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About

Micheline Ziadee is a pioneering researcher in cross-cultural human-robot interaction (HRI), whose work has fundamentally shaped our understanding of how culture, politeness, and social identity influence the acceptance and credibility of robots and virtual agents. Her most influential research, including the highly cited “Effects of Culture on the Credibility of Robot Speech” (92 citations), demonstrates how cultural background dramatically affects whether users trust a robot’s spoken information. Ziadee broke new ground by shifting the focus from Western and East Asian cultures to the Middle East, as seen in her seminal work “Marhaba, how may I help you?” (76 citations), which explores how Arabic and English speakers perceive robot politeness and anthropomorphism. She also introduced the novel concept of ethnic homophily in HRI, showing that robots expressing ethnicity through behavior can improve user rapport and task performance. Her studies on professional status and ethnicity in human-agent interaction further reveal how social hierarchies embedded in agent design shape user perceptions. With over 275 total citations across her publications, Ziadee’s contributions are essential reading for anyone designing socially intelligent robots for a global, multicultural world.