We are utterly delighted to welcome Profs. Eric Vanman (University of Queensland, Australia) and Arvid Kappas (Constructor University, Germany) to Zurich for the kick-off meeting for the ROSIE (Robots as Outgroups: Social Interaction and Empathy) project, a social robotics research collaboration funded by the Australian Research Council. Watch this space for more updates as the project takes off!
December 7th, 2023: We had a fantastic and fun Xmas dinner on the Forch. Thank you to our two amazing organizing fairies.
December 5th, 2023: The study by Dr. Guy Laban and Prof. Emily Cross proved that people who interact with social robots disclosed more about themselves over time and reported feeling less lonely. Further they found in their research that interacting with a social robot improved people's moods over time.
November 16th, 2023: Prof. Emily Cross was in Paris to discuss UNESCO's work on the ethics of neurotechnology with Member States as part of the UNESCO General Conference, and this comes right as UNESCO has been charged with developing an ethical governance framework for neurotechnology in the same way they did for AI ethics.
November 3rd, 2023: Dr. Ionela Bara presented her research on how art knowledge training shapes understanding, inspires creative ideas and stimulates thinking at the external pageBeauty and Change 2023 conferencecall_made, University of Turin, Italy. This year’s conference gathered leading scholars from the fields of philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience to strengthen the emerging interdisciplinary interest around the notion of aesthetic experience.
On our first official 'State of the Lab' research meeting on 23rd October, 2023. What a big and wonderful surprise, when we all received a sweater! Thank you, Emily, we love it!
Dr. Ryssa Moffat is excited to collaborate with external pageCaran D'Achecall_made and external pageCortivisioncall_made for a new study! She will investigate how intergenerational relationships develop over time, using an art intervention and mobile brain imaging (fNIRS).
October 19th, 2023: A day full of science fun was waiting for us! We had a "Joint Lab Meeting" with Prof. Nici Wenderoth's Neural Control of Movement Lab research group NCM. It's was a great opportunity for both groups to share what we work on and get to know each other.
October 8th, 2023: Dr. Ionela Bara is developing exciting new neuroaesthetics research that seeks to investigate the neurocognitive processes underpinning viewers’ perceptions of paintings that feature (human) subjects in front compared to back-facing views (the latter being a compositional device known as Rückenfigur). What a wonderful surprise it was to learn that the external pageWinterthur art gallerycall_made is currently hosting an exhibition by the master of Rückenfigur paintings, Caspar David Friedrich!
September 21st- 22nd, 2023 JDPLS Summer School in Murten/BE: Our two new doctoral students, Luca Leisten and Fenella Symes, started in the second cohort of Joint Doctoral Program in the Learning Sciences JDPLS, an ETH Zurich - EPFL collaboration educating a new generation of dual-disciplined scientists. Prof. Emily Cross participated as a supervisor.
Dr. Richard Ramsey together with our visitior, Prof. David Kaplan
September 19th – 21st, 2023: Prof. David Kaplan from Macquarie University visited and gave a talk on how our motor systems adapt to changes in our bodies and environments.
September 15th, 2023: Prof. Emily Cross and Dr. Ryssa Moffat each spoke about using fNIRS to investigate social processing at the external pagefNIRS UK conferencecall_made held in Colchester, UK.
Congratulations to Dr. Ryssa Moffat on her exciting new collaboration with industry partner, external pageCortivisioncall_made. Her project will combine a series of intergenerational art activities with fNIRS (non-invasive mobile brain imaging) to investigate the development of inter-brain synchrony within and between generations, as well as over time.
Copyright: Prof. Emily Cross, ETH Zurich
August 28th, 2023: Prof. Emily Cross gave a keynote talk at the University of Glasgow’s inaugural workshop on Artificial Social Intelligence.
August 17th, 2023: Prof. Emily Cross talked about “Dancing brains and thinking bodies” at the 6th Edition of the KALEIDO retreat about “Unravelling Intelligence” in Hasliberg Reuti, Switzerland.
July 13th, 2023 - UNESCO International Conference on Ethics of Neurotechnology: Prof. Emily Cross spoke at the UNESCO International Conference on Ethics of Neurotechnology on the theme "Towards an Ethical Framework in the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms" at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. Together with Prof Hervé Chneiweiss, she reported on the findings of an export report on “Ethical issues of neurotechnology”.
We would like to welcome Fanny Mougel to our team. She will be our new Scientific Assistant, starting on March 1st, 2024.
We would like to welcome Nea Mazouz to our team. She will be our Intern starting on January 8th, 2024 for three months.
We would like to welcome Tessa Portier to our team. She will be our Intern from 16. October 2023 until 15. April 2024.
We would like to welcome Dr. Gianluca Saetta and David Crevillen to our team. Gianluca will be our new Postdoctoral Researcher and David our new Doctoral Student, both starting on October 1st, 2023.
We would like to welcome Fenella Symes to our team. She will be our new Doctoral Student, starting on September 1st, 2023.
We would like to welcome Luca Marie Leisten to our team. She will be our new Doctoral Student, starting on August 1st, 2023.
We would like to welcome Dr. Ionela Bara to our team. She will be our Postdoctoral Researcher, starting on July 1st, 2023.
We would like to welcome Dr. Ryssa Moffat to our team. She will be our Postdoctoral Researcher, starting on June 1st, 2023.
Copyright: Prof. Emily Cross, ETH Zurich
On April 1st, 2023, Prof. Emily Cross started her professorship at ETH Zurich. Claudia Boschung, the Office Manager, who is excited to build up the professorship with her, welcomes Emily warmly!
Copyright by JAM
July 10th, 2023: Dr. Ryssa Moffat presented her research on the aesthetic appreciation of dyadic movement synchrony at the Join Action Meeting (JAM) in Budapest. The bi-annual Joint Action Meeting (JAM) brings together cognitive scientists and researchers from related disciplines studying individuals’ ability to act together.
June 30th - July 4th, 2023: Prof. Emily Cross was invited as a speaker at the 19th General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP) in Krakow. The symposium was called ‘The impact of intelligent agents on social and romantic relationships’.
