Kyoko Ohara

Kyoko Ohara is a Professor at Keio University and currently serves as Deputy Director of Keio Global Research Institute. 

Her research field is cognitive linguistics, with a focus on uncovering humans’ tacit language knowledge, in relation to experientialism and embodiment. She is the Principal Investigator of the Japanese FrameNet Project. Her current research interests include integrating cognitive linguistics into human-centered AI education.

She received her Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1996. She has held visiting research positions at UC Berkeley, the International Computer Science Institute, the University of Gothenburg, as well as research fellow positions at the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, and RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project.

Kenjiro Takemura

Dr. Kenjiro Takemura received the B.E. degree in mechanical engineering, the M.E. degree in biomedical engineering, and the Ph.D. degree in integrated design engineering from Keio University, Yokohama, Japan, in 1998, 2000, and 2002, respectively. From 2003 to 2008, he was an Assistant Professor with the Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology. Since 2008, he has been with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Keio University, where he is currently a Professor. His research interests include soft robots, haptic interfaces, and biomedical devices. 

He is currently responsible for the “Japan-Europe Complementary Learning Agreement-based Joint Master's Program (2024-2028)” supported by the MEXT Inter-University Exchange Project. He has served as Chair of International Affairs at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University since 2025.

Satoshi Shigemi

Satoshi Shigemi is President of Honda Research Institute Japan and Chief Science Officer of Global Honda Research Institute. Since 1987, he has been conducting research on robots and control systems at Honda R&D Co. In 2000,he was the Senior Chief Engineer and project lead for the research and development of ASIMO, the humanoid robot. He then developed a high-altitude survey robot for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Since 2017, he has been research director of cutting-edge research at Global HRI (Offenbach, Germany; Silicon Valley, US; Columbus, US; and Wako, Japan).

Masaki Matsubara

Masaki Matsubara, PhD, is Associate Professor at the University of Tsukuba and leads the Laboratory for Somatic Intelligence and Artistic Expression. His work spans contemplative education, embodied cognition, and human–AI collaboration. Prior to his current focus, he conducted extensive research in Human–Agent Interaction, including cognitive interaction design, metacognitive support, and human–AI cognitive apprenticeship. This trajectory revealed the essential role of embodiment in learning and design, shaping his present research.

He also practices first-person and art-based research methods to explore how awareness and compassion emerge through experience. As a member of SEE Learning Japan, he supports curriculum translation and provides SEE Learning–based training for educators.

https://https://sites.google.com/view/matsubalab/

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photo by Tsuuri Saito
 

Brendan Ozawa-de Silva

Brendan Ozawa-de Silva, PhD, is Associate Professor at the Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics at Emory University, where he co-directs the Social Empathy Lab, and Global Professor at Keio University, where he is affiliated with the Keio Centre for Contemplative Studies. His research areas are cognitive and contemplative science, compassion, empathy, ethics and education.

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He served as principle co-developer of Emory University’s SEE Learning educational program (with Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi) and principal curriculum writer for the program.

Randy Gomez

Randy Gomez is Chief Scientist at the Honda Research Institute Japan, where he spearheads the Embodied Communication Research Group. His work focuses on advancing the synergy between communication and interaction to design robotic systems that foster meaningful human-robot experience.

His fields of interest include:

Hardware Design of Interactive Robots – Creating innovative robotic platforms with advanced physical and sensory capabilities to enhance interaction.

Sensorial Networks and Group Dynamics – Investigating how robots can mediate and navigate social environments to foster understanding in a group.

Robotic Applications for Social, Emotional, and Cultural Contexts – Harnessing the potential of robots as transformative tools to address diverse societal challenges.

Tomoko Imai

Jiyugaoka Gakuen High School

Board Member, Director of Education

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Dr. Tomoko Imai aims to empower children to acquire skills that will enable them to thrive in the future, with a particular focus on building a global network that supports children in helping one another. Drawing from her background in system development at Hitachi Central Research Laboratory, VR research at the University of Illinois and the University of Tokyo, and recognition with the international academic award APCC/OECC’99, Dr. Imai has cons istently pursued value creation from the user’s perspective.

Her journey through corporate business experience and independent ventures has shaped a strong sense of purpose in education, informed by her personal experiences raising children and caring for family members. Currently, as the Director of Educational Strategy at Jiyugaoka Gakuen High School in Japan, Dr. Imai leverages her expertise to lead educational transformation. She focuses on cultivating cross-border collaborative skills and fostering the ability to think and act independently for the benefit of society through initiatives such as “student-centered school design” and the development of an “international network where children worldwide can learn together and support each other.”

Selma Šabanović

Selma Šabanović is a Professor of Informatics and Cognitive Science at Indiana University Bloomington.Her research focuses on social robotics and human-robot interaction (HRI), particularly on exploring how robots should be designed to assist people in application relating to mental health, wellness, education, and social participation.

