ltd.
Funding Agency
National Digital Research Centre
Project Title
 Context-Aware Mobile Services (CAMS)
From
January 2001
To
December 2003
Summary
From October 2001 to December 2003, I was Trinity College's principal investigator on the CAMS project. A core idea in CAMS was that for a smart space to be truly smart, it must be able to react to the tasks which its occupants are pursuing rather than simply reacting directly to their actions. This involves integrating task- and space-level information into an application model taking inputs from a range of sensors. The CAMS Project explored these issues from two sides: the creation of novel smart artefacts to directly support particular tasks, and ways of relating the progress of tasks to the low-level cues obtained from these devices. CAMS was a joint project with NMRC and funded by Enterprise Ireland. Our work on CAMS (such as the smart couch and the smart sword) was widely covered by national and international media and has appeared for example on BBC World News.
Funding Agency
Enterprise Ireland
Project Title
 P2P Infrastructure Simulation Evaluation and Implementation Architecture (PISEIA)
From
December 2002
To
November 2005
Summary
The Peer-to-Peer (P2P) communications paradigm is emerging as the infrastructural basis for a new suite of Internet applications. Different applications deploy different topologies, i.e., ways of arranging the nodes to form a P2P network. I am Principal Investigator for the PISEIA project, which explores performance, security, privacy and other issues related to topology in P2P networks. More information available at: http://www.dsg.cs.tcd.ie/sites/PISEIA.html
Funding Agency
Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET)
Programme
Basic Research Grant Scheme
Project Title
 Software Infrastructure for Sensor-enabled Training and Entertainment Requisites (SISTER)
From
January 2005
To
December 2007
Summary
The SISTER project builds upon the ideas developed as part of the Context-Aware Mobile Services (CAMS) project. The specific aim of SISTER is to develop high-quality prototypes of specialised artefacts and dedicated middleware and applications in order to evaluate commercial potential within the two well-defined application domains: advanced sports/leisure training equipment and high-end toys.
Funding Agency
Enterprise Ireland
Programme
Commercialisation Fund - Technology Development Phase

Page 1 of 2
Details Date
Steering Committee Member for the Joint Conference on Serious Games (JCSG) 2023-present
Mentor for the Doctoral Consortium for the International Conference for Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS) 2023-present
Co-Founder and Board Member for the Association for Research into Digital Interactive Narrative (ARDIN) 2018-present
Co-Founder and Advisory Board Member for the Journal of Interactive Narrative (JIN), ETC Press (Carnegie Mellon University) 2023-present
Member of the Management Committee for COST Action CA18230: Interactive Narrative Design for Complexity Representations 2019-2023
Steering Committee Member for the International Conference for Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS) 2018-present
Peer Reviewer for many conferences, including the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), the Games and Learning Alliance (GALA), the International Conference for Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS), Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY), Foundations on Digital Games (FDG), EUROGRAPHICS Workshop on Cultural Heritage, Joint Conference on Serious Games (JCSG), IEEE Games, Entertainment, Media (GEM) Conference, Advances in Computer Entertainment (ACE) Conference; and also ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) Conference, ACM Workshop on AppRoaches to MObiquiTous Resilience (ARMOR) 2012-present
Peer Reviewer for many journals, including Entertainment Computing (Elsevier), Games and Culture (SAGE), Museum Management and Curatorship (Routledge), International Journal of Computer Games Technology (Hindawi), Digital Creativity (Routledge); and also Scientific Reports (Nature), Ad Hoc Networks (Elsevier), Pervasive and Mobile Computing (Elsevier), Internet Computing (IEEE), Transactions on Mobile Computing (IEEE), Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems (IEEE), Transactions on Vehicular Technology (IEEE), Wireless Communications (IEEE), International Journal of Critical Computer-Based Systems (Inderscience), Future Internet (MDPI), Social Network Analysis and Mining (Springer), Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing (Wiley), Transactions on Mathematical Software (ACM) 2008-present
Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Crossings: Electronic Journal of Art and Technology 2001-2012
External Examiner for PhD Dissertation at the University of York, UK 2022
Chair of IFIP Technical Committee Working Group 14.1 - Digital Storytelling 2017-present
Member of IFIP Technical Committee 14: Entertainment Computing 2012-present
Member of Editorial Board for Computer Networks (Elsevier) Journal 2011-2013
External Examiner for the MSc in Applied Software Technologies at Dublin Institute of Technology 2011-2015
