Syncing with the Soul: Exploring Resonance in Religious and Spiritual Energy

NordiCHI 2026
October 2026 – Vaasa, Finland

Workshop Description

Religion and spirituality (R/S) have a deep influence on how humans perceive their bodies, emotions, and relationships. As these dimensions are gaining growing attention in human-computer interaction (HCI), they become more apparent in various digital and virtual environments. In line with the “Pulse” theme of the NordiCHI conference, this workshop will provide a dedicated space for participants to share the (in)visible R/S “energy” that drives us, and to explore how interactive technologies might resonate with the soul. Building on previous workshops organized by the SPIRITED Collective, we aim to investigate four themes. Through guided activities and discussions, we seek to catalyze the sharing of trans-disciplinary perspectives. These exchanges/synergy will both inform future research within R/S contexts and pave the way for collaborative post-workshop publication based on our shared insights.

The workshop invites a specific focus on the following four themes:

Harvesting & Generating R/S Energy This theme draws on Spiritual Informatics to explore whether information technologies can be used to record, document, and capture R/S experiences (e.g., Quantified (spiritual) Self, autoethnography). We invite reflections on research approaches that involve highly personalized and sacred data.

Navigating & Balancing the Flow Mirroring Finland’s energy cycles, characterized by dark winter peaks and luminous summer lows, this theme explores technology as a “sensory tool” for the spiritual journey. We seek creative ideas that help people manage the fluctuating R/S “highs and lows”, while also addressing fluidity and multiple belonging, exploring how technology facilitates the navigation of dynamic and shifting spiritual identities.

Transmitting & Receiving R/S Energy This theme examines the flow of energy between the private self and the collective, focusing on both the sending and receiving of spiritual values, such as community support or Chaplaincy Care. Crucially, we investigate the negative or manipulative aspects of transmission, such as the intentional misuse of religious symbols for political agendas or the use of AI in R/S contexts.

Reserving & Inheriting R/S Energy This theme expands on “spiritual energy storage” to include history, remembrance, and the passing down of traditions: how might technology (un)intentionally alter or misrepresent complex spiritual heritage as it is “stored” for the future? We seek to understand how design can honor ancestral wisdom while supporting the flourishing of future spiritual legacy.

Call for Participation

We invite all HCI researchers, designers, and religious or spiritual (R/S) leaders/theologians/practitioners who are interested in considering R/S and technology in their work, including those who don’t generally work in R/S contexts but have had intersections (intentional or not) with R/S (e.g., study participants who cite R/S beliefs or practices as a key consideration in technology adoption). Participants of any and all R/S beliefs (including no beliefs) are welcome.

We call on potential participants to share short submissions (3-4 pages, excluding references) that resonate with one of the four themes, and may take the form of (but are not limited to).

Case studies discussing completed, in-progress, or potential studies
Design artifacts/artworks related to energy in R/S contexts
Research methods/approaches for exploring R/S experiences (e.g., autoethnography)
Position papers articulating strategies, principles, guidelines, or themes for R/S-related work

We ask that participants submit non-anonymized submissions via the workshop website (form below). Submissions will be lightly peer-reviewed by the organizers to ensure fit with workshop themes. With permission, accepted submissions may be published on the workshop website.

NOTE: At least one author of each accepted submission must attend the workshop in person, and all participants must register for both the workshop and at least one day of the conference.

Submission Form

Please upload your submission using the form below.

https://forms.gle/gCS7G9J1436TNwGDA

Important Dates

All times are in Anywhere on Earth (AoE) time zone. When the deadline is day D, the last time to submit is when D ends AoE. Check your local time in AoE.

Submission Deadline: TBD
Notification of Acceptance: TBD
Workshop Date: October 2026 (TBD)

Schedule

Time	Activity
09:00-10:30	Welcome, Introductions, and Opening Keynote
10:30-11:00	Morning Break
11:00-12:30	Lightning talks and submission discussions
12:30-13:30	Lunch Break
13:30-15:00	Site-specific activity
15:00-15:30	Afternoon Break
14:30-15:30	Metaphor generation, future work, and closing

Submissions

Submissions of accepted works will be published here after the workshop.

Organizers

Xiaran Song is a doctoral student at Aalto University, Finland. Her research investigates the intersections of art, technology, and spirituality, moving from autoethnographic self-tracking in Christian prayer to exploring the Chinese aesthetic concept of liubai (empty space) through silence and digital fasting.

Sarah Cooney, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Her work focuses on how technology interacts with socio-cultural factors, particularly faith and spiritual values, to promote environmental sustainability as well as resilience and wellbeing for individuals and communities.

Sara Wolf, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Würzburg, Germany, and associated researcher at the URPP Digital Religion(s) at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Drawing upon participatory, design-oriented, qualitative methods, her work explores how interactive technologies and R/S shape each other

Brett A. Halperin is a PhD Candidate at the University of Washington studying Human Centered Design & Engineering and Cinema & Media Studies. His research investigates what it means for AI to be perceived as “soulless” within creative industries, while imagining soulful design paradigms as alternative ways forward.

Michael Hoefer, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Computer and Data Sciences at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He helped organize previous R/S focused workshops at DIS and studies technology supported reflection and personal informatics in contexts of health, human values, and personal development.

Elizabeth Buie, PhD, is a UX consultant and independent researcher who helps create technology to meet user needs. She studies HCI work on techno-spirituality and researches design to foster transcendent user experience (TUX). To support designing for TUX, she developed a design game and three new forms of design fiction.

Caroline Claisse is a Lecturer in Interaction Design at Open Lab, Newcastle University, UK. She is a designer by background inspired by Feminist, Social Justice, and More-than-Human perspectives. In her R/S research, she explores the design of interactive and tangible technologies to support community practice and how spirituality may shape new ways of designing with care.

C. Estelle Smith, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. She collaborates with national chaplaincy and spiritual care organizations to expand models of delivery for spiritual care delivery and to cultivate a new interdisciplinary research area in Human-Computer Interaction centered around online spiritual care and is PI on a Templeton Foundation grant titled “Expanding Models of Delivery for Online Spiritual Care.”

Jonna Häkkilä

Andrés Lucero is an Associate Professor of Interaction Design at Aalto University, Finland. His research interests include human-computer interaction, design, and play. He has contributed to research on employing autoethnographic reflection into the R/S context and to techno-spirituality.