Prof. Dr. Friederike A. Eyssel

As a social psychologist, I seek to understand psychological underpinnings of human behavior. Since my post- doc years, I have lived interdisciplinarity, for instance, given my associated scholarship with the DFG-Graduate School on “Group-focused Enmity”. This sparked my interest in processes of dehumanization, i.e., why we deny essentially human traits to other humans. Simultaneously, I sought to understand why we attribute humanlike traits to nonhuman entities.

As an assistant professor for “Gender & Emotion in Cognitive Interaction Technology” at the former Center of Excellence in Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC), I was able to establish my research profile. I became one of the pioneers in researching psychological anthropomorphism and social robotics using an experimental social psychological approach. Ever since I have breathed interdisciplinarity, engaging in multi-million Euro national and international research projects to advance social robots and smart environments.

Between 2010 and 2015, I took on visiting professorships at various prestigious universities e.g., University of Münster, TU Dortmund, University of Cologne and New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). Thereby, I was able to extend my teaching portfolio and to qualify for tenure at Bielefeld University. Since 2015, I am a tenured professor for Applied Social Psychology and Gender Research at Bielefeld University.

I received the Bielefeld University Award for sustainable engagement for Gender Equality in 2021. For my engagement in teaching, I received the Bielefeld University Karl-Peter Grotemeyer Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2021 and the IEEE-RAS Distinguished Lecturer Award in 2022.