Double PhD programme established with QUT to study social robots
In recent years, robots have slowly started to make their way into our everyday lives. Today, you can find robots working as waiters, assisting doctors in the operating room and even providing care to the elderly in aged care facilities. This new breed of robot is called ‘social robots’ and they are designed to engage with people and elicit an emotional connection.
While social robots are gaining in popularity, research about how humans want to interact with these types of robots is still emerging. To shed light on the topic, Mark Steins will start his PhD on this very topic in February 2021.
Mark Steins is the first-ever PhD in the new double PhD programme established with between Maastricht University's School of Business (SBE) and Economics and Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Mark will carry out part of his research here in Maastricht, observing social robots in restaurants and in aged care centres. He will also do part of his research in Brisbane, where he will have access to the QUT’s behavioural lab.
The PhD candidate from QUT is Chelsea Phillips. Both candidates will be supervised by Prof. dr. Gaby Odekerken-Schröder (SBE) and Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett (QUT) who together initiated this double PhD programme. The two PhDs will also be working with Prof Marek Kowalkiewicz (QUT) and Prof Dominik Mahr (SBE).
The official signing of the agreement between SBE and QUT took place on 3 December 2020 via a live zoom session. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership with QUT and for the many more successful PhD projects to come!
Also read
-
In many industries today, a few "superstar" firms dominate while many others lag behind. This concentration contributes to wage inequality, reduced aggregate productivity, and diminished competition and innovation. In countries with many small and medium enterprises (SMEs), this dominance can limit the supply of skills and deplete growth opportunities for these businesses. What sets these leading firms apart? What skill-building strategies do they employ? These questions are central to Mantej Pardesi's PhD project, "Please Mind the 'Productivity' Gap," which explores how firms compete for skills by training and hiring to narrow the gap with industry leaders.
-
With the spotlight on the 2024 hurricane season, marked by Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene in the U.S., and Tropical Cyclone Kirk in the EU, it is essential to draw attention to the impact of extreme weather events on urban planning. These catastrophic events not only result in astronomical financial losses but also raise critical questions about development incentives and location choices in areas expose to high climate-related risk.
-
In 2023, private donations in the US surpassed $500 billion for the first time, exceeding the total amount of official development assistance disbursed by all members of the OECD combined by more than double (Giving USA Foundation, 2021). These figures, alongside recent advances in development economics that revealed substantial differences in cost-effectiveness across interventions, highlight the immense potential of private charitable contributions and the importance of donors' charity choice in improving the welfare of the global poor.