Katerina Pastra

Katerina Pastra is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Language and Speech Processing (ILSP) of the Athena Research Center, Head of the Language and Robots Lab, and President of the Hellenic Artificial Intelligence Society (EETN).

She holds a degree in Linguistics from the University of Athens, an MSc in Machine Translation from UMIST in the United Kingdom, and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Sheffield. Her research lies at the intersection of artificial intelligence, linguistics, cognitive science, and robotics.

Her work focuses on semantics, multimodal cognition, and embodied artificial intelligence. Drawing on findings from neuroscience and the study of human cognition, she develops computational models and technologies that enable intelligent systems and robots to integrate language, perception, and action. Her research combines theoretical approaches, experimental investigation, and technological development, aiming to improve meaningful interaction between humans and intelligent machines.

She founded and directed the Cognitive Systems Research Institute from 2010 to 2020 and has designed and coordinated major international research initiatives, including the European-funded POETICON project series. She has published in leading international scientific journals, including Nature and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, and has taught postgraduate courses in artificial intelligence, natural language processing, cognitive robotics, and related fields.

Her distinctions include a research award from the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, a Google Award, and a Best Paper Award from the British Computer Society. She is a Senior Member of IEEE and has contributed to open-science initiatives through the development of openly available research datasets and software.

She is a member of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Philosophy and Ideas.