Advisory Board
Emily investigates the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underpin social interaction, aesthetic experience, and human—robot relationships. Her research explores how humans engage with artificial agents, performing and visualarts, and social technologies, drawing from cognitive neuroscience, psychology, and human—computer interaction.
She has conducted extensive research across diverse domains, including how people attribute socialness to robots, how aesthetic appreciation is shaped by expertise and embodiment, and how synchrony, mutual gaze, and movement dynamics influence social bonding. Her work is deeply interdisciplinary, integrating neuroscience, psychology, artificial intelligence, and the performing arts.
Emily has held professorial positions in the UK, Australia, and Switzerland, and is currently Professor of Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at ETH Zürich, where she directs the Social Brain Sciences Lab. Her research has been recognized with promiment awards and prizes, including the Philip Leverhulme Prize for Psychology, the Jacob Bronowski Award for early career contributions to science and the arts, and recognition as one of the World’s 50 Most Renowned Women in Robotics and Australia’s Superstars of STEM.
She has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, co-edited the volume Shared Representations: Sensorimotor Foundations of Social Life (Cambridge University Press, 2016), and serves on multiple editorial boards and international advisory committees, including UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee. Her research has been funded by the European Research Council, UKRI, the Australian Research Council, Swiss National Science Foundation and Horizon Europe, among others.
Emily is also a staunch advocate for training the next generation of creative and interdisciplinary research scientists, and for developing interdisciplinary collaboration in general, particularly at the intersection of neuroscience, social robotics, and the arts. She has organized international conferences and workshops on social cognition, aesthetics, and human—robot interaction, and regularly engages in public science outreach, including collaborations with artists, dancers, and roboticists.
Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory 