PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Frauke Zeller

Frauke Zeller is a researcher whose work connects artificial intelligence, social robotics and human-robot interaction with communication and design. She earned a PhD in English Linguistics and Computational Philology at Kassel in 2005, researched online communities at Ilmenau, and held a Marie Curie Fellowship at University College London. She joined Toronto Metropolitan University in 2013, co-created hitchBOT, which crossed Canada, and worked on a 2017 project on social robots for health communication. She moved to Scotland in 2023 as Professor of HCI and Creative Informatics at Edinburgh Napier. Since August 2024, she is Chair and Professor in Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, co-directs its Institute for Design Informatics, and coauthored a February 2026 study of AI policy and creative practitioners.

Timeline

  1. 2005

    A PhD in English linguistics

    She earns a PhD in English Linguistics and Computational Philology at the University of Kassel in 2005; her thesis examines human-robot interaction from a linguistic perspective.

  2. 2005–2011

    Research at Ilmenau

    From 2005 to 2011, she works as a researcher and lecturer at Ilmenau University of Technology's Institute of Media and Communication Studies. She completes a Habilitation on methods for analyzing online communities in 2011.

  3. 2011–2013

    A Marie Curie fellowship

    From 2011 to 2013, she holds a Marie Curie Research Fellowship at University College London and researches digital communication and big-data analysis.

  4. 2013–2022

    Toronto and hitchBOT

    She is offered a tenure-track assistant professorship at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2013 and works there through 2022. With David Harris Smith, she co-creates hitchBOT to study how people respond to a helpless robot; in 2014, it hitchhikes across Canada from Halifax to Victoria.

  5. 2017

    Social robots for health

    In 2017, she works with Ryerson and McMaster researchers on Smart Robots for Health Communication, a project designed to introduce social robotics and AI into clinical care.

  6. 2023

    Professor at Edinburgh Napier

    She moves to Scotland in 2023 after serving as an associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and directing its Centre for Communicating Knowledge. In 2023, she joins Edinburgh Napier University as Professor of HCI and Creative Informatics in the School of Computing and Engineering & the Built Environment.

  7. Since August 2024

    Chair and AI policy research

    She is Chair and Professor in Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh and co-directs the Institute for Design Informatics; her expertise spans human-robot interaction, human-machine interaction, AI, ethics and digital methods. In February 2026, she coauthors a study comparing Scotland's AI strategy with the needs of creative practitioners, contributing validation and writing review and editing.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.
  3. 46% of living people in our data with known birth and employment countries work outside their birth countryOur estimate of cross-border careers in AI, from country of birth and the country of each current organization.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionOur estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Frauke Zeller yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Frauke Zeller – PCAA pcaa.blog.torontomu.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Dr. Frauke Zeller - Explanatory Journalism - Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) torontomu.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. HitchBOT en.wikipedia.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. Frauke Zeller - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. HITCHBOT CREATORS AT RYERSON AND MCMASTER TO STUDY HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ROBOTS CAN HELP PATIENTS - Media - Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) torontomu.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. Professor Frauke Zeller | Edinburgh College of Art eca.ed.ac.uk. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Supporting the creative industries through the AI turn: A comparative analysis of Scottish policy and the needs of Scotland’s creative practitioners | PLOS One journals.plos.org. Checked 19 October 2026.