Anja Philippsen, Ph.D. – Cognitive Developmental Robotics Lab

	Project Researcher, International Research Center for Neurointelligence, The University of Tokyo Email: anja [AT] ircn.jp I am interested in applying developmental learning approaches for enabling skill acquisition in robots and for gaining a better understanding of human learning. In my Ph.D. project I investigated how robots can acquire articulation skills by goal-directed exploration and in interaction with a human tutor. Further interests include machine learning, in particular, neural networks, and speech recognition and synthesis.

Project Researcher, International Research Center for Neurointelligence, The University of Tokyo
Email: anja [AT] ircn.jp

I am interested in applying developmental learning approaches for enabling skill acquisition in robots and for gaining a better understanding of human learning. In my Ph.D. project I investigated how robots can acquire articulation skills by goal-directed exploration and in interaction with a human tutor. Further interests include machine learning, in particular, neural networks, and speech recognition and synthesis.

Career

Career Experience

April 2019 – present	Project Researcher, International Research Center for Neurointelligence, The University of Tokyo
December 2017 – March 2019	Researcher, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
September 2015 – December 2015	Visiting Research Student, Emergent Robotics Lab, Osaka University
January 2013 – July 2013	Graduate Assistant in the “SoziRob” Project, Applied Informatics Group, Bielefeld University
April 2012 – September 2012	Special Research Student, Emergent Robotics Lab, Osaka University
November 2011 – February 2012	Graduate Assistant in the “Dialog Demonstrator” Project, Applied Informatics Group, Bielefeld University

Education

August 2018	Ph.D. in Computer Science, Faculty of Technology, Bielefeld University
September 2013	Master of Science, Faculty of Technology, Bielefeld University
September 2010	Bachelor of Science, Faculty of Technology, Bielefeld University

Awards

Dissertation Award 2018 of the University Society Westphalia-Lippe for Ph.D. thesis on “Learning How to Speak: Goal Space Exploration for Articulatory Skill Acquisition” (January 2019)
Excellent Poster Presentation Award at Workshop on the Mechanisms of Brain and Mind, Hokkaido, Japan (January 2019)
Best Oral Presentation at IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-EpiRob) (September 2016)
Ph.D. research grant of CITEC (Cognitive Interaction Technology Center, Bielefeld) graduate school
PROMOS scholarship of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) for semester abroad (April – September 2012)
“Deutschlandstipendium”: Achievement scholarship granted by the German regional foundation Stiftung Studienfonds OWL (October 2011 – September 2012)