Luca Chittaro is full professor of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Virtual Reality (VR) and User Experience in the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Physics at the University of Udine, where he heads the HCI Lab. He leads research projects in different areas, particularly in Virtual Reality, Persuasive Technology, Serious Games, Mobile HCI, and their applications to Health and Safety.

He has over 200 international publications in journals, books and proceedings. He has been ACM Distinguished Speaker from 2015 to 2021. He is a co-founder of AVIETRA, a company that creates VR applications for safety training, with a special focus on airlines and aviation.

Professor Chittaro’s principal interest is in the disciplined design and rigorous evaluation of digital technologies such as virtual reality experiences, mobile apps, video games, and affective computing systems. He particularly focuses on systems to train people in facing risky and stressful situations, and to promote positive attitude and behavior change in users, especially in the health and safety domains. His game “Prepare for Impact”, the world-first game that reproduces the experience of real aircraft emergencies from the passenger’s viewpoint, has been downloaded by more than 19 millions players.