The 16th ACM Multimedia Systems Conference will be held from March 31st to April 4th, 2025 in Stellenbosch, South Africa

Mario Montagud Climent was born in Montitxelvo (Spain). He received a BsC in Telecommunications Engineering in 2011, an MsC degree in “Telecommunication Technologies, Systems and Networks” in 2012 and a PhD degree in Telecommunications (Cum Laude Distinction) in 2015, all of them at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV, Spain). He has experience as a postdoc researcher at UPV, CWI (The National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science in the Netherlands), i2CAT Foundation (Barcelona, Spain) and at University of Valencia (UV, Spain). He is currently a Consolidated Research Scientists at UV and i2CAT Foundation.

His topics of interest include Computer Networks, Interactive and Immersive Media, Media Synchronization and QoE (Quality of Experience). Dr. Montagud is (co-)author of over 100 scientific and teaching publications, has contributed to standardization, and to technology transfer to industry. He has been and is currently member of the Organization and Technical Committee of many international conferences, and of the Editorial Board of international recognized journals. He has been and is currently involved in diverse regional, national and European projects (e.g., 6G-XR, PRESENCE, HEAT), with leading roles in many of them.

Immersive technologies span beyond entertainment and rich media consumption, having become a powerful social interaction, collaboration and communication medium. In this context, Social Virtual/eXtended Reality (XR/VR) has emerged as a promising social interaction, communication, and collaboration medium, attracting the attention of both the research community and industry alike.

Social VR/XR has been recently shown to provide remarkable advantages compared to traditional videoconferencing solutions, and these benefits are magnified when volumetric video technologies come into play to provide 3D holographic representations of users. Despite the undoubtful positive impact, key challenges still need to be addressed to enable a widespread deployment and adoption of such disruptive technologies. On the one hand, this talk will provide an overview of latest technological advances - and remaining challenges - in the field of volumetric video technologies and associated networking aspects to enable ubiquitous, scalable, interoperable, and cost-efficient holographic communication services. On the other hand, the talk will provide evidence of current applicability scenarios, and suggest new futuristic ones, to foster creative thinking and evoke identification of new research/collaboration opportunities.

Prof. Vali Lalioti is a pioneering designer, computer scientist, and innovator. She is Professor of Creative XR and Robotics and Director of Programmes at the Creative Computing Institute (CCI), University of the Arts London (UAL). With a PhD in Computer Science, an MRes in Design from the Royal College of Art (RCA), and an MBA, Vali has led interdisciplinary research and innovation worldwide, from Silicon Valley to Africa, China, Japan, and Europe. She played a key role in developing the world's first Virtual Reality (VR) systems in Germany and was instrumental in establishing Afrigraph, the first ACM SIGGRAPH-supported computer graphics conference in Southern Africa.

Her research focuses on human-robot interaction, robotic movement design, and XR for societal impact, spanning well-being, healthy aging, performance art, and the future of work. She pioneered BBC's first Augmented Reality production (2003) and has published extensively, with over 150 journal, conference papers and book contributions. Her award-winning VR/AR and robotics work has been featured in WIRED, Dezeen, and BBC Horizon and the UK press.

As Founder-Director of The Innovation Consultancy, Vali has led cutting-edge research and industry collaborations, including a ground-breaking VR/XR platform to support live performances during covid19. At CCI, she founded the Creative XR and Robotics Research Hub, developed UK's first Creative Robotics programmes and led the Institute's expansion.

In her keynote, Vali Lalioti will explore the deep connection between art and technology, illustrating how their fusion fosters creativity, innovation, and inclusivity. She will take the audience on a journey from early VR applications, such as her work on Ndebele painting in virtual environments, to the latest advancements in creative robotics. Through these examples, she will highlight how interdisciplinary collaboration across design, AI, and multimedia systems leads to richer cultural experiences and groundbreaking technological advancements. She will also discuss the transformative role of multimedia applications in creative robotics, that open new frontiers for artistic expression and interactive storytelling.

Looking toward the future, Vali will examine how higher education, and research can cultivate stronger partnerships between art and technology, breaking down silos to create more dynamic learning environments. She will present case studies demonstrating the impact of interdisciplinary collaborations and explore the evolving role of multimedia systems in creative robotic performances. Throughout her keynote, Vali Lalioti will emphasize that the fusion of art and technology is not merely a trend but a necessary evolution. By embracing interdisciplinary collaboration and leveraging multimedia systems, we can create richer, more inclusive, and innovative experiences that resonate across cultures and our societies.

Yuriy Reznik is a Technology Fellow and Vice President of Research at Brightcove, Inc. Previously, he held engineering and management positions at InterDigital, Inc. (2011-2016), Qualcomm Inc. (2005-2011), and RealNetworks, Inc. (1998-2005). In 2008 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Information Systems Laboratory at Stanford University. Since 2001 he was also involved in the work of ITU-T SG16 and MPEG standards committees and made contributions to several multimedia coding and delivery standards, including ITU-T H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC, MPEG-4 ALS, ITU-T G.718, ITU-T H.265 / MPEG HEVC, and MPEG DASH.

Several technologies, standards, and products that Yuriy Reznik has helped to develop (RealAudio / RealVideo, ITU-T H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC, Zencoder, Brightcove CAE, and MPEG-DASH) have been recognized by the NATAS Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards.

Yuriy Reznik holds a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Kyiv University. He is a senior member of IEEE, a senior member of SPIE, and a member of the ACM, AES, and SMPTE. He is a co-author of over 150 conference and journal papers, and co-inventor of over 80 granted US patents.

This talk will offer an overview of several problems arising in the design of mass-scalable, multi-region streaming systems using multiple CDNs. These problems range from defining mechanisms for reliable and seamless traffic switching to the real-time collection of telemetry data to guide such switch decisions, setting the overall optimization objectives, and identifying classes of optimization algorithms suitable for use in such contexts. As specific examples of recent technical advances, I will mention the development of the HLS/DASH Content Steering mechanism for multi-CDN streaming, CMCD and CMCD v2 standards for telemetry data collection, and several open-source activities towards building turn-key steering servers for optimizing QOE and efficiency of operation of multi-CDN streaming systems.