Short bio
Last updated February 2025
Tony Belpaeme is a Professor at Ghent University, Senior Researcher at imec and Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). At Ghent University he leads a team studying cognitive robotics and human-robot interaction. Starting from the premise that intelligence is rooted in social interaction, Belpaeme and his research team try to further the science and technology behind artificial intelligence and social human-robot interaction. This results in a spectrum of results, from theoretical insights to practical applications. He coordinated several large-scale European projects studying how robots can support children while learning a second language (H2020 L2TOR) and how long-term human-robot interaction can be use in pediatric applications (ALIZ-E), and worked on robots for Autism Spectrum Disorder therapy and value-aware Human-Robot Interaction.
Long bio
Last updated April 2025
Tony Belpaeme
Tony Belpaeme is a Professor at Ghent University, a Senior Researcher at imec, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth, UK. He earned his PhD in Computer Science from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in 2002, under the supervision of Luc Steels.
At Ghent University, he leads a research team focused on cognitive robotics and human-robot interaction. His work is grounded in the idea that intelligence is inherently social. With this perspective, Tony and his team explore both the science and technology of social human-robot interaction, producing outcomes that range from theoretical frameworks to real-world applications.
His theoretical research emphasises the role of interaction in both natural and artificial cognition. He argues that robots should be attuned to human language and the paralinguistic cues that shape social communication—an approach that has gained significant academic recognition. These insights are also translated into practical designs and implementations of robotic systems, many of which have been adopted in clinical and educational settings, particularly for supporting and tutoring children.
Tony is a co-author of Human-Robot Interaction: An Introduction (2nd edition, 2024, Cambridge University Press) and has authored or co-authored over 350 scientific publications.
He has secured more than €10 million in external research funding as Principal Investigator or co-Principal Investigator. He coordinated the EU H2020 L2TOR project, which explored how robots can support second language learning in children, and the EU FP7 ALIZ-E project, which focused on long-term human-robot interaction in pediatric contexts. He has also played a leading role in several other major projects, including the DREAM project on robotic therapy for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (EU FP7), VALAWAI on value-awareness in social robots (Horizon Europe), and Flanders AI Research on collaborative learning with robots.
Curriculum vitae
A recent CV can be downloaded here.
Tony Belpaeme 