HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-01 . Expertise: : Creative coding environments, AI-assisted programming, multimodal interaction and more

Dr. Mauricio Verano Merino (m.verano.merino@vu.nl, Assistant Professor

Department of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam)

Expertise: Creative coding environments, AI-assisted programming, multimodal interaction, software engineering, human-computer interaction, end-user programming

Interested in : HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-01 “Artistic intelligence” : harnessing the power of the arts to address complex challenges, enhance soft skills and boost innovation and competitiveness

Expertise and Contribution to the Call

I design and build programming environments that support creative practice. I am particularly insterested in visual/audio artists and digital makers who use code as a medium. My research sits at the intersection of software engineering, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence, with a particular focus on how programming tools and workflows can be made more expressive, legible, and mouldable for diverse users.

A central insight driving my work is that the challenge for creative developers today is no longer producing code. AI tools have made that far more accessible, but understanding, navigating, and reshaping code to serve genuine artistic intent. Current programming environments and languages were not designed with this challenge in mind, nor do they account for the diversity of people who now use code as a creative medium, including differences in gender, neurodivergence, and technical background.

A key dimension of my research is to explore the role of multimodality in transforming how programming activities take place. I investigate how emerging technologies (including ubiquitous XR, spatial computing, VLMs, LLMs, speech interaction, and virtual reality) can open new opportunities for interacting with code. Rather than treating programming as a text-bound, screen-based activity, my work asks how spatial, embodied, and conversational modalities can reshape the programming experience for creative practitioners.