External Examiner for PhD Dissertation at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA 2009
Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
Danish Fluent Fluent Fluent
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
French Basic Basic Basic
German Basic Basic Basic
Details Date From Date To
Co-Founder and Advisory Board Member for the Journal of Interactive Narrative (JIN) published by ETC Press (Carnegie Mellon University) 2023 present
Steering Committee Member for the Joint Conference on Serious Games (JCSG) 2023 present
Steering Committee Member for the International Conference for Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS) 2018 present
Founding Member of the Association for Research into Interactive Digital Narrative (ARDIN) 2018 present
Workgroup Chair for the Digital Storytelling Workgroup (WG 14.1) of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP)'s TC14 on Entertainment Computing 2018 present
Founding Member of IMIRT: The Irish Game Makers Association 2015 present
Associate Member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) 2014 present
Member of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) 2013 present
Technical Committee Member for the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP)'s Working Group TC14 on Entertainment Computing 2012 Present
Member of the Irish Computer Society (ICS) 2012 present
Member of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) 2007 present
Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) 1999 present
Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1999 present
Svetlana Rudenko, Kelly Jakubowski, Xiangpeng Fu and Mads Haahr, Music Consciousness with Mixed Reality: Case Study on Learning Associative Imagery in Classical Music Using Three Rachmaninoff Preludes, Op. 32, LNCS, Joint Conference on Serious Games (JCSG '25), Luzern, Switzerland, 4-5 December 2025, edited by Andre Thomas, Michelle Meyer and Markus Zank , 16243, Springer Verlag, 2025, pp359 - 371, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI  URL
Jonathan Barbara, Hartmut Koenitz and Mads Haahr, Evaluating Uncertainty Representation in IDNs, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS '25), St Julian, Malta, 1-5 December 2025, edited by Maria Cecilia Reyes and Frank Nack , 16374, Springer Verlag, 2025, pp240 - 253, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI  URL
Mads Haahr, Valentina Nisi, Joris Vreeke and Charlie Hargood, Temporal Collisions: On the Use of Narrative Conventions from Genre Fiction for Location-Based Cultural Heritage Games, Proceedings of the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG '25), International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG '25), Graz, Austria, 15-18 April 2025, edited by Johanna Pirker, Fares Kayali, Katta Spiel, Sabine Harrer, Ahmed Khalifa, Gabriella Barros , 2025, (38), ACM, 2025, pp1 - 9, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI  URL
Mads Haahr, Svetlana Rudenko and Kelly Jakubowski, Alice Dalí augmented reality: Evaluating a cultural outdoors game for intergenerational play, Entertainment Computing (Elsevier), 52, 2025, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  URL
Svetlana Rudenko, Kelly Jakubowski, Xiangpeng Fu and Mads Haahr, Music Consciousness and Emotional Responses to Rachmaninoff Preludes Op. 32 in Audio and Mixed Reality: New Forms of Multimedia for Classical Music, Biennial Conference of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC), Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Canada, 25-27 July 2024, edited by Society for Music Perception and Cognition , 2024, Conference Paper, PRESENTED
Alberto Rojas-Salazar and Mads Haahr, The Effect of Educational Video Game Perceptual Realism on Learning Outcomes and Motivation, Proceedings of IEEE Gaming, Entertainment and Media (GEM) Conference, Turin, Italy, 5-7 June 2024, edited by Fabrizio Lamberti, Bill Kapralos and F. Gabriele Prattico , IEEE, 2024, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI
Svetlana Rudenko, Xiangpeng Fu and Mads Haahr, DreaMR: Exploring Dreaming with Mixed Reality - Alice Dali MR, Screen Studies in the Age of Extended Reality & Synthetic Media Conference, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, 4-5 June 2024, edited by Jennifer O'Meara , 2024, Conference Paper, ACCEPTED
Mads Haahr, Román Romero Ortuño and Svetlana Rudenko, Serious Games, Music, Synaesthesia, and Brain Health, Creative Brain Week, Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, 6 March 2024, 2024, Creative Brain Week, Notes: [https://creativebrainweek.com/event/theme-of-day-connection/], Invited Talk, PRESENTED
Jonathan Barbara and Mads Haahr, The Role of Voice in Virtual Reality Interactive Narratives, Journal of Interactive Narrative (JIN), 1, (1), 2024, p1 - 19, Notes: [ETC Press], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI  URL
Mads Haahr, Svetlana Rudenko and Xiangpeng Fu, De Chirico: Metaphysical Art - DreaMR Interactive Mixed Reality Experience, Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity (SfNC) 2024 Conference, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada, 11-12 April 2024, 2024, Poster, PUBLISHED
  

