Elly Konijn is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities and Network Institute of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, holding the Fenna Diemer-Lindeboom Endowed Chair. As chair of the Media Psychology Amsterdam program, her work bridges media psychology, social robots, affective processing, and adolescent media use . Research Pillars : Relating to media figures, virtual humans, and social robots Media-based reality perceptions and moral standards Adolescent media effects (cyberbullying, video games, body image) Recent Publications explore emotional bonding with robots, narrative complexity in film, and media's impact on adolescent cognition. Her 2025 Communication Theory article introduces a framework for human-artificial others relationships. Scientific Recognition : KNAW/NWO Eurekaprijs (2015) Computable Award (2021) Network Institute Competitive Research Funding (2025) She supervises 16 PhD students and leads projects like ROBOT-BOND (ERC Advanced Grant 2025-2029) and Communicating with Social Robots (2020-2025). Her documentaries (e.g., Alice Cares ) translate research into public discourse.
Lily Chen is an Associate Professor at the Research School of Accounting within the ANU College of Business and Economics. She previously held positions at the University of Auckland Business School where she earned her PhD in Accounting (2013). Her research focuses on financial reporting, corporate governance, CSR, machine learning applications in accounting, and integrated reporting frameworks. Her work has been published in top journals like The Accounting Review and widely cited by regulatory bodies. Education: PhD in Accounting from the University of Auckland (2013). Professional Affiliations: Board member of Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, editor for Pacific Accounting Review, and editorial board member for Accounting and Finance and Meditari Accountancy Research. Research Interests: Combines traditional accounting topics with emerging technologies, particularly exploring machine learning applications in financial disclosure analysis. Her studies on institutional investor behavior and CSR governance have received significant industry attention. Awards: Multiple accolades including Research Excellence Awards from University of Auckland (2013), Teaching Excellence Awards, and Best Paper recognitions. Supervised 5 PhD, 8 Masters, and 8 Honours students. Teaching: Leads financial accounting courses for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Active in curriculum development and postgraduate program administration.
Maciej A Mazurowski is an Associate Professor at Duke University School of Medicine, with dual appointments in the Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics and Radiology. He is also affiliated with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and is a member of the Duke Cancer Institute. His research focuses on applying machine learning to medical imaging for improved diagnosis and treatment. Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Louisville (2008) Dr. Mazurowski's research emphasizes medical imaging , machine learning , and computer vision applications in radiology. His work includes automated segmentation , domain adaptation , prognostic modeling , and foundation models for MRI/CT analysis. His recent publications highlight trends in universal segmentation models (SegmentAnyBone, SegmentAnyMuscle), foundation models for MRI (MRI-CORE), and AI-driven diagnostic tools for breast cancer, glioblastoma, and thyroid nodules. Key challenges addressed include domain generalization , image harmonization , and ethical considerations in clinical AI. Incubation Award for innovative research commercialization Dr. Mazurowski has secured significant research funding from agencies including the National Institutes of Health , National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering , and American Roentgen Ray Society . His work spans CT segmentation , MRI analysis , and AI-based quality assessment across multiple imaging modalities.
Casey Boyle serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Texas at Austin's College of Liberal Arts, where he also directs the Digital Writing & Research Lab. His academic profile demonstrates significant contributions to digital rhetoric, accessibility studies, and posthuman theory through both research and teaching. Boyle's research interests span Rhetorical Theory, Digital Rhetoric, Accessibility, Aesthetics, Digital Humanities, Media Studies, AI & Reading/Writing, Techno-poetics/ethics, and Posthumanism . His work explores how digital technologies reshape rhetorical practices, with particular attention to accessibility as both ethical imperative and theoretical framework. His book Rhetoric as a Posthuman Practice examines information as embodied material practice, arguing that digital rhetoric concerns how bodies become informed through practice that includes not only traditional communication but also how information technologies organize those bodies. Analysis of Boyle's recent publications reveals consistent engagement with posthuman and material approaches to rhetoric, with increasing focus on accessibility, digital environments, and the intersection of rhetoric with environmental concerns. His work demonstrates interdisciplinary reach across philosophy, media studies, and digital humanities, with recurring themes of embodiment, materiality, and the ethics of digital communication. Through his teaching, Boyle offers courses such as RHE 330C (Access Designed), RHE 391 (Rhetoric and Aesthetics), and RHE 325M (Advanced Writing), with course descriptions emphasizing experiential learning and practical application of accessibility principles. His Racing to Empathy project (with Terrance Green) develops immersive digital environments to address implicit bias against Black girls in primary education, while A Version to Access (with Nathaniel Rivers) explores accessibility ontologically through the concept of nonequal design.
