Meet the Speakers

Learn more about those who will speaking at the symposium on human interfacing and augmentation, listed below in chronological order of the sequence of talks.

Carsten Mehring, Freiburg University

Presenting Movement augmentation on Day 1 at 09:00-09:45

Carsten Mehring is professor at the University of Freiburg, Germany, where he leads research in the field of neurobiology, focusing on movement augmentation and brain-machine interfaces. His work aims to understand the neural basis of motor control and to develop technologies that enhance or restore movement capabilities in humans. Mehring's interdisciplinary research combines neuroscience, engineering and robotics to push the boundaries of how brain activity can be harnessed to control external devices. 

Asgeir Alexandersson, Ossur

Presenting Prosthetics and commercialisation on Day 1 at 09:45-10:30

Asgeir Alexandersson, based in Iceland, is currently a Director of Research and Innovation at Össur specialising in prosthetics and their commercialisation. Alexandersson has played a key role in several impactful research projects, including the application of Ossur's bionic prosthetics in real-world settings for amputees. His work has been featured in prominent publications, underlining the crucial link between cutting-edge research and practical, user-focused solutions.

Juan Gallego, Imperial College

Presenting Neural decoding for interfacing on Day 1 at 15:15-16:00

Juan Gallego is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London, where he leads the Behaviour and Neural Dynamics Lab (Be.Neural). His multidisciplinary team focuses on understanding how the brain and spinal cord learn and control behaviour, with a particular emphasis on motor control. Gallego's research combines behavioural experiments, high-yield neural recordings and computational models to develop neuroprosthetic technologies aimed at restoring movement in individuals with motor disabilities, such as Parkinson’s disease and paralysis.

Heike Vallery, TU Aachen

Presenting Technology for neurorehabilitation on Day 2 at 09:00-09:45

Heike Vallery graduated with honors from RWTH Aachen University in 2004, with a Dipl.-Ing. degree in Mechanical Engineering. Since then, she has been working on robot-assisted rehabilitation and prosthetic legs, in close collaboration with clinicians and partners from industry. In 2009, she earned her Dr.-Ing. from the Technische Universität München and then continued her academic career at ETH Zürich, Khalifa University and TU Delft. Today, she is a full professor at RWTH Aachen and TU Delft, and also holds an honorary professorship at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. Heike Vallery received numerous fellowships and awards, such as the 1st prize of the euRobotics Technology Transfer Award 2014, and recently an Alexander-von-Humboldt professorship to join RWTH Aachen. Her current research focuses on developing minimalistic and unconventional concepts to support human gait and balance.

Loredana Zollo, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma

Presenting Peripheral interfaces for motor decoding and restoration of somatic sensations in prosthetics on Day 2 at 09:45-10:30

Dr. Loredana Zollo main interest is on human-machine interface, with applications including rehabilitation and assistive robotics, biorobotics and bionics, human–machine interfaces, and collaborative robotics. She received the M.S. degree in electronic engineering from the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II and the Ph.D. degree in bioengineering from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa (Italy). Presently, she is Full Professor of Bioengineering and Dean of Engineering at Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, where she is also the Director of the Laboratory of Advanced Robotics and Human-Centred Technologies. She was involved in more than 40 EU-funded and national projects.

Sami Haddadin, TUM

Presenting Tactile robots: building the machine and learning the self on Day 2 at 15:15-16:00

Sami Haddadin is the Director of the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence and holds the Chair of Robotics and Systems Intelligence at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Prior to joining TUM, he was the Chair of the Institute of Automatic Control at Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover. Before that, he held various research positions at the German Aerospace Center. He has received numerous awards for his scientific contributions, including several best paper awards at ICRA, IROS, T-RO, RA-L, the George Giralt PhD Award (2012), the IEEE/RAS Early Career Award (2015), the Alfried Krupp Award for Young Professors (2015), the German President’s Award for Innovation in Science and Technology (2017), and the Leibniz Prize (2019). Sami Haddadin is the founder of Franka Emika.