Maurizio Mancini - Department of Computer Science, Sapienza University of Rome
Maurizio Mancini is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science, Sapienza
University of Rome. Earlier, he was Lecturer at the School of Computer Science and IT, University College Cork. He earned his
PhD in Computer Science (HCI) in February 2008, at the University of Paris 8. He conducts research in the field of Multimodal
Interfaces and Affective/Social Computing, in which he investigates computer interfaces having bodies and nonverbal capabilities,
enabling the user to emotionally and socially interact with the machine.
Radoslaw Niewiadomski - DIBRIS, University of Genoa Radoslaw
Niewiadomski is an Assistant Professor at DIBRIS, University of Genoa
(Italy). His research interests include recognition of emotions, nonverbal behavior synthesis and interaction with embodied
conversational agents and social robots. He is co-PI of COCOA project aiming to investigate human-human interactions in a
commensal setting and to develop artificial commensal companions, and Guest Editor of the Special Research Topic on
“Computational Commensality”.
Selim Soufargi - Department of Computer Science, Sapienza University of Rome
Selim Soufargi is a Ph.D. researcher in computer engineering. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the university of
Calabria, Rende, Italy. Prior to that, he obtained a master’s degree in communication systems from the university of
Tunis-Manar. His main research interests focus on big data management, data analysis and machine learning. He has
published papers at both national and international levels.
Mansoor Hayat- DIBRIS, University of Genoa
Mansoor Hayat received his B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering
from the University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, Pakistan,
in 2015, and his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the
Institute of Southern Multan, Pakistan, in 2018. He also earned
a Master's in Business Administration (MBA) from the National
College of Business Administration and Economics, Lahore,
Pakistan, in 2022. Currently, he is pursuing his Ph.D. degree
in Electrical Engineering at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok,
Thailand. His research focuses on the application of computer
vision, deep learning, and machine learning in imaging and
video processing. He was awarded the Best Conference Paper
at the 2023 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON) in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Hunter Fong - DIBRIS, University of Genoa Hunter Fong is a post-doctoral researcher with
a background in Psychology, User Experience/Human Factors, and
Applied Statistics. Her primary research aim is to improve the
human experience: mentally, socially, and physically. She both
researched and taught social, cognitive, and engineering
psychology within academic settings prior to conducting HF and
robotics research at NASA, Johnson Space Center (Houston), and
user experience research within tech (Dell, Meta, & Google).
This blended background has culminated in Hunter combining her
interests and experience on the human-robot commensality project
COCOA at the University of Genoa.