Yuanyuan Lai

Dr. Yuanyuan Lai is a Lecturer in Business Analytics at the Department of Information and Operations Management, Royal Holloway, University of London. She holds a PhD in Information Systems from Queen Mary University of London. Her research focuses on human-chatbot interaction, social robots, and the intersection of behavioral healthcare with technology. She has presented work at ECIS, BAM, and UKAIS conferences, and serves on the UKAIS board since 2023. Teaching includes courses on digital innovation and emerging technologies in business.

Education: PhD in Business and Management (Information Systems) from Queen Mary University of London (2018–2023). Professional memberships include the Association for Information Systems (AIS), British Academy of Management (BAM), and Higher Education Academy (AFHEA).

Her research explores how users emotionally interact with medical chatbots as 'doctors in their pockets,' while also addressing skepticism toward algorithmic healthcare advice. Recent work examines trust in AI-driven symptom assessment chatbots and ethical design considerations.

Grants/Projects: Lead Principal Investigator for the Social Science Impact Accelerator project (2024) on designing trustworthy medical large language models. Serves as track chair for UKAIS 2024 Health IT conference track.

Labs/Teams: Actively involved in health IT research collaborations, with external partnerships in healthcare technology innovation.