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Svetlana Rudenko and Mads Haahr, 'Mixed Reality Scriabin's Concert', St Barnabas Church, Oxford, England, 2026, -, Music Production, PUBLISHED
Svetlana Rudenko and Mads Haahr, 'Flower Piano Concert and Music Book Launch', United Arts Club, Dublin, 2025, -, Music Production, PUBLISHED
Svetlana Rudenko, Xiangpeng Fu and Mads Haahr, 'DreaMR: Prokofiev & Dali's "The Persistence of Memory" & Alice Dalí 2 MR', Meta Store, Haunted Planet Studios, 2025, -, Software, PUBLISHED
Svetlana Rudenko, Xiangpeng Fu and Mads Haahr, 'Geri Hahn Art MR', Meta Store, Haunted Planet Studios, 2025, -, Software, PUBLISHED
Mads Haahr, Svetlana Rudenko, Roisin Cotton and Neil Delaney, 'Psychogeography with E. Ravilious AR', Apple App Store and Google Play Store, Haunted Planet Studios, 2025, -, Software, PUBLISHED
Svetlana Rudenko and Mads Haahr, 'Storytelling with Augmented Reality Music Art Experience', United Arts Club, 2024, -, Music Production, PUBLISHED
Svetlana Rudenko, Xiangpeng Fu, Mads Haahr, 'DreaMR: Mixed Reality Piano Concert', Concert. Concert Room, Department of Music, Durham University, UK, Durham University, 2024, -, Notes: [https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/music/musicon/events/svetlana-rudenko-dreamr/], Music Production, PERFORMED
Svetlana Rudenko, Xiangpeng Fu and Mads Haahr, 'Kosenko-Yeats MR: Let there be no more war', Meta Store, Haunted Planet Studios, 2024, -, Software, PUBLISHED
Mads Haahr, Svetlana Rudenko, Roisin Cotton and Neil Delaney, 'Geri Hahn AR', Apple App Store and Google Play Store, Haunted Planet Studios, 2024, -, Software, PUBLISHED
Svetlana Rudenko, Xiangpeng Fu and Mads Haahr, 'Asger Jorn MR: The Disquieting Duckling', Meta Store, Haunted Planet Studios, 2024, -, Software, PUBLISHED

  


Page 1 of 5
Award Date
Exemplary Ally Award, BIPOC Caucus, International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) March 2024
Best Short Paper Award, International Conference for Interactive Digital Storytelling (2021), co-authored with my PhD student Jonathan Barbara December 2021
Best Student Paper Award, International Conference for Interactive Digital Storytelling (2021), co-authored with my MSc student Anna Rezk December 2021
Best Augmented Reality Games Development Company awarded by Business News Irish Enterprise Awards April 2018
Finalist for Heritage in Motion Award, awarded by the European Museum Academy April 2016
Best Original Innovation in Gaming at the Irish Games Fleadh for Bram Stoker's Vampires awarded by Engineers Ireland March 2013
Best in Gameplay at the Irish Games Fleadh for Bram Stoker's Vampires awarded by Engineers Ireland March 2013
Finalist for Best in Audio at the Irish Games Fleadh for Bram Stoker's Vampires awarded by Engineers Ireland March 2013
Supervisor of Dominik Haug who won the Irish Software Association (ISA) Student of the Year Medal for Most Innovative and Commercially Viable Software November 2006
Best Paper Award, IFIP/IEEE International Workshop on Self-Managed Systems & Services, Nice, France May 2005
Serious Games and Interactive Digital Narrative (IDN) are separate but related research areas. Serious Games have existed as a field of research for longer, but both are growing. I have contributed to both, but my primary focus has been to help establish IDN as a recognised field of research. As section 3.2 will show, I am now considered a world leader in IDN research generally and in research on Serious Games that have an IDN focus. Research questions: RQ1: Which subject matter can be taught with Serious Games and how? RQ2: Which types of games and platforms (e.g., AR/VR) are suitable for which subject matter? RQ3: What are the best design and evaluation methodologies for Serious Games across different domains? Research plans: Serious Games for Cultural Heritage: Smartphone-based locative augmented-reality games have considerable potential as a platform for on-site cultural and historical experiences. However, questions remain: How can cultural and historical content be presented in a game format that reconciles immersion with presence, i.e., creates engagement with the site and not just the digital content? How can cultural sensitivities (e.g., a burial site or battlefield) be managed in a suitable manner? How are widely different types of heritage sites accommodated? Serious Games and IDNs for Complex Issues. Humanity is facing problems (e.g., climate change, refugee crises, global poverty and pandemics) of a scale and complexity that make them difficult to understand and therefore easy material for conspiracy thinking and fake news. A small number of works exist that engage successfully with these complex topics through multi-perspective IDNs, and while they are once-off works without published methodologies or evaluation, their existence is promising. Games can present complex interactive simulations, and IDNs can create imaginative immersion and relatability. The question is: How can complex issues be taught through Serious Games and IDNs?