A simple black-and-white line drawing of a cheerful round-headed child with a ribbon and two tufts of hair on top, running with a backpack.

Sahar Niknam

She

THINGS I LIKE RESEARCHING

  • Machine learning, Artificial intelligence, Artificial superintelligence

  • Virtual reality, Virtual perception, Situated AI

  • Cognition, eXtended Cognition, eXtended reality

  • Computational Creativity

SCHOOLS I’vE BEEN LEARNING AT

Apr 2022 - Apr 2026

Apr 2017 - Sep 2020

Jan 2014 - Jun 2015

  • not an MSc in Creativity Studies

    Buffalo State University, Buffalo, NY, USA

    I joined the program to study the neuroscience of creativity but left after two semesters, as I realized it was oriented toward applied creativity.

Sep 2007 - Jun 2010

  • not an MSc in Philosophy of Science

    Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Thesis: Artificial Creativity Through Swarm Algorithms

    I left the program with only one chapter remaining to complete my thesis;

    I did not want to dignify philosophy as a scientific discipline that can argue against the possibility of artificial general intelligence.

Sep 2002 - Jun 2007

  • BSc in Robotics Engineering

    Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran

    Thesis: Comparative Analysis of MP3 and WMA Audio Formats: Effects on Auditory Perception

    For two semesters, I went to the final exams and handed in blank answer sheets.

Sep 1997 - Jun 2001

  • Pre-University & High School Diplomas in Mathematics & Physics

    National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents, Shahrood, Iran

STUFF I DID AT SCHOOL, BETWEEN CLASSES

  • Co-organizer, NeuroXR Workshop @ IEEE ISMAR, 2025

  • Program Committee Member, 22nd EuroXR Conference, 2025

  • Technical supervisor, BSc theses and semester projects, University of Luxembourg, 2023-2025

  • Student Volunteer, CHI, CSCW, ACSOS, CPSI, CEE, 2014-2023

  • Teaching assistant, Programming 2022-2023, Machine Learning 2019-2020, DL with TensorFlow 2019

THINGS I’vE BEEN WORKING ON

  • Predicting cognitive failure with neural networks trained on eye-tracking data
    University of Luxembourg, 2024-2026  [publication]‍ ‍[publication] [publication] [publication] [dataset]

  • Predicting time perception with neural networks trained on eye-tracking data and EEG signals
    University of Luxembourg, 2023-2025 [publication] [publication]

  • Measuring and modulating time perception in virtual reality
    University of Luxembourg, 2023-2025 [publication] [publication] [publication]

  • Investigating cognition in neural networks using adversarial attacks
    Osnabrück University, 2019-2021 [manuscript]

  • Using hybrid CNNs for eye-tracking on mobile devices
    Osnabrück University and Scicovery GmbH, 2020 [thesis]

  • Predicting stock market fluctuations using LSTMs
    Osnabrück University, 2019-2020

  • Mathematical modeling of medical diagnosis
    Shahrood University and Pezeshkyar Biomedical Ltd., 2006 [publication] [publication]

WHERE I TALKED ABOUT MY RESEARCH

THINGS I’vE DONE, WHEN I WAS NOT DOING SCIENCE

  • Founder & Director, INNO Group, Tehran, 2015-2018
    Created and led a consultancy focused on creative strategy and innovation, but full disclosure, it collapsed before officially starting.

  • Executive & Coordinator, Semnan Science & Technology Park, Shahrood, 2016–2017
    Managed public outreach, directed a children’s science center, and chaired a research-technology exhibition.

  • Online Freelancer, Upwork.com, 2014-2022
    Translated political pieces and legal documents, with a 100% job success rate.

  • Translator, 2012 and 2018
    I translated a zombie book and a bunch of cute children books into Persian :)

  • Journalist, Tehran, 2010–2013
    Produced visual and written content for hi-tech magazines and delivered editorial and translation work for policy think tanks.

Animated GIF showing a cocoon growing and transforming into a butterfly, which flaps its wings a few times before folding them closed, revealing the text "INNO" with the tagline "you need it." beneath.

