Blog CRC1646

The workshop "Computational Modeling of Creativity & Interactive Reference Games" was organized by members of project B02 (Prof. Dr. Sina Zarrieß and Prof. Dr. Hendrik Buschmeier, PhD Manar Ali and Postdoc Simeon Junker). It was held on 23rd April 2026 at Bielefeld University and focused on linguistic creativity in reference games, with a particular emphasis on visual or face-to-face settings. It brought together researchers from different projects of CRC 1646 as well as several invited guest speakers. The event included research presentati-ons as well as multiple brainstorming and discussion sessions addressing technical, methodological, and theoretical questions related to the workshop topic.

The workshop opened with a talk by Sina Zarrieß (B02), who introduced the topic and presented recent work from the organizing group. This was followed by a series of short talks and discussion sessions featuring both CRC researchers and invited guests. Dr. Alon Fishman (C02), Prof. Dr. Albert Gatt (University of Utrecht), Dr. Ece Takmaz (University of Utrecht), Prof. Dr. Simon Dobnik (Universiy of Gothenburg), and Prof. Dr. Tessa Verhoef (University of Leiden) shared recent findings and ongoing research, discussing their work with particular regard to linguistic creativity.

In the afternoon, the workshop continued with several interactive sessions, both in break-out groups and in plenary. These sessions allowed attendees to explore open questions in greater depth and to identify shared challenges and possible directions for future research.

Overall, the workshop provided valuable opportunities for informal exchange among rese-archers from different disciplines, and generated a range of ideas for future collaborative projects extending beyond CRC 1646 and Bielefeld University.

© Simeon Junker, SFB 1646

Project Team B02: Creative reference

back row, left to right: Sina Zarrieß & Manar Ali

front row, left to right: Hendrik Buschmeier & Simeon Junker

Photo: Sascha Hermannski © SFB 1646