George Perry is a Professor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University, with research intersections in Biology, Evolutionary Medicine, and Genomics. He is affiliated with the Huck Institutes' Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Ecology, Molecular Cellular and Integrative Biosciences, and Bioinformatics and Genomics programs. Perry directs the Anthropological Genomics Lab , focusing on paleogenomics and evolutionary adaptation. Research areas: anthropological genomics, parasite evolution, human body size transitions, and evolutionary medicine Key collaborations: international teams in Madagascar, Europe, and Africa Leadership: Bioinformatics and Genomics Chair (2019–2023) His 2025–2022 publications span evolutionary responses to invasive species, human migration health impacts, chemosensory gene adaptation, and primate genomic diversity. Notable methodological contributions include ancient DNA recovery and comparative paleogenomics. Perry advises graduate students like Vanessa Garcia and Annette Mercedes, with grants including NIH support for Cuban health disparity studies. Scientific leadership includes tenure-line promotions (2023) and NASA Space Grant collaborations.
Anne-Lise François is an Associate Professor in the Departments of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. She earned her PhD in Comparative Literature from Princeton University. Her work bridges 18th- and 19th-century British literature with contemporary environmental humanities, focusing on themes of ecological ethics, literary minimalism, and non-productive temporalities. Current research explores pastoral worldliness and commons-based economies in Romantic and modernist texts. Key scholarly contributions include her prize-winning book *Open Secrets: The Literature of Uncounted Experience* (2007), which examines 'affirmative reticence' in works by Jane Austen, Mme de Lafayette, and Emily Dickinson. Her recent projects address climate crisis narratives, food politics, and the intersection of aesthetic theory with ecological urgency. Teaching emphasizes transhistorical literary studies and environmental criticism Active in interdisciplinary collaborations across literature, philosophy, and environmental science Current book project: *Provident Improvisers: Parables of Subsistence from Wordsworth to Benjamin* Her writing synthesizes close textual analysis with broader socio-ecological frameworks, challenging Enlightenment models of productivity and advocating for 'recessive fulfillment' in both art and life.
Erik Wade is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Creative Writing at SUNY Oswego. He holds a PhD from Rutgers University and has taught at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn in Germany. His research focuses on race, sexuality, and national identity in early medieval English literature, with a particular emphasis on how these themes intersect with religious texts and cultural narratives. He currently directs the Medieval and Renaissance Studies minor and serves on the advisory board for Exemplaria: Medieval, Early Modern, Theory . Educational Background: PhD in English, Rutgers University (2018) MA in English, University of Oregon (2011) BA in English and History with a minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, SUNY Oswego (2009) AA in Humanities, Onondaga Community College (2007) Research Interests: Interrogates racial and sexual discourses in medieval literature Examines how early English texts constructed national identity through contested themes like rape culture and racial hierarchies Investigates global influences (e.g., Byzantine theology) on medieval English thought Challenges Eurocentric narratives in medieval studies Recent Publications Highlight: His work analyzes trans and queer themes in medieval hagiography, the racialized language of 'Anglo-Saxon' terminology, and the intersections between animal studies and gender relations. He co-authored a Smithsonian Magazine article deconstructing the term 'Anglo-Saxon.' Teaching and Advocacy: Teaches courses on medieval global literature, critical theory, and premodern identity. Actively promotes inclusive pedagogy and addresses systemic racism in academic disciplines through published opinion pieces and collaborative projects like the upcoming Race in Early Medieval England (Cambridge UP).