PAPERS I’vE PUBLISHED

  • Ghahremani, T., Niknam, S., Venedik, B., Botev, J. (in press). Spatio-Temporal Representation of Eye-Tracking Data for Cognitive Failure Detection in VR. In Joint Proceedings of the ACM Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI) Workshops.

  • Niknam, S. (2026, May). Measuring, Modeling, and Modulating Time Perception in Virtual Reality. PhD Thesis.
    10.13140/RG.2.2.20014.47684

  • Ghahremani, T., Niknam, S., Venedik, B., Botev, J. (2026, April). Visualizing Eye-Tracking Dynamics for Predicting Human Error in Virtual Reality. In Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI AE).
    10.1145/3772363.3798798

  • Niknam, S., Siulhin, V., Botev, J. (2026, March). Oopses and Ohs: An Eye-Tracking Study of Human Errors in Virtual Reality. In Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW).
    10.1109/VRW70859.2026.00021‍ | Dataset

  • Niknam, S., Duraisamy, S., Botev, J., and Leiva, L. A. (2025, October). EEG-Based Prediction of Perceptual Timing Errors in Virtual Reality. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct).

    10.1109/ISMAR-Adjunct68609.2025.00037

  • Niknam, S. (2025, October). eXtended Cognition: Measuring, Modeling, and Modulating Perception in XR. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct).

    10.1109/ISMAR-Adjunct68609.2025.00294

  • Niknam, S., Duraisamy, S., Botev, J., and Leiva, L. A. (2025, May). Brain Signatures of Time Perception in Virtual Reality. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.Volume 31, Issue 5 (pp. 2535-2545).

    10.1109/TVCG.2025.3549570  |  Medium  |  Feature Piece  |  Dataset will be published.

  • Niknam, S., Picard, S., Rondinelli, V., and Botev, J. (2024, October). Some Times Fly: The Effects of Engagement and Environmental Dynamics on Time Perception in Virtual Reality. In Proceedings of theACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST).

    10.1145/3641825.3687726  |  Medium  |  Dataset will be published.

  • Picard, S., Botev, J., and Niknam, S. (2024, October). Physiological Data, Fatigue, Task Performance, and Timing. In Timing and Time Perception. Volume 12, Issue 1 (pp. 3-4 ).

  • Niknam, S., and Botev, J. (2024, January). Predicting Cognitive Failures in Virtual Reality Using Pupillometry. In Proceedings of theIEEE International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and eXtended and Virtual Reality (AIxVR).

    10.1109/AIxVR59861.2024.00043

  • Picard, S., Botev, J., and Niknam, S. (2023, October). A Dynamic and Scriptable Environment and Framework for Stimulus-Based Cognitive Research in Virtual Reality. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct)

    10.1109/ismar-adjunct60411.2023.00084

  • Niknam, K., and Niknam, S. (2008, May). A Mathematical Description of Physician Decision Making. In Proceedings of theInternational Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering (ICBBE).

    10.1109/icbbe.2008.141

  • Niknam, S., Ghorbani Samini, M., Mahmudi, H., and Niknam, K. (2007, June). How do physicians make a decision?. In Proceedings of theMediterranean Conference on Medical and Biomedical Engineering and Computing (MEDICON)

    10.1007/978-3-540-73044-6_181

LANGUAGES I CAN’t REALLY SPEAK

  • Persian, English: native, fluent

  • German, French: B2, B1

  • Spanish: A2

  • Hobbyist: Arabic, Hebrew, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Swahili, Swedish, Latin

A simple black-and-white line drawing of a cheerful round-headed character with a curly hair tuft, reading a book.

MY IDEA Of FUN

  • Walking. Silence. Satire. Music. Breaking News.

  • Absurd movies and quirky comedies.

  • Books without detailed, lengthy description of trivial things.

  • Doodling and writing; as a teenager, I won a few national prizes in caricature and critical writing.

  • Quantifying and data visualization.

  • Buying devices for my personal home lab that I barely use.

  • Listening to absolute or human-free silence, preferably under a completely clouded gray sky, during daylight hours.

  • Disassembling mechanical wristwatches, and not being able to put the pieces back together into a working whole.