Minja Axelsson
Teaching Fellow at Ekho Collective
Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolMinja Axelsson is a researcher, designer and ethicist with a decade of experience exploring ethical human–robot and human–AI interaction, especially in assistive, companionship and wellbeing contexts. Currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Scholar at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (visiting at Cambridge) and a Teaching Fellow at CHIA, she blends rigorous computer science (PhD, Cambridge; visiting at MIT Media Lab) with arts-led practice to prototype socially aware technologies. Her work spans academic publications, industry design roles at Futurice and GAIPS lab, and award-winning immersive art through Ekho Collective, demonstrating a rare fluency between technical implementation, participatory design and narrative-driven interaction. Having lived in six countries and worked across healthcare, eldercare, charity and factory settings, she brings deep empathy for vulnerable stakeholders to robot and AI ethics. Her PhD on robotic mental wellbeing coaches and hands-on projects—like robot tutors for children with autism and library guidance robots—underscore a pragmatic commitment to deployable, human-centred systems.
10 years of coding experience
High School, 2 Laudaturs, 4 Eximias, High School, 2 Laudaturs, 4 Eximias at Etelä-Tapiolan lukioExchange studies, Exchange studies at National University of SingaporeVisiting PhD Student, Visiting PhD Student at Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyDoctor of Philosophy - PhD, Computer Science, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Computer Science at University of CambridgeMaster’s Degree, School of Science – Information Networks, 4.61/5.0, Master’s Degree, School of Science – Information Networks, 4.61/5.0 at Aalto University
English, Finnish, Swedish, German
Github Skills (5)
mir5
robot5
robotics4
autonomous-robots3
gazebosim3
Programming languages (2)
Github contributions (5)
minjaaxelsson/social_robot_co-design_canvases
Oct 2018 - Feb 2022
Contributions:55 commits, 63 pushes, 1 branch in 3 years 4 months
futurice/oodipoc
Feb 2019 - Apr 2019
Proof-of-concept robotic design project for using a MiR 200 robot to guide customers to certain books and sections of the Oodi library in Helsinki
Contributions:14 commits, 12 PRs in 1 month
roboticssectionscustomersautonomous-robotsrobot
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