Susan Holmes is Professor at the School of Media, Language and Communication Studies at the University of East Anglia (UEA), where she joined as Reader in Television in 2007 and was appointed to Professor in 2018. She is an active member of several research groups including Media Equality, Film, Television and Media, Gender and Its Intersections Steering Committee, and HealthUEA. Her work spans television studies, celebrity culture, and feminist approaches to eating disorders. Professor Holmes received her academic training at the University of Sussex (BA in English and Media Studies), followed by an MA in Film from the University of Southampton, and completed her PhD on British film and television in the 1950s at the same institution. Prior to joining UEA, she taught Media and Cultural Studies at the Southampton Institute (now Southampton Solent University) and television and film at the University of Kent. Her research focuses on several interconnected areas that challenge traditional disciplinary boundaries. In television studies, she has made significant contributions to understanding British television history, particularly through her books 'British TV and Film in the 1950s' and 'Entertaining TV: the BBC and Popular Programme Culture in the 1950s,' where she challenges canonical ideas about early BBC television. Her work on reality TV examines historical development, generic labeling, and celebrity. Since 2014, she has conducted important empirical research on feminist approaches to eating disorders, analyzing media representations and working directly with people with lived experience. A key focus of this research examines how feminist approaches are neglected in contemporary eating disorder treatment, with implications for both clinical practice and cultural understanding. She co-founded the influential Celebrity Studies journal in 2010 and edited it for the first eight years of its publication. Analysis of Professor Holmes' recent publications reveals a clear trajectory where her expertise in media and television studies converges with her feminist scholarship on eating disorders. Her most recent work (2023-2025) increasingly focuses on cross-cultural applications of feminist approaches to eating disorders (including work in China), the use of innovative methodologies like Photovoice, and examinations of therapeutic alliance in treatment settings. Simultaneously, she continues to analyze contemporary media representations, particularly focusing on motherhood, true crime television, and reality TV through feminist lenses. This dual focus demonstrates how media representations shape cultural understandings of both celebrity and health conditions. Professor Holmes' significant contributions to academia have been recognized with several prestigious awards: Senior Fellowship from Advance HE (2024) UEA engagement award (2017) ALPSP award nomination for Celebrity Studies as best new journal (2011) She currently runs the Feminist Media Studies research cluster at UEA and is actively supervising postgraduate research in areas including popular television, television/film history, British TV history, stardom/celebrity, and feminist approaches to eating disorders. Her current major research project is the 'ALLIANCE study' (2024-2026), funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which aims to develop practice and policy recommendations to support effective therapeutic alliance in inpatient treatment for eating disorders. This builds on her earlier British Academy-funded research on 'Entertaining Television: British TV, the BBC and Popular Programme Culture in the 1950s' (2007-2008). Professor Holmes plays a significant role in the academic community through her editorial work, serving on the boards of journals including Archives of Psychology, Big Data & Society, and Critical Studies in Television, and previously as co-founder and editor of Celebrity Studies. She has also been active in media engagement, contributing expert commentary on topics ranging from Netflix's portrayal of eating disorders to Celebrity Big Brother.
Jun Hwa (Jacky) Cheah is an Associate Professor in Marketing at the Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia (UEA), a position he has held since February 2023. Before joining UEA, he served as a Senior Lecturer at Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in Malaysia. He holds a PhD in Business Economics and an MBA in International Business from Universiti Putra Malaysia, along with a Bachelor of Management in Marketing from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. His research focuses on digital marketing, technology marketing, consumer behavior, data analytics, and statistical modeling. He has published extensively in top journals such as the Journal of Business Research , European Journal of Marketing , and Psychology & Marketing . He currently serves as a Guest Editor, Associate Editor, and Editorial Board member for multiple academic journals. Dr. Cheah has received several accolades, including the Emerald Young Researcher Award (2021) and a Young Researcher Award from his former university. He has supervised PhD students, one of whom successfully completed their doctoral program. He is actively engaged in PhD supervision and collaborative research, with a strong emphasis on advancing quantitative methodologies and addressing contemporary marketing challenges.
K. Rajibul Islam is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo, affiliated with the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) and the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He holds a joint appointment with the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and co-founded Open Quantum Design and Lightflow Optics Inc. His research focuses on quantum information processing, quantum simulation, and trapped ion systems, with applications in quantum computing and entanglement studies. Education: Ph.D. in Physics (2012, University of Maryland), M.Sc. in Physics (2007, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research), B.Sc. in Physics (2005, Jadavpur University). Postdoctoral research at Harvard University (2012–2015) and MIT (2015–2016). Research Interests : Quantum simulation of spin models, quantum computing with trapped ions, entanglement measurement, frustrated spin systems, and quantum materials. His lab, QITI (Quantum Information with Trapped Ions), develops scalable quantum simulators and open-access quantum computers like 'QuantumIon.' Awards : Fellow of the American Physical Society (2024), VAIBHAV Fellowship (2024), Excellence in Teaching Award (2024), Early Researcher Award (2019), and Distinguished PhD Dissertation Award (2012–13). Teaching : Courses include PHYS 701 (Graduate Quantum Physics), PHYS 234 (Quantum Physics I), PHYS 393 (Physical Optics), and PHYS 256 (Geometrical and Physical Optics). He emphasizes outreach via initiatives like Bigyan.org.in , a Bengali-language science platform. Lab and Collaborations : Active in developing trapped-ion quantum hardware, including ion trap designs, optical addressing systems, and holographic control methods. Collaborates on quantum algorithms, machine learning for quantum systems, and experimental quantum thermodynamics.
