Principal Investigator
Lab Director
Dr Kristyn Sommer
Jacobs Foundation Research Fellow
I run the Little Scientist Lab, where my team studies how preschoolers learn from people, robots, and the social cues sitting between the two.
I'm an autistic researcher. That shapes everything about how I design studies, who I collaborate with, and what questions I think are worth asking.
Current members
Who's in the lab now.
Sarah Poiner
Lab ManagerCoordinating the word learning study.
A/Prof Jessica Paynter
CollaboratorWorking with us on the FOCUS Toolkit for autistic adults.
Alumni
Where they are now.
Students and research assistants who came through the lab, and what became of their work.
Jack Archer
Honours Student, 2022–23Studied adults' moral judgements about robots. Now at the University of Edinburgh, and his honours work became a paper in Scientific Reports.
Chinami Jones
Research AssistantCompleted her honours on robot-related fear and word learning. Her thesis is now a pre-print.
Sonia Mendez Rodriguez
Research AssistantLed a systematic literature review on children's learning from social robots.
Cynthia Li
Research InternExplored how people perceive different parenting style labels.
Lab alum with news? Email k.sommer@griffith.edu.au and we'll update your card.