November 3, 2026
2nd International Workshop on XR for Challenging Environments
This is the second edition of the XR for Challenging Environments (XR4CE) workshop series, building directly on the successful CHI 2026 workshop in Barcelona. That first gathering brought together 22 position papers and a vibrant community spanning emergency response, aviation, healthcare, industrial operations, and military contexts.
The upcoming workshop in Valencia (Nov 3, 2026), a satellite event of EuroXR 2026 and VWP Annual Forum 2026, will deepen that work. Extended Reality combined with Artificial Intelligence holds transformative potential for professionals in Challenging Environments (CEs) — contexts defined by complexity, risk, and unpredictability that push human decision-making to its limits. Yet XR research still struggles to meet the unique demands of embodied, mission-critical work.
The workshop is co-organized by AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology), the University of Zagreb, Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, and Leif Oppermann (Fraunhofer FIT & Vice-President of the Virtual Worlds Association).