With the beginning of April a new DFG Research Training Group was established at Chemnitz University of Technology which is closely connected to the interdisciplinary competence center “Virtual Humans” and entitled “Connecting Virtual and Real Social Worlds”. The interdisciplinary group of 12 PhD students will deal with the challenges rising from the steady increase in digitization and virtualization and its social consequences. The Visual Computing Lab welcomes the new member Michael Heidt as part of the Research Training Group and we are looking forward to the exciting field between social and computer sciences.