I work as an Assistant Professor at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR). My research investigates human-machine interactions from a communication scientific standpoint. For my doctoral dissertation (defended in 2021), I investigated the emergence of social relationships between children and robots – and I still conduct studies on this topic. In addition, I currently co-supervise a PhD project on human-robot interaction and collaborate with other ASCoR researchers to investigate human-chatbot and human-AI interactions.
Most of my research focuses on two central questions: First, how does human-machine communication differ from interpersonal communication and what does this mean for existing theories about social interaction? And second, how does a ‘responsible’, transparent approach to human-machine communication influence people’s social responses toward technologies?
Next to my research activities, I teach in the College and Graduate School of Communication Science and supervise bachelor, master, and PhD thesis projects. In addition, I coordinate ASCoR’s PhD program and fulfull several other administrative roles within the Communication Science department. For further details, please refer to the information below.