2nd International Conference
on
Virtual Reality in Mental Health - Into the real
June 12-13 Helsingborg 2025
Keynote speakers
Guiseppe Riva
Director of the Interactive Communication and Ergonomics of NEw Technologies (ICE-NET) Lab. at the Catholic University of Milan, Italy, and Head Researcher of the the Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Laboratory – ATN-P Lab., Istituto Auxologico Italiano
Giuseppe Riva, Ph.D., internationally recognized as a leading expert in the application of virtual reality (VR) technology, serves as the Director of the Humane Technology Lab at the Catholic University of Milan, Italy, and holds a Full Professorship in General & Cognitive Psychology. Additionally, he directs the Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab (ATN-P Lab) at the Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan. Renowned for his extensive contributions to the field, Riva’s work, which spans across prestigious journals like “Science”, “Nature”, “American Psychologist”, “Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking” and “Journal of Internet Medical Research”, positions him as the most published scholar in VR research globally, according to Scopus and the ISI Web of Science. www.giusepperiva.com
Louise Birkedal Gienthøj
Louise Birkedal Glenthøj is an associate professor and psychologist at the Mental Health Center Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
She leads VIRTU Research Group which is dedicated to advancing the use of VR in the clinical assessment and treatment of mental health disorders. As PI on large-scale clinical trials, she investigates the effectiveness of VR-based interventions in treating a variety of psychiatric conditions including psychosis, eating disorders, autism, anxiety, as well as the application of VR in general clinical practice. She also explores the innovative use of VR-based eye tracking to support the diagnostic process for specific mental health disorders. Additionally, her research aims at identifying biomarkers, such as EEG and MRI, as potential predictors of therapy outcomes with the goal of improving the efficacy of VR-interventions.
Lucia Valmaggia
Lucia Valmaggia is Professor in Clinical Psychology in Youth Mental Health at ORYGEN, Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, where she leads the Orygen Digital XR Innovation Lab (XR-Lab).
The lab focuses on leveraging immersive reality technologies for pioneering research in youth mental health. Throughout her career, she has integrated her academic and clinical roles. Prof. Valmaggia’s clinical practice at Orygen involves working with young individuals who have interacted with the criminal justice system. She has published extensively and has been named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher since 2019. She was the President of the IEPA-International Association for Early Intervention in Mental Health and is a Fellow of the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies. She received the 2021 British Psychological Society Presidents’ Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychological Knowledge. She is a Visiting Professor at KU Leuven and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at KCL.
Philipe Brey
Philip Brey is professor of philosophy and ethics of technology at the Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, the Netherlands.
In his research, he investigates social, political and ethical issues in the development, use and regulation of technology. His main focus is on artificial intelligence, extended reality and digital technologies. He was one of the first scholars to discuss the potential and social and ethical implications of virtual reality. Brey is former president of the International Society for Ethics and Information Technology (INSEIT) and of the Society for Philosophy and Technology (SPT). He currently leads the ten-year research programme Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies that includes seven universities in the Netherlands and over one hundred researchers. He is winner of the 2022 Weizenbaum Award for excellence in the field of digital ethics.
Märta Wallinius
Märta is a clinical psychologist and head of the Psychology Department and Research Department at the Regional Forensic Psychiatric Clinic in Växjö, Sweden’s largest maximum-security hospital.
Academically, Märta is associate professor in forensic psychiatry at Lund university and research group leader at Centre for Ethics, Law and Mental Health at Gothenburg university. Her emphasis is on applied research that can provide knowledge needed for the prevention, assessment and treatment of mental disorders and aggressive antisocial behaviors. In this, Märta has included developments of VR mental health innovations for clinical forensic settings (e.g., prisons, forensic psychiatry) and she is co-founder of the international, translational network FOReVR, dedicated to increasing the knowledge on, and implementation of, VR mental health innovations in forensic settings.
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Where
Clarion Hotel & Congress Sea U,
Helsingborg, Sweden
Organized by
Important dates
15 April 2025 - Early bird deadline
12 June 2025 - Conference starts