PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Vicky Charisi

Also known as Vasiliki Charisi

Vicky Charisi is a human-robot interaction researcher whose work explores how AI and robots shape children's development and rights. She studied musicology and instructional design in Athens, completed a doctorate in human-computer interaction and creativity at UCL, and coauthored a child-robot interaction paper for HRI in 2017. Her work includes a Pepper robot in a special school, a European Commission report on children's rights, and questions for assessing what counts as good in robotics. She joined Harvard's Berkman Klein Center as a 2024–2025 fellow; as of October 2026, she is a Research Scientist at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology and a Research Affiliate at Harvard, focused on human-AI interaction, embodied AI and human-robot interaction.

Timeline

  1. 2017

    Child-robot interaction at HRI

    In 2017, she coauthors “Growing-Up Hand in Hand with Robots: Designing and Evaluating Child-Robot Interaction from a Developmental Perspective” with Christina Zaga, Vanessa Evers and six other researchers. The paper appears in the HRI ’17 companion proceedings at the conference in Vienna.

  2. 2018

    The first HUMAINT report

    In 2018, she coauthors a 26-author report on the first HUMAINT workshop, held in Barcelona in March. The workshop is organized under a new research programme at the Centre for Advanced Studies of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, which studies AI's potential impact on human behaviour.

  3. 2021

    Pepper in a special school

    In 2021, she coauthors a study that embeds a Softbank Pepper robot in a special educational needs school for three weeks in June to support autistic children's well-being. The team uses the project as a test bed for the nine UNICEF guidelines on AI for children.

  4. 2022

    AI and children's rights

    In June 2022, she is first author of a Joint Research Centre report on AI and children's rights. It examines conversational agents, recommender systems and robotics, drawing on two workshops with young people and three with experts and policymakers to set out research and policy needs.

  5. By 2023

    Athens degrees and UCL PhD

    She earns a bachelor's degree in musicology and a master's degree in instructional design, didactics and evaluation at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. In 2023, she is finalizing her PhD thesis at UCL's Institute of Education.

  6. 2023

    Ten questions for good robotics

    In September 2023, she coauthors the Science Robotics article “Robots for good”: Ten defining questions, which proposes ten questions to guide reflection on the good in robotics projects. In December 2023, as a Research Scientist at the Joint Research Centre's Unit of Digital Economy, she speaks on generative AI in education at an OECD session and serves as chair of the IEEE Cognitive and Developmental Systems Task Force on Human-Robot Interaction.

  7. 2024–2025

    Berkman Klein fellowship

    In September 2024, she joins the Berkman Klein Center as a 2024–2025 fellow. Her fellowship project develops a framework for AI to support children's Global Citizenship Education.

  8. As of October 2026

    Research Scientist at SMART

    As of October 2026, she is a Research Scientist at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, studying human-AI interaction with a focus on embodied AI and human-robot interaction. Her work spans AI's effects on human development, AI system design and evidence-based policy. She is a Research Affiliate at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center and holds a PhD in human-computer interaction and creativity from UCL's Institute of Education.

Career

  1. NowSingapore-MIT Alliance for Research and TechnologyResearch Scientist
  2. European UnionResearch Scientist

Education

  1. National and Kapodistrian University of AthensBachelor's in Musicology; Master's in Instructional Design, Didactics, and Evaluation
  2. University College LondonPhD

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  3. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Sources and credits

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  1. Growing-Up Hand in Hand with Robots: Designing and Evaluating Child-Robot Interaction from a Developmental Perspective - University of Twente Research Information research.utwente.nl. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. [1806.03192] Assessing the impact of machine intelligence on human behaviour: an interdisciplinary endeavour arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. [2108.12166v1] UNICEF Guidance on AI for Children: Application to the Design of a Social Robot For and With Autistic Children arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Artificial Intelligence and the Rights of the Child: Towards an Integrated Agenda for Research and Policy publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Vasiliki Charisi - OECD Digital Education Outlook 2023 speaker oecd-events.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. “Robots for good”: Ten defining questions - Ben-Gurion University Research Portal cris.bgu.ac.il. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Generative AI in education - OECD Digital Education Outlook 2023 oecd-events.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Berkman Klein Center Announces Incoming 2024-2025 Fellows cyber.harvard.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Vasiliki Charisi - M3S, Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology m3s.mit.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Vicky Charisi | Berkman Klein Center cyber.harvard.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.