Francesca Cocchella

Francesca Cocchella is a Social Psychologist and PhD Student in Cognitive Robotics, Interaction and Rehabilitation. Her research lies at the intersection of social cognition and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), with a specific focus on group dynamics and the role of social categorization in shaping the perception of robots. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach inspired by social psychology, she explores how interactions with robots evolve in real-world contexts and emphasizes the importance of stakeholder engagement in the evaluation of robotic technologies. She conducts in-the-wild research in schools, museums, and artistic environments to investigate how people experience social robots outside the lab.
She also actively collaborates with the Social & Intergroup Perception Lab (SIP Lab) at University of Genoa led by Prof. Luca Andrighetto, where she studies social perception processes in HRI settings.
Francesca spent a research period at the University of Michigan, working in Robot Studio under the supervision of Prof. Patricia Alves-Oliveira. There, she contributed to a project on the perception of robots in artistic collaboration with painters.
In addition to her research, Francesca is committed to academic community building and science communication. She has contributed to the organization of multiple international workshops, including three editions of GROUND, two of Robots for Humans, and one of cAESAR. She is also actively involved in dissemination activities, particularly with schools. 
She manages the Instagram page of the CONTACT Unit and, in 2024, served as Social Media Chair for the 2025 International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR).