2026

December 2025

Two book pages: left, a title page reading "Extended Cognition: Measuring, Modeling, and Modulating Time Perception in Virtual Reality" with a simple stick-figure illustration, and right, a fully written page with a hand-drawn spider in the middle.

I started writing my thesis, building the structure, framing, chapters, the storyline.

I’m enjoying it too much, and it could be a bit of a problem, cause when I’m captivated by an idea, it’s easy for me to get lost and never actually finish the job.

I think ‘eXtended Cognition’ is the concept that makes the final bridge to where I always wanted to go. Well, we’ll see soon. But even so, reaching is just the beginning.

By the way, I’m using this magnificent template, created by Dr. André Miede, and if you are too, don’t forget to send a postcard.

Dissertation: eXtended Cognition

November 2025

Six people pose indoors for a group photo, four seated in front and two standing behind. The scene is rendered in a stylized, poster-like digital painting.

Peer Action Pilot: Finale

A year of monthly Peer Action sessions ended at Café Saga—with a highly recommended drink: Spicy Mango. I didn’t expect these meetings to make such a substantial impact on my decision for the next step after the PhD. I am grateful to Dr. Inês Crisostomo for helping me remember why I chose academia in the first place and for reviving a sense of ambition I had slowly muted.

October 2025

Collage of photos from ISMAR 2025 showing Sahar Niknam in traditional Korean hanbok, presenting research, and meeting colleagues at the conference dinner and NeuroXR workshop.

Hanbok at IEEE ISMAR ‘25

The VR community is really one of the kindest and most inspiring groups I’ve met—brilliant, fun, and generous.

I had a wonderful time, I presented two papers and a poster, helped organize the NeuroXR workshop, and learned from so many amazing people.

September 2025

Group photo of the ChronoPilot research team at the University of Luxembourg during the Final Review Meeting, standing in front of a large screen displaying the ChronoPilot logo.

ChronoPilot Finale

We officially wrapped up the ChronoPilot project in Luxembourg.

I joined as a PhD student, fascinated by the idea that we can hack the human brain in virtual reality. And in six months, I will be defending my thesis on the possibility of extended Cognition in XR.

August 2025

Timing Error Prediction

Our paper ‘EEG-Based Prediction of Perceptual Timing Errors in Virtual Reality’ has been accepted for presentation at the NeuroXR Workshop at IEEE ISMAR 2025.

July 2025

A digital cartoon-style illustration of five people posing under a tent at a science fair. In the center stands a person dressed as the Mandalorian in green and orange armor. Behind them, a woman in pink pants playfully peeks out.

eXtended Cognition

My position paper ‘eXtended Cognition: Measuring, Modeling, and Modulating Perception in XR’ was accepted to the Doctoral Consortium of IEEE ISMAR 2025.

I’m extremely happy it wasn’t rejected.

PS. I had a great time at the LUX:PLoration booth during the 31st BD festival in Contern.

June 2025

ISMAR 2025 logo alongside a stylized line drawing of a bridge over water, possibly referencing the host city’s iconic structure. The logo itself combines abstract human and technological elements in gradient shades of red, purple, and blue.

NeuroXR at ISMAR 2025

We’re organizing the first NeuroXR workshop on neurophysiological signals, affective computing, and cognition in extended reality, held at the 24th IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR).

Visit the workshop website for submission and registration details.

May 2025

Split image: left, a telescope on a tripod silhouetted in front of a window at sunset; right, a white and purple compound microscope on a tan tabletop.

New Roommates

I’ve been holding onto the thought for a couple of years, making excuses that I’m about to move again, to another place—another continent, actually—and the last thing I need is more luggage, especially fragile stuff.

But then I went to a science festival for kids, and I remembered that feeling of awe, when you get to see the universe above and below human scale.

April 2025

A woman in a red shirt and blue hoodie stands before a striped wall. Text reads: “#TechForGood — ChronoPilot: Redefining Time Perception Through Extended Reality.”

Interview with Silicon Luxembourg

Hassan and I had a great conversation about the ChronoPilot project, the implications of modulating time perception across fields like medicine, art, and technology, and a few on- and off-the-record thoughts about women in science.

March 2025

A presenter stands at a podium beside a slide showing EEG brain signatures of time perception, with three frequency plots labeled "Overestimation," "Correct estimation," and "Underestimation."

VR/AR Lab in Saint-Malo

I presented our paper on monitoring time perception in virtual reality at IEEE VR 2025, Saint-Malo, France.

I know people often say things like this to be diplomatic or professional, but I mean it sincerely—I didn’t expect to meet so many truly nice and brilliant people there.

February 2025

A composite image featuring six diverse women in science. The text 'WE ARE WOMEN IN SCIENCE' is prominently displayed in bold, capital letters, with 'WOMEN' highlighted in blue-green.

Women & Girls in Science

I’m honored to be featured in this year’s Women [& Girls] in Science project. Amazing people at Research Luxembourg worked together to create a series of inspirational videos, narrating stories of Luxembourg-based women passionate about science.

January 2025

A whiteboard with pink and green sticky notes organized under handwritten headings "Purpose," "Principles," and "Topics & Participants," alongside notes on session structure and format.

Peer Action Pilot at UL

I started 2025 as a member of the first Peer Action Group at the University of Luxembourg, led by Dr. Ines Crisostomo. We just held our kick-off meeting and will gather monthly throughout the year as a dynamic team of ambitious PhD students, hosting senior mentors, to network and build careers in academia and beyond.

2024