Peter Edward McKenna

Dr. Peter Edward McKenna is an Assistant Professor of Social Research Methods in the School of Social Sciences (SoSS) at Heriot-Watt University, and a member of the Centre for Applied Behavioural Science (CABS). His research focuses on human-robot interaction, developmental psychology, and autism-spectrum conditions (ASC), with a particular emphasis on trust dynamics, embodied cognition, and social signal processing. He holds a PhD and has been actively publishing since 2014, contributing to over 19 peer-reviewed articles and conference papers.

His work explores themes such as non-literal language processing in autism, human-robot trust, and the design of trustworthy conversational agents. Notable studies include a meta-analysis on vulnerability and trust in human-robot interaction (2024) and research on visual perspective-taking in collaborative robotics (2024). McKenna’s articles frequently bridge psychological theory with applied robotics, addressing ethical and practical challenges in autonomous systems.

He is actively involved in academic activities, including invited talks on ethical robotics (2023) and presentations on autism-robot interaction (2021). McKenna collaborates internationally, with affiliations spanning institutions in the UK and beyond. His research has been cited in Scopus and recognized through platforms like Mendeley and news outlets.

McKenna accepts PhD students and is part of the SoSS Doctoral Centre, fostering graduate research in social science methodologies. His contributions to trust frameworks and autism-focused robotics have positioned him as a key figure in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of psychology and technology.