Thomas Langerak

Aalto University

Department of Information and Communications Engineering

Konemiehentie 1

02150 Espoo

Finland

My research develops a learning-based foundation for intelligent interaction, bridging human–computer interaction and artificial intelligence. I model users as adaptive decision-makers and design algorithms that regulate autonomy and feedback between humans and machines using reinforcement learning, optimization, and interactive systems. As interfaces dissolve in the age of intelligent agents, my goal is to make the adaptive strategy itself the interface.

I am a postdoctoral researcher at Aalto University, working in the Computational Behavior Lab with Prof. Dr. Antti Oulasvirta. I earned my Ph.D. in Computer Science from ETH Zürich, advised by Prof. Dr. Otmar Hilliges and Prof. Dr. Christian Holz in the AIT Lab. My work integrated models of human behavior into intelligent control strategies for user interfaces, haptics, and adaptive systems.

Before my Ph.D., I completed a joint M.Sc. in Computer Science, specializing in intelligent systems, from Aalto University and the University of Twente. I hold a B.Sc. in Industrial Design from Eindhoven University of Technology, providing a foundation in design thinking and computational methods.

news

Oct 6, 2025	My paper from my internship at Meta got published in ACM TiiS!
Oct 1, 2024	Happy to say that I graduated from my Ph.D., and will start as a postdoc at Aalto Unviersity.
Apr 30, 2024	Excited to announce that my paper on Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Adaptive Point-and-Click UIs has been accepted for publication in Proc. ACM Human-Computer Interaction and will be presented at EICS this June!
Jan 31, 2024	I will be graduating this year. I am looking for next opportunities in academia and industry, both as intern and full-time.
Oct 15, 2023	Finished my internship at Meta Reality Labs with a submission to IUI!

selected publications

TiiS

XAIUI: User Belief-Driven Explainable AI for Context-Aware Adaptive Interfaces

Thomas Langerak, Kashyap Todi, Ben Lafreniere, and 2 more authors

In ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems, 2025

Bib

@inproceedings{langerak2025xaiui,
  title = {XAIUI: User Belief-Driven Explainable AI for Context-Aware Adaptive Interfaces},
  author = {Langerak, Thomas and Todi, Kashyap and Lafreniere, Ben and Desai, Ruta and Jonker, Tanya},
  booktitle = {ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems},
  year = {2025},
  publisher = {ACM New York, NY}
}

EICS

MARLUI: Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Adaptive Point-and-Click UIs

Thomas Langerak, Sammy Christen, Mert Albaba, and 3 more authors

In Proc. ACM HCI, 2024

Bib

@inproceedings{langerak2022marlui,
  title = {MARLUI: Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Adaptive Point-and-Click UIs},
  author = {Langerak, Thomas and Christen, Sammy and Albaba, Mert and Gebhardt, Christoph and Holz, Christian and Hilliges, Otmar},
  booktitle = {Proc. ACM HCI},
  year = {2024},
}

UIST

Optimal control for electromagnetic haptic guidance systems

Thomas Langerak, Juan José Zárate, Velko Vechev, and 3 more authors

In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, 2020

Bib

@inproceedings{langerak2020optimal,
  title = {Optimal control for electromagnetic haptic guidance systems},
  author = {Langerak, Thomas and Z{\'a}rate, Juan Jos{\'e} and Vechev, Velko and Lindlbauer, David and Panozzo, Daniele and Hilliges, Otmar},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology},
  pages = {951--965},
  year = {2020},
}