Hanbyul Joo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Seoul National University (SNU). Prior to joining SNU, he was a Research Scientist at Facebook AI Research (FAIR) in Menlo Park. He completed his Ph.D. in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, working with Yaser Sheikh, and received his M.S. in Electrical Engineering and B.S. in Computer Science from KAIST, Korea. Dr. Joo's educational journey began at KAIST, where he earned both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees. He then pursued his Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, completing his dissertation titled "Sensing, Measuring, and Modeling Social Signals in Nonverbal Communication." His doctoral work focused on developing the Panoptic Studio, a unique sensing system with over 500 synchronized cameras for capturing social interactions. Dr. Joo's research primarily focuses on endowing machines and robots with the ability to perceive and understand human behaviors in 3D . His goal is to build "social Artificial Intelligence" that can interact with humans using social signals (body languages). He pursues this direction using data-driven methods where data is collected by measuring the wide spectrum of social signals transmitted during interpersonal social interaction. His research spans computer vision, machine learning, computer graphics, and robotics , with particular emphasis on 3D human pose estimation, human-object interaction, and social signal processing. His recent publications demonstrate a clear trend toward leveraging diffusion models for 3D reconstruction and generation tasks, with a focus on human-centric applications. His work bridges the gap between 2D image understanding and 3D scene reconstruction, often utilizing pre-trained models to overcome data limitations. The research consistently addresses fundamental challenges in understanding human behavior, interaction with objects, and social dynamics in 3D space. Dr. Joo is a recipient of several prestigious awards including the Samsung Scholarship and the CVPR Best Student Paper Award in 2018 . His paper "Total Capture: A 3D Deformation Model for Tracking Faces, Hands, and Bodies" received this honor at CVPR 2018. His research has been widely recognized in top computer vision and AI conferences, with multiple oral presentations at venues like CVPR, ICCV, and ECCV. Dr. Joo actively mentors a large group of students, with approximately 15 current students working toward MS/PhD degrees under his supervision. His lab, the SNU VCLab, focuses on cutting-edge research in computer vision and graphics. He has secured significant research funding through his work, though specific grant details aren't provided on his website. Dr. Joo frequently serves as an area chair for major conferences including CVPR, ICCV, and NeurIPS, demonstrating his standing in the academic community. Dr. Joo leads the SNU VCLab, which has developed several notable datasets and tools including SNU ParaHome, FrankMocap, and the CMU Panoptic Studio Dataset. His lab maintains strong industry connections, with students interning at leading companies like Meta. The lab's research focuses on building the infrastructure and algorithms needed for social AI, with an emphasis on practical applications that can be deployed in real-world settings.
Jonathan Santo is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), where he serves as Director of the Graduate Developmental Psychology Program and as a faculty member in the Office of Latino/Latin-American Studies. His research explores peer relations, cultural differences in self-esteem, and classroom-level influences on child and adolescent development, with a focus on improving school environments and fostering positive social interactions. ORCA Faculty Fellow His research spans broad areas including Developmental Psychology , Social Support Systems , and Cross-Cultural Peer Dynamics , with specific attention to peer victimization , self-continuity , school climate , and developmental trajectories in Brazilian and Colombian youth . Recent publications analyze topics like hikikomori experiences , friendship security , and HPA axis dysregulation in adolescents. Scientific awards include the ORCA Faculty Fellow recognition. His work often involves longitudinal assessments of peer relationships cross-cultural comparisons (Brazil, Colombia, China, Nigeria, Singapore, U.S.) policy-focused blog posts on family separations and school interventions
Shuran Song is an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, with a courtesy appointment in Computer Science. Previously, she was faculty at Columbia University. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Princeton University and a BEng from HKUST. Her research focuses on the intersection of computer vision and robotics, particularly in embodied AI, robot manipulation, and sensorimotor learning. Song's work emphasizes learning from physical interactions to enable robots to perform complex tasks autonomously. She leads the Robotics and Embodied AI Lab (REAL@Stanford) and has received prestigious awards, including the NSF Career Award, Sloan Fellowship, and Microsoft Faculty Fellowship. Education: Ph.D., Computer Science, Princeton University; BEng, HKUST Affiliations: Stanford School of Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering Research interests include deformable object manipulation, visuomotor policy learning, and generalizable robot skills. Her lab develops algorithms for robots to learn through interaction, with applications in household assistance (e.g., TidyBot) and industrial automation. Notable contributions include the TossingBot and Diffusion Policy frameworks. Publications span robotics, computer vision, and AI conferences (RSS, ICRA, CVPR), focusing on policy learning, deformable object handling, and embodied intelligence. Awards highlight her impact in advancing robot learning and perception. Advises doctoral and master's students in robotics and AI, and collaborates on grants from NSF, DoD, and industry partners. Teaches courses on robot perception and embodied AI at Stanford.
