Deborah Szapiro

Deborah Szapiro is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Design and Society of the University of Technology Sydney, where she teaches in Animation Studio. Her work bridges animation, interaction design, and social robotics, focusing on embodied communication and emotional engagement in robots. She actively supervises Master of Animation (coursework) and PhD/Master’s research students, emphasizing creative industries' role in ethical technology development.

• Founder of Japanime Film Festival
• Co-director of Sydney International Animation Festival
• Specializes in Indigenous animation and women animation directors

Research interests include:

• Social robotics aligned with UNICEF SDGs
• Human-robot emotional engagement
• Cultural competency in robotic design
• Animation as cultural resilience

Her funded research with Honda Research Institute Japan spans:

• 2025: Target Scene C update
• 2024: Pediatric hospital applications
• 2023: Intelligent agent laws
• 2022: Memory Palace project
• 2021: The Talking Room
• 2019-2018: Multiple Haru robot iterations

Award-winning media producer with:

• AFI, Dendy, ATOM, IF awards
• PATHE, Shell Canada, BANFF Television Award
• Gordon Bruce award for Humour

Professional memberships include:

• SIRC (Socially Intelligent Robotics Consortium)
• IEEE
• ASIFA
• Society for Animation Studies
• Asia Pacific Screen Awards jury