Portrait © Alexander Rentsch, HTW Berlin
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Johann Habakuk Israel
Project management
Johann Habakuk Israel is a professor of applied computer science at HTW Berlin, where he teaches human-computer interaction, computer graphics, multimodal interaction, and user-centered design. His research focuses on immersive sketching and modeling, tangible interaction, human-computer interaction, virtual reality, and 3D user interfaces. From 2008 to 2014, he worked in the Virtual Product Creation (VPC) department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and led the Virtual Reality Solution Center (VRSC). In 2009, he received his doctorate from the Center for Human-Computer Systems at the Technical University of Berlin on the topic of »Hybrid interaction techniques for immersive sketching in early stages of product design«. From 2005 to 2008, he received a scholarship from the German Research Foundation (DFG). He is a member of the steering committee of the Human-Computer Interaction Division and the »Tangible Interaction« specialist group within the German Informatics Society (GI) and an associate researcher at the »Matters of Activity« Cluster of Excellence.
Portrait © Petra Coddington
Maja Stark
Project management and coordination
Maja Stark holds an MA in Art History with a focus on the interactions between society, new technologies, and art & culture. After completing a 1-year traineeship at Deutscher Kunstverlag, she worked as publication manager at the Cluster of Excellence »Image Knowledge Gestaltung« from 2015 to 2018. She studied Media and Applied Computer Science part-time from 2017 to 2020 alongside professional work. Since 2018, Maja Stark has been a research associate at HTW Berlin, coordinating and leading EU-funded projects at the intersection of culture and emerging technologies – such as the AURORA School for ARtists (2018–2022), the XR_Unites project (2020–2023), the HERA project (2023–2025), and, since 2026, the IUNO project. In 2023, she also worked as a project manager at BGZ – Berliner Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (Berlin Society for International Cooperation). Since 2020, she has been developing, organizing, and moderating major events – such as networking events and the international conferences »Culture and Computer Science« and »IVA – Intelligent Virtual Agents« – together with international colleagues. She is regularly involved in interdisciplinary research and publishes in conference proceedings and research journals.
Christoph Holtmann
Research assistant programming
Christoph Holtmann is a research assistant at HTW Berlin, focusing on augmented and mixed reality, immersive computing, and cross-platform development. His work combines technical innovation with user-centered methods of human-computer interaction and user-centered design. Since 2017, he has been active in various research areas and research groups at the FKI at HTW Berlin – first in the Creative Media research group, then in the XR_Unites project of the INKA research group, and since 2021 in Prof. Israel’s CENTIS team. In addition, he brings insights from his research projects at various universities into his teaching. From 2024 to 2026, he was a member of the ARPAS research project, which tested models for how augmented reality technologies can be used for social innovation and new forms of citizen participation in urban development. His contribution was particularly in the design and development of immersive AR applications that make participation processes more visual, interactive, and inclusive. In the IUNO project, Christoph Holtmann is responsible for the supportive development of XR and AI components, technical exchange with cultural professionals, and tutorial and workshop content.
Dagmar Schürrer
Artistic project assistant
Dagmar Schürrer is an Austrian digital artist with a degree in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design London, UK. She combines computer-generated objects and animations, text, and sound into complex video-sound montages and installations, which are often enhanced by extended reality applications.
Major international presentations of her work include the ICA London, the Centre Pompidou Paris, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, the Louvre Auditorium Paris, the Transmediale Vorspiel Berlin, the Museum of Waste Changsha China, SUPERNOVA Denver, Ars Electronica Linz, the Eunam Museum South Korea, and the Diagonale Film Festival Graz.
At IUNO, she supports and teaches in the field of digital media production and concept development.
dagmarschuerrer.com