Keynote Speakers

Yukie Nagai is a Project Professor at the International Research Center for Neurointelligence at the University of Tokyo. She earned her Ph.D. in Engineering from Osaka University in 2004, after which she worked at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Bielefeld University, and then Osaka University. Since 2019, she has been leading the Cognitive Developmental Robotics Lab at the University of Tokyo. Her research encompasses cognitive developmental robotics, computational neuroscience, and assistive technologies for developmental disorders. Dr. Nagai employs computational methods to investigate the underlying neural mechanisms involved in social cognitive development. In acknowledgment of her work, she was elected to “World’s 50 Most Renowned Women in Robotics” in 2020, “35 Women in Robotics Engineering and Science” in 2022, and “Forbes JAPAN Women In Tech 30” in 2024, among other recognitions.

Dr. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Animal-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Glasgow. She designs technologies that give animals choice and control over their environments, tailored to their unique physical and cognitive capabilities. These include monkeys controlling audiovisual interfaces with custom-made buttons and dogs using biteable toys to make video calls. Her research examines how animals use computers to make decisions and navigate social relationships, and how technology can enhance their well-being and our relationships with them. Her work challenges the assumption that technology belongs exclusively to humans. By exploring non-human forms of agency and interaction, her research offers new perspectives on interface design and how different beings engage with technology. She is the recipient of an ERC Starting Grant, an RSE Personal Research Fellowship, and a British Science Association Award in Digital Innovation, and her research has been featured in The New York Times, a Netflix documentary, and a TED Highlighted Talk.

Benjamin R. Cowan is Professor of Human Computer Interaction and Conversational Informatics at University College Dublin’s School of Information & Communication Studies in Ireland. His research lies at the juncture between psychology, human-computer interaction and conversational AI, investigating how theory and quantitative methods from psychological science can be applied to understand and design collaborative conversational AI experiences. He is the co-founder and co-director of the HCI@UCD group and Co-Principal investigator in the Research Ireland funded ADAPT Centre, a world leading €90+ million Research Centre on AI driven content technologies. He is highly involved in ACM SIGCHI conferences, having  co-founded the ACM SIGCHI International Conferences Series on Conversational User Interfaces (ACM CUI) and holding the role of Poster Chair on the CHI 2026 Organising Committee.

Benjamin Rosman is a Professor in the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, where he runs the Robotics, Autonomous Intelligence and Learning (RAIL) Laboratory. In 2024, he became the founding Director of the Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery (MIND) Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, focused on the fundamental science of intelligence in machines, humans, and animals. He is also a founder of Lelapa AI, building AI for Africans, by Africans. He was named one of the TIME 100 Most Influential People in AI in 2025. His research interests focus primarily on reinforcement learning and decision making in autonomous systems, specifically on how learning can be accelerated through abstracting and generalising knowledge gained from solving related problems. He is a founder and organiser of the Deep Learning Indaba, a machine learning summer school aimed at strengthening African AI research.