Join us for a one-day interactive workshop on the Future of Synthetic Relationships.
Synthetic relationships are defined as continuing interactions between humans and AI tools in which AI influences humans' thoughts, emotions, or behaviors (Starke et al., 2024). The aim of the workshop is to foster discussions around these main questions:
-
How will society be impacted by synthetic relationships in 5-10 years?
-
Which theories will remain relevant to this topic?
-
For which aspects of synthetic relationships do we need new theories?
The workshop is designed to be interactive and consists of two parts:
Part 1 — Presentations and speakers
We invite researchers from all career-stages to present their work and their vision/answers on the above. Examples of research work (not exhaustive):
-
AI as a tool (e.g., writing assistants, search engines)
-
Agents in the home (e.g., smart speakers, wearables, and smart appliances)
-
Mental well-being and chatbots
-
Emotional attachment to artificial partners
-
Embodied AI (e.g., robots and virtual agents)
If you are unsure if your work fits the scope of the workshop, please submit anyway!
Part 2 — Discussion & Brainstorming on the future of human-AI interaction
After an inspirational Part 1, we will discuss what we feel the answers could be to the above questions. You do not need to have presented in Part 1 to take part in Part 2. Feel free to register without submitting an abstract.
This workshop is open to all researchers working on and interested in this topic and similar topics.
We invite short abstracts for presentations during Part 1 at the NeFCA Summer Workshop on Synthetic Relationships.
Guidelines. We ask you to submit one A4 page as a PDF. You can structure it however you like—more like a classic abstract, a short position piece, a mini‑proposal, or something more visual. Figures are welcome. The only requirements are that it fits on 1 A4 page, and that it contains at least 250 words of text.
We’ll review all submissions after the deadline and notify everyone of the outcome by July 24, 2026.
Registration
(deadline: August 6th, 2026)
In order to join the event, you will have to register. To cover food and drink, we ask for a 50 euro registration fee. If you do not have the funds, please email Ezgi Dede and explain why you may be eligible for a reduced fee.
Certificates of attendance are available, please indicate in your registration form if you need one for reimbursement.
Due to the limitations of the venue, there will be a maximum amount of people able to attend. We will work on a first-come, first-served basis once registration opens. If you have an accepted abstract, you will be guaranteed a ticket.
Conference center Soeterbeeck
Windescheim Room
Elleboogstraat 2
5352LP Deursen-Dennenburg
The Netherlands
Important dates
10 July - Abstract Submission
6 August - Registration Deadline
August 27th, 2026
10am - 5pm
Programme coming soon
For general inquiries, questions or comments, please contact Ezgi Dede.