Sara Bernardini

Sara Bernardini is an AI researcher who studies planning for autonomous systems in space operations, robotics and underwater missions. She earned a PhD in AI at Trento, worked on NASA's space-planning agents and developed search control for EUROPA2. She worked on ECHOES at UCL, a serious game for social communication; at King's she researched aerial and underwater surveillance, then directed Royal Holloway's MSc in AI and held roles at the National Oceanography Centre and the Alan Turing Institute. She joined the AAAI Executive Council in 2023, chaired ICAPS in 2024, and initiated AAAI's Bridge Program, which continued through AAAI-25. Now a Professor of Computer Science at Oxford and Tutorial Fellow at Mansfield College, she works on planning and goal recognition for autonomous agents; she received a Suffrage Science Award in 2026.

Now at: Mansfield College, University of Oxford

Timeline

2005–2007

NASA space planning

During her doctoral work, she works as a research scientist at NASA Ames from 2005 to 2007 on autonomous planning agents for space mission operations. In a 2007 paper with David E. Smith, she develops domain-independent search control for NASA's EUROPA2 planner.
2008

AI doctorate at Trento

She earns a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Trento in 2008 and also holds BSc and MSc degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from Rome's La Sapienza.
2013

ECHOES and social communication

At the UCL Knowledge Lab, her work includes ECHOES, a serious game that helps young children with autism develop social communication skills. She coauthors a 2013 paper on planning-based social partners for children with autism.
By 2015

King's planning research

Before joining Royal Holloway in 2015, she spends three years as a Research Associate in King's College London's Department of Informatics Planning Group. At King's, she focuses on autonomous surveillance with networks of fixed and mobile sensors in aerial and underwater settings.
2015–2017

Royal Holloway AI roles

She joins Royal Holloway as a lecturer in 2015 and is promoted to senior lecturer in 2017. In November 2017, she becomes Director of the MSc in Artificial Intelligence.
2023–2025

AAAI and ICAPS leadership

In June 2023, she is elected to the AAAI Executive Council. She chairs ICAPS in 2024 and initiates AAAI's Bridge Program at AAAI-23, continuing it at AAAI-24 and AAAI-25.
July 2024

Oxford faculty appointment

In July 2024, Oxford announces her appointment as an Associate Professor with a Tutorial Fellowship in the Data, Knowledge, and Action theme. At that time, she is Professor of AI at Royal Holloway, Principal Research Scientist in AI and Data Science at the National Oceanography Centre, and a Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute.
2024–2025

Pathfinding and goal recognition

In 2024, she coauthors Optimizing pathfinding for goal legibility and recognition in cooperative partially observable environments, published in Artificial Intelligence. In 2025, an AAMAS paper with Fabio Fagnani and Santiago Franco models time-sensitive goal recognition as a game and uses fictitious play to compute Nash equilibria.
2026

A Suffrage Science Award

In January 2026, she is named one of the winners of the Suffrage Science Awards.
As of October 2026

Professor at Oxford

As of October 2026, she is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a Tutorial Fellow at Mansfield College. Her research focuses on AI decision-making for autonomous systems, including ground robots, drones and underwater vehicles.