She works with current and potential robot users of all ages, from children to older adults, across different cultures, including East Asia, Europe, and the US. She uses qualitative methods from the social sciences as well as participatory design to explore and negotiate diverse values in technology development and use. She served as the Editor in Chief of the ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction from 2007-2014, and is currently anAssociate Vice President of the IEEE RAS Educational Activities Board and the Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs for the Luddy School. She received her PhD in Science and Technology Studies in 2007 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 

Jennifer Knox

Jennifer Knox brings over two decades of transformative experience leveraging education as a catalyst for personal, relational, and collective wellbeing nationally and internationally. As Woodward Academy's Director of Character Education and Ron M. Brill Chair for Ethical Leadership, Jennifer steers comprehensive SEE Learning™ implementation integrating character development, leadership cultivation, service learning, and equity initiatives using a mission-driven, systems transformation approach. As a consultant for Emory University's Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics, she has been instrumental in shaping the SEE Learning™ Program from its inception.

Jen champions the arts, secular ethics, and fundamental human values through work with institutions including University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Human Ecology, Columbia University's Collaborative for Spirituality in Education, Emory's Carlos Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, advancing her vision of a compassionate world. Her certifications include Cognitively-based Compassion Training® instruction, Community Resiliency Model® teaching, SEE Learning™ facilitation, and she is a Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL) Fellow.

Deborah Szapiro

​Faculty of Design and Society

University of Technology Sydney

Deborah Szapiro is a Senior lecturer in Animation at the University of Technology Sydney. Deborah has a track record for producing award winning short films, series and documentaries as well as immersive, interactive public artwork. Deborah’s research looks to the potential of newer technologies for social impact and has been focussing on the application of design and animation expertise to social robotics used in educational and health-centred environments. Deborah applies an holistic, ethical and social impact lens to the use of animation and design in social robotics projects.

She believes that creative expertise can play a significant and multifaceted role in enhancing human to robot communication through the design of expressive communication, an understanding of multimodal communication, multimedia and interaction potentials, and the application of imagination, play, curiosity, creativity, the understanding of human experience and storytelling, which are essential to  designing meaningful content and interaction for social robotics.

Anvita Guttikonda

Anvita Guttikonda is a sophomore at Emory University majoring in Biology. She joined the Social Empathy Lab in Spring 2025 and currently serves as a Research Assistant. Driven by a deep interest in understanding how empathy and compassion facilitate belonging, she is exploring how Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and contemplative practices can transform education on a global scale.

She is particularly excited about the potential of AI to enhance these models and support student wellbeing, engagement, and connection.

At Emory, she is involved in multiple organizations across campus and spends most of her time conducting research and contributing to initiatives that expand accessibility and strengthen educational experiences for diverse communities.

Chikara Maeda

Chikara Maeda is an AI Research Engineer at Honda Research Institute Japan specializing in robotics and social robot interaction. His work focuses on multimodal dialogue systems and developing natural, expressive, and reactive robot behaviors. He has spent the past two years contributing to the Haru project.

Aaron Verdaguer Gonzalez

Aaron Verdaguer Gonzalez is a PhD candidate in Human–Robot Interaction at Universitat Pablo de Olavide and a researcher in the Social and Cognitive Robotics Unit at Eurecat.

His research centers on autonomous robot behavior generation, leveraging generative AI models, tasklevel

orchestration frameworks, behavior-tree architectures, and evolutionary computation to enable adaptive and context-aware human–robot interaction. He holds an M.Sc. in Intelligent Interactive

Systems from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where he developed the first Catalan offensive-language dataset and implemented a real-time offensive-speech detection system for social media. He has contributed to private AI technology-transfer projects, collaborated on European R&I proposals—including CRANE-PCP—and presented applied machine-learning solutions for clinical and biomedical contexts at international scientific venues.

Before his university studies, he spent three years at Lincoln Academy (USA), graduating as Salutatorian and joining the National Honor Society. His research interests include autonomous robotic systems, generative AI for behavior synthesis, task- and behaviororchestration architectures, and socially intelligent human–robot interaction.

Rie Fukumoto

CEO, SPACE Inc.
Executive Director, EARTH
Research Associate, Keio University Center for Contemplative Studies
Background: Developmental Neuropsychology, Cognitive Science

Rie Fukumoto develops educational models that integrate insights from developmental neuropsychology, cognitive science, and contemplative practices. She previously served as the Project Leader of the ROCKET initiative at the University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, where she created innovative learning programs for children with diverse neurodevelopmental profiles.

Since founding SPACE in 2020, she has collaborated with the Ministry of Education, local governments, and schools across Japan to advance individual-talent–based education and implement personalized, inquiry-driven learning models.

Through the ULTLA Project, she designs learning environments that foster self-understanding through embodied knowledge and spirituality, integrating nature, local culture, the arts, and scientific perspectives to support children’s creativity and growth.

Hiroto Iwaoka

Hiroto Iwaoka, who holds a Master of public policy, serves as a Senior Specialist for Curriculum Planning of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in Japan. Since joining MEXT in 2008, he has played a important role in designing and institutionalizing major K–12 education policies.

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From August 2020, he served as Superintendent of Education for Kamakura City. During his tenure, he launched several innovative initiatives, including the Kamakura School Collaboration Fund—which supports school-driven educational activities through partnerships with local communities, organizations, and businesses—and the Kamakura ULTLA Program, an inquiry-based learning initiative designed to cultivate the individual strengths and talents of diverse children.

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In 2024, he returned to MEXT and now he is at the forefront of the national curriculum revision process, working to shape future-oriented education that supports the next generation of learners.