Speakers

Confirmed invited Keynote:

Professor Toshie Takahashi

Wasada University (JP)

Toshie Takahashi is a Professor at Waseda University, Japan, and an Associate Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge. She has held visiting positions at the University of Oxford, the Harvard University, and Columbia University. Her research focuses on the social impact of AI and robotics, human-centered AI, AI ethics and governance, and the future of human–robot interaction in an AI-driven world. She has led international projects including “A Future with AI: Voices of Global Youth” in collaboration with the United Nations, and the GenZAI project under Japan’s Moonshot R&D Program.

Professor Takahashi serves as Chair of a study group under Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), where she explores human-centered futures in the digital age. She has delivered keynote and invited talks at major global forums including the United Nations, The Economist, and Google. Her work introduces the concept of Human-First Innovation, emphasizing the design and governance of AI systems that support human dignity, agency, and self-creation in an increasingly AI-driven society. For more information, see: https://toshietakahashi.com

Confirmed invited panellists:

Assistant Prof. Ilaria Torre

Chalmers University of Technology (SE)

Ilaria Torre is an Assistant Professor in Human-Robot Interaction at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, where she received a prestigious Wallenberg Academy Fellowship in 2025. Her research centers around improving communication between humans and robots. This includes both verbal (e.g. designing appropriate voices for robots) and nonverbal (e.g. designing legible behaviours to communicate information intuitively and effectively without language) communication. She is also interested in questions revolving around ethics and sustainability, for example using robotics to reduce gender stereotypes in society, and understanding the tricky relationship between environmental costs and social benefits when deploying social robots. Before joining Chalmers, she was a postdoctoral researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral research fellow at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, after obtaining her PhD from the University of Plymouth, UK, in 2017.

Dr. Hae Won Park

MIT Media Lab (US)

Hae Won Park is a Research Scientist at the Personal Robots Group. She is also a Principal Investigator for the Social Robot Companions for Aging Program, leading the long-term personalization of interactive AI systems in domains that help human flourishing. She oversees and closely works with students on many projects including early childhood education, healthcare, eldercare, family interaction, and emotional wellness. Before, she was a PhD student at the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM) at Georgia Tech, where Hae Won was a member of the Human-Automation Systems (HumAnS) Laboratory advised by Prof. Ayanna Howard. While doing her PhD, Hae Won co-founded Zyrobotics, a spin-off from Georgia Tech that is licensing the three patents from her research.

Demetra Brady

Google DeepMind (UK)

Demetra Brady is an AI Ethics & Safety Manager at Google DeepMind. Her work focuses on supporting considerations around the societal implications of the technology developed at Google DeepMind, with a focus on large language models, robotics foundation models, and vision-language models for agentic applications. She holds an MPhil in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge and a BA in Philosophy from the University of Leeds. She previously also held a position as a Student Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Eric Nichols

Honda Research Institute (JP)

Eric Nichols is Principal Scientist at Honda Research Institute Japan, where he leads research on LLM-driven communication and expressive behavior for Haru, a social robot designed to support children's well-being and social-emotional development. His work is informed by deployments in pediatric hospitals and schools across the world, with a focus on safe and ethical child-robot interaction. The Haru project has been recognized by UNICEF and the United Nations.

Page updated

Report abuse