Commissioned Education
A Practical Introduction to Eye Tracking
Next course will be given in November 26-28, 2025
About this course
An eye tracker is a tool that measures where someone looks and how the eye moves. The technology is heavily used in fields such as psychology, neurology and human-computer interaction, but is also commonly used in more applied areas such as human factors research and marketing. While being an extremely powerful tool to probe human visual behavior, there are many theoretical, practical and methodological skills one must acquire to use eye tracking effectively.
Do you think that eye tracking sounds complicated? Welcome to this course where you can learn from experienced researchers and make mistakes in a safe environment, before you start your own eye tracking project. This course gives participants a practical introduction to eye tracking, with a focus on both theoretical grounding in using eye movements for research and hands-on exercises with state-of-the-art eye tracker hardware and software. This 3-day course is open to everyone who wants to learn more about eye tracking methodology and how to practically work with eye trackers. While no background knowledge is required, the course contains enough possibilities to explore deep technical and methodological questions to benefit also the advanced user. The teachers are active researchers with over 20 years experience in eye movement and eye tracker research each. It is recommended to come to the course with a specific research project in mind to maximize the benefit from the course.
The course takes place at the Lund University Humanities Lab, which has long-standing expertise in eye tracking methodology and education. Teaching will take place in the Digital Classroom, a unique facility equipped with 16 Tobii Pro Spectrum eye trackers, meaning that each participant can work alone or in pairs with a dedicated high-end system throughout the course. Other eye trackers that are available throughout the course are an EyeLink 1000 Plus, Pupil Invisible and Neon, and a Tobii Pro Glasses 2.
The course will be taught in English.
Date
November 26-28 (three days), 2025. Begins 09.00 the first day and ends at lunch time on the last day.
Location
Lund University Humanities Lab, Lund, Sweden. Visiting address: Helgonabacken 12, Lund, Sweden. The lab is located under the library of the SOL-building. We will meet outside of the library at 09.00 on November 26th.
Cost
€965 if participants have an academic affiliation, otherwise €1499 (for instance industry representatives). Industry representatives from Sweden will be billed an additional 25% VAT. The course fee includes lunches, one dinner, and coffee breaks.
Registration
Apply through the application form below. Registration is on a first-come-first-served basis and there is no deadline: It is possible to register for the course as long as there are open spots. Your registration is not valid until payment has been received. Registering to the course is binding. If participation is canceled more than 3 weeks before the course starts, the participant will be refunded 50% of the course fee. If canceled less than 3 weeks before the course starts, the participant will be charged the full course fee and no refund will be made. The content of the course is equivalent to 1.5 ECTS credits. A course certificate will be provided upon completion of the course.
Application form - lu.app.box.com
Number of participants
There are 16 eye tracking stations for use during the course. If there are more than 16 participants, some have to work in pairs.
Recommended reading before the course
- Hessels, R. S., Nuthmann, A., Nyström, M., Andersson, R., Niehorster, D. C., & Hooge, I. T. C. (2025). The fundamentals of eye tracking part 1: The link between theory and research question. Behavior Research Methods, 57(1), 1-18.
- Hooge, I. T. C., Nuthmann, A., Nyström, M., Niehorster, D. C., Holleman, G. A., Andersson, R., & Hessels, R. S. (2025). The fundamentals of eye tracking part 2: From research question to operationalization. Behavior Research Methods, 57(2), 73.
- Nyström, M., Hooge, I. T. C., Hessels, R. S., Andersson, R., Hansen, D. W., Johansson, R., & Niehorster, D. C. (2025). The fundamentals of eye tracking part 3: How to choose an eye tracker. Behavior Research Methods, 57(2), 67.
- Niehorster, D. C., Nyström, M., Hessels, R. S., Andersson, R., Benjamins, J. S., Hansen, D. W., & Hooge, I. T. C. (2025). The fundamentals of eye tracking part 4: Tools for conducting an eye tracking study. Behavior Research Methods, 57(1), 46.
- Hessels, R. S., Niehorster, D. C., Nyström, M., Andersson, R., Holleman, G. A., & Hooge, I. T. C. (2025). The fundamentals of eye tracking part 5: The importance of piloting. Behavior Research Methods, 57(8), 216.
