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Dr Jonathan Vitale

Lecturer in Computational Science - School of Science and Technology

Biography

Dr Jonathan Vitale is a leading Early Career Researcher in the field of Social Robotics. He has a bachelor's degree in digital communications and a master's degree in computer science from the University of Milan and a PhD in Software Engineering from the University of Technology Sydney.

Dr Vitale has contributed significantly to the fields of human-robot interaction research and social robotics, utilising knowledge in experimental design and cognitive science. He served as a senior member of the UTS RoboCup@Home team from 2017 to 2020. The team is the 2019 World Champion at RoboCup@Home international competition (Social Standard Platform League). This result was listed as one of the top 10 UTS accomplishments in 2019.

His research interests cover topics concerning human cognition, computational models of cognition applied to artificial intelligence, and design and development of social robotics applications for social good. Topics of particular interest are face perception and processing, interactions of emotional signals with decision-making processes, embodied cognition theories, attention and executive functioning, ethically driven technology design, and psychological aspects of human-robot interactions.

The University of New England respects and acknowledges that its people, courses and facilities are built on land, and surrounded by a sense of belonging, both ancient and contemporary, of the world's oldest living culture. In doing so, UNE values and respects Indigenous knowledge systems as a vital part of the knowledge capital of Australia. We recognise the strength, resilience and capacity of the Aboriginal community and pay our respects to the Elders past, present and future.