Hedvig Kjellström is a Professor at the Division of Robotics, Perception and Learning within the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. She holds significant affiliations with the Swedish e-Science Research Centre and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany. Her work spans multiple interdisciplinary domains and she serves as Editor-in-Chief for CVIU and was Program Chair for CVPR 2025. Her research centers on Computer Vision as a sub-field of AI, with three interconnected themes: Computational Aesthetics (exploring aesthetic aspects of human communicative behavior), Communicative Behavior (developing models of how humans and animals perceive and produce non-verbal communication), and Embodied Artificial Intelligence (creating methodologies for robots and autonomous agents to perceive the world through sensors, primarily vision). Her work has significant applications in medical diagnostics, animal welfare, human-robot interaction, and creative arts. Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong trend toward multimodal AI systems that integrate vision, language, and action understanding. Her research increasingly focuses on animal-centered applications, particularly equine pain detection and behavior analysis, while maintaining strong foundations in human communication modeling, gesture recognition, and 3D reconstruction techniques. The interdisciplinary nature of her work bridges computer science with veterinary medicine, neuroscience, and performing arts. Hedvig Kjellström actively supervises numerous PhD and Master's students across various projects and maintains extensive collaborations with institutions including Karolinska Institutet, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and international partners. Her research is supported by major funding bodies including WASP, VR, and SeRC. She leads or participates in several notable projects including OrchestrAI (communication between conductor and orchestra), ANITA (Animal Translator), MARTHA (3D horse motion analysis), and STING (synthesis and analysis with transducers and invertible neural generators). Her work with ACAI (Animal Centered Artificial Intelligence), which she co-founded and directs, demonstrates her commitment to applying AI for animal welfare.
Rosalind Gill is a prominent Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London, with a distinguished career spanning gender studies, media studies, and cultural studies. Her extensive publication record demonstrates leadership in critical analyses of postfeminism, neoliberalism, and digital culture. Gill's research interests focus on the intersections of gender, media, and neoliberal subjectivity, with particular attention to postfeminist discourse, digital culture, embodiment, and creative labor. Her work critically examines how contemporary media cultures shape gendered subjectivities, with significant contributions to understanding the 'postfeminist sensibility' as a dominant cultural framework. She has pioneered research on the affective dimensions of neoliberalism, particularly how it shapes women's experiences of confidence, self-care, and embodiment in digital environments. Analysis of Gill's recent publications reveals a consistent scholarly trajectory examining the psychological and affective dimensions of contemporary culture. Her work increasingly focuses on digital embodiment, social media practices, and the 'editable self,' exploring how visual culture and digital technologies reshape bodily experiences and self-perception. Gill's research demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how neoliberal imperatives intertwine with postfeminist discourse to create new forms of gendered subjectivity. Gill has produced significant scholarly collaborations, particularly with researchers like Shani Orgad, Julia Coffey, and Akane Kanai. Her influential book 'Confidence Culture' (2022, co-authored with Orgad) offers a critical analysis of how confidence has become a moral imperative within contemporary neoliberal feminism. Her academic contributions extend to professional activities, including submissions of evidence to UK Parliamentary committees on employment rights, demonstrating her engagement with policy-relevant research. Gill's work consistently bridges theoretical sophistication with attention to contemporary social issues, making significant contributions to feminist scholarship and cultural studies.