- Dunn, M. J., Alexander, R. G., Amiebenomo, O. M., Arblaster, G., Atan, D., Erichsen, J. T., ... & Sprenger, A. (2023). Minimal reporting guideline for research involving eye tracking (2023 edition). Behavior research methods, 56(5), 1-7.
- Holmqvist, K., Nyström, M., Andersson, R., Dewhurst, R., Jarodzka, H., & Van de Weijer, J. (2011). Eye tracking: A comprehensive guide to methods and measures. OUP Oxford.
Course schedule (preliminary)
When | What |
Day 1 |
|
09.00-09.45 | Introduction to course and each other |
09.45-10.45 | L1: Introduction to eye tracking - why and how |
10.45-11.00 | BREAK |
11.00-12.00 | P1: Try out eye tracking |
12.00-13.00 | LUNCH |
13.00-14.00 | L2: Experimental design using eye trackers |
14.00-14.45 | P2: Implement an experiment using commercial and open software |
14:45-15.00 | BREAK |
15.00-16.00 | P2 cont’d: Implement an experiment using commercial and open software |
16.00-17:30 | Open stations - try our different eye trackers (EyeLink 1000 Plus, Tobii Glasses 2, Pupil Labs Invisible/Neon). Discuss your research questions with us. |
17:30-19:30 | Informal dinner in the university building |
| Day 2 | |
09.00-09.45 | Minute paper discussion |
09.45-10.45 | L3: Eye tracking - record data L4: What eye-tracker attributes are important for my study? |
10:45-11.00 | BREAK |
11.00-12.00 | P3: Get to know your eye tracker |
12.00-13.00 | LUNCH |
13.00-14.00 | P4: Record data |
14.00-14.45 | L5: Introduction to data analysis |
14:45-15.00 | BREAK |
15.00-16.00 | P5: Data visualization, exploration and quality checks |
16.00-17.00 | L6: Event classification and AOIs |
| Day 3 | |
09.00-09.30 | Minute paper discussion |
09.30-10.30 | L7: Wearable eye tracking - tools for studying daily life activities |
10.30-10.45 | BREAK |
10.45-11.45 | P6: Analysis |
11.45-12.00 | Course wrap up |
12.00-13.00 | LUNCH |
13.00-15.00 | Project discussions (optional) |
About the teachers
Both teachers are active researchers and together have more than 40 years of experience with eye tracking and eye-movement research.
Diederick Niehorster is a researcher who has been working with eye tracking since 2005. He has experience with eye-tracking research in a wide array of scientific fields as well as applications in industry, and has experience helping eye-tracking users from all walks of life with their eye-tracking studies. Diederick is an avid programmer who has developed several tools for beginning and advanced eye tracking researchers.
Github page - github.com
Google scholar page - scholar.google.com
Personal webpage
Marcus Nyström is a researcher and dedicated teacher who has been working with eye tracking and eye movement research since 2003. His research spans over several fields and is almost always highly interdisciplinary. Marcus has contributed heavily to advancements in eye tracking methodology and has co-authored the highly cited book ‘Eye tracking: A comprehensive guide to methods and measures’ and ‘The fundamentals of eye tracking’-series.
GitHub page - github.com
Google scholar page - scholar.google.com
Personal webpage
Additional information
Accommodation
Lund University is not able to assist with booking your accommodation in Lund. Each participant will have to make his/her own arrangements. However, we are happy to give you a few suggestions regarding suitable hotels in the city center. Here is a list of possible hotels:
There are many other hotels and hostels where one could stay, which are found online through hotel booking websites and such.
Travel to and in Sweden
Each participant is responsible for arranging his/her own trip to Sweden. Should delays that arise during your travel cause you to possibly miss part of the course, please contact us. Copenhagen airport is likely the best airport to fly to. From Copenhagen airport, you take the train to Lund C (Lund central station) which takes about one hour. Make sure to buy your ticket before getting on the train. If you do not have a ticket when you are on the train, there is a substantial fine. As long as you have the ticket, you can take the train called “Öresundståg”. When you arrive in Lund, your train ticket is valid on the green city buses in Lund, but you must show the ticket to the bus driver. More information regarding tickets and public transport in and around Lund you will find on the Skånetrafiken website. There are many ways of buying a ticket and you can find all the information in English on the website.
Skånetrafiken - skanetrafiken.se
Wireless access
Information about how to use the wireless network at Lund University - htbibl.lu.se