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Work Experience
- University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UKOct 2023 - Present
PhD Researcher - Conduct fieldwork on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) across sensitive organisational contexts
- Design and execute semi-structured interviews for use with diverse stakeholders
- Hold co-design workshops with stakeholders to develop aligned robot tasks
- Conduct organisational ethnography by shadowing front-line workers in situ
- Design and distribute surveys to stakeholders and users about perceived robot interaction performance
- Apply reflexive thematic analysis to interpret data and inform actionable outcomes
- Engage with interdisciplinary literature and transdisciplinary methods
- Research aims to develop a framework and taxonomy for organisational HRI research
- AAB, Edinburgh, UKMay 2026 - Aug 2026
Project Support Officer - Developed agentic workflows for M&A and Business Transformation team
- Researched and developed business case for new corporate engagement platform, aligned for business growth
- Assisted in Mergers & Acquisitions of 4 new businesses across Wealth and Financial Services sectors
- University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UKOct 2023 - Jun 2026
Graduate Teaching Assistant - Develop material and manage tutorials for undergraduate and masters courses
- Independently mark and assess a large variety of coursework
- Lectured in Software Engineering for Widening Participation Programme 2025
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NLOct 2025 - Dec 2025
Visiting Researcher - Designed and executed qualitative research exploring commercial robot adoption by organisations
- Conducted semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in robot development companies and client organisations
- Undertook empirical organisational ethnography of in situ robot deployments in a range of settings
- University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UKOct 2019 - Oct 2023
Graduate Apprentice Analyst/Developer - Led student and staff-facing projects such as mobile app, digital signage and campus mapping
- Liaised with academics, senior management, and stakeholders to deliver business requirements
- Translated quantitative and qualitative user insights into functional improvements
- Worked with UX designers to integrate designs into systems accounting for technical and organisational constraints
- Mentored new apprentices, supporting and integrating them into development team
Education
- University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UKOct 2023 - Jul 2027
Doctor of Philosophy in Computing Science - Thesis: Organisational Design and Integration of Social Robots
- University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UKOct 2019 - May 2023
Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Software Engineering, 1:1 First Class - Dissertation: Real world evaluation of a university guidance and information robot
Publications
- Green, E., Blair, A., and Foster, M. E. (2026)
Does Embodiment Matter? Evaluating Social Presence, Comfort and Authenticity in Robot-Guided Meditation. In: 2026 ACM International Conference on Conversational User Interfaces (CUI 2026), Bremen, Germany, 21-24 Jul 2026. Accepted. - Blair, A., Gregory, P., Foster, M. E., and Hindriks, K. (2026)
Where are they? The absence of social robots in real-world environments. In: 21st Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI 2026), Edinburgh, UK, 16-19 March 2026. - Blair, A., Gregory, P. and Foster, M. E. (2025)
A Blessing or a Burden? Exploring Worker Perspectives of Using a Social Robot in a Church. In: 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2025), Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 25-29 Aug 2025. - Blair, A. and Foster, M. E. (2023)
Real-World Evaluation of a University Guidance and Information Robot. In: 15th International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR 2023), Doha, Qatar, 3-7 December 2023. - Blair, A. and Foster, M. E. (2023)
Development of a University Guidance and Information Robot. In: 18th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI 2023), Stockholm, Sweden, 13-16 March 2023.
Workshop Items
- Blair, A., Gregory, P. and Foster, Mary Ellen (2025)
Observations of Atypical Users from a Pilot Deployment of a Public-Space Social Robot in a Church. In: PubRob-Fails: Workshop, 34th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 25-29 Aug 2025. - Blair, A., Foster, M. E., Gregory, P. (2024)
Human-Centered Design of Social Robots: Addressing Stakeholder Involvement to Enhance Long-Term Interaction Success. In: Socially Intelligent Agent Applications, Glasgow, UK, 19 Sep 2024. - Foster, M. E., Ashkenazi, S., Blair, A., Ramirez-Duque, A., Ali, S., Candelaria, P., . . . & Zeller, F. (2024)
Including Front-Line Workers as Primary Stakeholders in Public-Space HRI. 1st International Workshop on WRRs - Exploring Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Robotic Futures, Boulder, CO, USA, 11 Mar 2024.
Academic Service
- University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UKJul 2024 - Present
Lead Systems Administrator, Glasgow Interactive Systems - Manage and maintain GPU cluster
- Assist other researchers with deployment and creation of services and programs
- University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UKJul 2024 - Present
Graduate Representative, Strategic Advisory Board, College of Science and Engineering - Peer Reviewer
Reviews for ACM/IEEE HRI, IEEE ICRA, ACM HAI, ACM ICMI, IEEE RO-MAN, IJSR, and ICSR
Awards
- Engineering, Technology and Industry Award LectureApr 2026
British Science Association - Mobility GrantFeb 2025
University of Glasgow - Rewarding Contribution for Tutoring2024
University of Glasgow - Finalist, GRASS Robot Design CompetitionDec 2023
ICSR 2023, Doha, Qatar - Papin Prize for University Technicians NominationJul 2023
- Most Outstanding Student (Highest GPA), Level 4 HonoursJun 2023
Software Engineering, University of Glasgow - Winner, Glasgow University Tech Society HackathonOct 2022
- Most Outstanding Student (Highest GPA), Level 3 HonoursJun 2022
Software Engineering, University of Glasgow
Outreach
- Human-Robot Interaction Conference 20262026
Student Volunteer - Pint of ScienceDec 2025 - Present
Organiser - Popular MechanicsOctober 2025
Media Interview, "AI In Religion" - Pint of ScienceMay 2025
Invited Talk, "Holy Mother(board): When Tech Meets Tradition" - Tech Meetup GlasgowApril 2025
Invited Talk, "Exploring social robots in the real-world" - smartStemsJanuary 2025
Workshop, "Introduction to Social Robotics" - University of Glasgow HRDecember 2024
Invited Talk, "AI and You: Partners not Enemies" - Worldcon 2024August 2024
Demonstration Booth, Social Robotics - smartStemsDecember 2023
Workshop, "Introduction to Computing Science"
CV
Research
Publications