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About

Tuuli Turja is a Finnish social scientist whose research sits at the intersection of human-robot interaction, workplace psychology, and welfare services. Best known for her systematic investigations into robot acceptance, Turja has made foundational contributions to understanding how individuals and societies respond to the growing presence of robots in professional environments — particularly in healthcare and elder care. Her most influential work, a 2017 systematic literature review on social acceptance of robots across occupational fields (246 citations), established a crucial empirical baseline for the field. She subsequently developed original theoretical and measurement frameworks, including the Robot Acceptance Model for Care (RAM-care) and the Robot Use Self-Efficacy in Healthcare (RUSH) scale, tools now widely adopted by researchers worldwide. Her 2019 multilevel analysis spanning 27 EU countries demonstrated how both individual psychology and national context shape workplace robot acceptance, bringing genuinely cross-cultural rigor to the field. Turja has consistently championed the perspectives of frontline care workers, examining determinants of readiness for robotization and tracking attitudinal shifts over time. Her more recent work explores how media exposure shapes robot perceptions and how robot deployment can be aligned with basic human needs. With over 980 cumulative citations, Turja stands as a leading voice in responsible and human-centered robotization of welfare work.