prof. dr. Elly Konijn

Full Professor, Network Institute

Full Professor, Research Programmes - Social Sciences, Communication Choices, Content and Consequences (CCCC)

Personal information

Elly A. Konijn (Ph.D. 1994) is a full professor in Media Psychology & Social Robotics at the Department of Communication Science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is the initiator and chair of the program Media Psychology Amsterdam at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, to better understand media use, processing, and effects of media and new communication technology. Elly Konijn has published several books and many articles in major scientific journals (see ‘Research Output’). Her work is regularly presented in the press, media, public debates, and professional documentaries (e.g., Alice Cares, [NPO/Doxy, 2015, S. Burger], in which elderly women meet robot Alice). She has received numerous competitive awards (e.g., NWO/KNAW Eureka, Huibregtsen) and prestigious grants (e.g., EU MSCA Doctoral Network Grant, NWO Open Competition Digitalisation Grant, multiple PhD-Talent grants). In 2024, she was elected as the best senior researcher of the faculty, for which she summarized her research in a 1-minute clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKWTERqrASw . Currently, she is leading the project ROBOT-BOND, supported by an ERC Advanced Grant, focusing on human-robot relationship formation: www.robot-bond.nl

Research

Her scientific research program focuses on three main lines:

Relating to media figures, virtual humans, and social robots. Read more
Emotions and media-based reality perceptions (e.g., social reality perceptions shaped through media use, including moral standards). Read more
Media use among adolescents (e.g., cyberbullying, violent video game effects, thin-body ideal, self-presentation). Read more

Her current research integrates insights gained from the above research lines into a large project focused on investigating human-robot relationship formation in various target groups, supported by an ERC-Advanced grant. See: www.robot-bond.nl

In each domain, she has published in major scientific journals (read more)

Documentaries

Professional documentaries based on research of Elly Konijn:

"Acteurs Spelen Emoties" / "Actors Acting Emotions" (NPS/ K. ter Braak, 1995; 2011) featuring professional actors reflecting on their profession, in particular on how they deal with emotions. Based on Konijn's, similarly titled, dissertation research.
Ik ben Alice / Alice Cares (Doxy/ Burger, 2015). 80-minute documentary about senior ladies meeting robot Alice, based on research conducted at VU, led by Konijn & Hoorn.
National TV-broadcast prime-time news for children, about Konijn's research with a robot tutor, “Jeugdjournaal” (2016): http://jeugdjournaal.nl/artikel/2080809-robot-geeft-rekenlessen.html
Docu "Leren leren leren" / New techology in the future of education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HrHeRYcKpM , also featuring Konijn's research. See: https://stt.nl/nieuws/premiere-stt-documentaire-leren-leren-leren/
In 2018, Elly Konijn has been selected among 50 world-leading top scientists in robotics to relate on her research in the 6 series international documentary production “Man 2.0” (https://www.kepach.it/film/man-20/ about AI and future society (by Kepach Prod., Italy; Dir. M. Brega & G. Zaninotto).
Summary of Konijn’s research work in a 1-minute clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKWTERqrASw