Kerstin Dautenhahn, Dr. rer. nat.

Kerstin Dautenhahn is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. She is Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Socially Intelligent Robotics. Previously she was Canada 150 Research Chair in Intelligent Robotics (2018-2025). She is cross-appointed to the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science and the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at University of Waterloo. She is Visiting Professor at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. At Waterloo she is the Director of the Social and Intelligent Robotics Research Laboratory (SIRRL)).

The main areas of her research are Human-Robot Interaction, Social Robotics, Assistive Technology, Developmental Robotics and Health Technologies. She is Editor in Chief (jointly with Prof. Angelo Cangelosi - University of Manchester, UK) of the Journal Interaction Studies- Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems published by John Benjamins Publishing Company, Editorial Board Member of Adaptive Behavior, Sage Publications, and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Social Robotics, published by Springer. She is an Editor of the book series Advances in Interaction Studies, published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC), Fellow of the IEEE, member of ACM, and a Lifelong Fellow of AISB. Since 2006 she has been part of the Standing Steering Committee of the IEEE conference RO-MAN (Human and Robot Interactive Communication).

Graduate students or postdoctoral candidates interested in joining Dr. Dautenhahn's lab are encouraged to first review the following information: https://uwaterloo.ca/social-intelligent-robotics-research-lab/graduatepostdoc-applicants.

Please note that Dr. Dautenhahn will only respond to inquiries from applicants who meet the necessary research qualifications and track record.

• Human-robot Interaction, Social Robotics, Assistive Robotics, Health Technologies, Robot-mediated education and therapy, Developmental Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life

• 1993, Dr. rer. nat. Natural Sciences, University of Bielefeld, Germany

• 1990, Diploma Biology, University of Bielefeld, Germany

• 2023 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

• 2023 Research Excellence Award (Waterloo Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering)

• 2018 Lifelong Fellow of the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour

• 2018-2025 Canada 150 Research Chair in Intelligent Robotics

• 2019 IEEE Fellowship awarded for contributions to social robotics and human-robot interaction

• 2022 35 Women in Robotics Engineering and Science (WiRES) honoree @ IEEE IROS 2022

• ECE 493 - Special Topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
• ECE 750 - Special Topics in Computer Software
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• ECE 757A - Embodied Intelligence
  • Taught in 2026
• ECE 787 - Social Robotics
  • Taught in 2026
• SYDE 599 - Special Topics in Systems Design Engineering
  • Taught in 2021

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Two profs named Canada Research Chairs
• Researchers develop a social robot to aid ‘lazy eye’ treatment
• Profs’ study to improve robot and human interaction
• Two profs honoured by the Royal Society of Canada
• How to build an anti-bullying robot
• Pandemic isolation increases acceptance of robot companions
• Two top researchers join Waterloo as Canada 150 Research Chairs
• Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn elevated to IEEE Fellow