Mixed, augmented, and virtual reality communication channels — often powered and integrated with AI — are rapidly entering workplaces, classrooms, and creative industries. But while these technologies can majorly impact people’s lives and relationships, research on their social, ethical, and experiential dimensions remains fragmented.
Questioning Reality is an international conference that brings together leaders in the field of mixed realities (including virtual reality, augmented reality, and extended reality) across disciplines and sectors to seed questions driving the future of technology’s integration into our everyday lives. The 2026 conference, held May 7-8, 2026, gathered participants representing nine different countries and more than 30 academic institutions and companies.
Hosted by the Data Sciences Institute, this annual conference is co-led by the DSI’s Bree McEwan, a professor in the Institute for Communication, Culture, and Information Technology (ICCIT) at the University of Toronto Mississauga and Prof. Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, director of the Center for Advanced Computer-Human Ecosystems and professor at the University of Georgia.
Questioning Reality is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a not-for-profit, mission-driven granting institution dedicated to improving the welfare of all through the advancement of scientific knowledge. The 2026 conference marks the third grant awarded to Professors Ahn and McEwan and the DSI to delve into VR technology and its profound implications for human interaction and communication.
In a world where technology is rapidly shaping our perceptions of reality, the Questioning Reality conferences are a gathering point to explore the intricate interplay between social interactions and mediated environments and serve as a launchpad for forming collaborations for future research projects. Envisioned as a “conference at the beginning of the research cycle,” this year’s event featured a series of discussions, presentations, and networking opportunities aimed at shaping a social interaction-informed agenda for the next research cycle on Social VR.
Dr. Mar Gonzalez-Franco, Research Manager, BIRD Lab, Google AR & VR, delivered the conference’s first keynote, Towards Human–AI Symbiosis with XR, envisioning a future where extended reality (XR) technologies enable more natural, immersive, and interactive connections with AI systems. The second keynote was delivered by Prof. Carolina Cruz-Neira, Executive Director, Pegasus Research Institute and Interim Director, Institute for Simulation & Training; Agere Chair Professor University of Central Florida. In Rethinking XR: When the Concept Matters More than the Tech Prof. Cruz-Neira explored the future of XR as a community and a force of change for good and posed thought-provoking questions on where XR must go next.
The conference included panels, on building collaborative teams and blending academia into industry, lighting talks with presentations, and plenty of time for VR demonstration and play. The working sessions were planned during pre-conference Social Salons hosted in Drawn Together, mixed reality software developed by Kyle Johnsen, Director of the Georgia Informatics Institute at the University of Georgia. In these Salons, participants brainstormed the types of questions that are relevant to their fields and can be integrated for transdisciplinary impact. Conference participants formed teams to work through how these questions might be addressed through interdisciplinary team building and while navigating practical barriers in the current research environment.
Prof. Ahn said, “In our third year of building this interdisciplinary community, I think we have crossed a threshold: scholarships intersecting, tangible outputs starting to take shape, and individual scholars seeing the value of building these capacities. Although the future is still uncertain, we collectively recognized during this year’s meeting that there is a momentum; a level of energy and intellectual curiosity within the community that almost feels tangible.”
Prof. McEwan said, “Over three years of successive grants, QR’s method of harnessing “highly organized chaos” into the development of a community and the advancement of research questions has brought people together to dig in deep to experiencing, theorizing, and planning future VR, AR, and XR projects. The folks at the conference and our entire QR community aren’t just guessing the future of mixed reality, they are actively creating it.”
A forthcoming book, The Social Virtual Reality Debate: Questioning Reality (Routledge) was developed at the 2024 Questioning Reality conference. Providing “an accessible, engaging, and timely overview of the key debates surrounding the ongoing role of VR in society,” the book will be available for pre-order ahead of its October 2026 publication. White papers from 2024 and 2025 are available now on the Questioning Reality website.