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About

Catholijn M. Jonker is a prominent Dutch computer scientist whose research spans autonomous agents, multiagent systems, human-robot teaming, and AI ethics. She has made foundational contributions to understanding how humans, agents, and robots can work together effectively, championing the concept of **coactive design** — a framework emphasizing interdependence rather than mere automation in human-robot collaboration. Her landmark 2014 paper on coactive design (296 citations) and related work on human-agent-robot teamwork reshaped how researchers think about autonomy, arguing persuasively that increased automation does not automatically yield better outcomes in complex joint tasks. Jonker has served the broader scientific community as a key figure in the prestigious AAMAS conference series, the premier international venue for multiagent systems research, with proceedings she helped shepherd attracting hundreds of citations. Her work extends into computational models of emotion, exploring how reinforcement learning can capture affective states like hope and fear, and more recently into the ethical dimensions of multiagent AI systems. Her 2020 paper on ethical multiagent systems reflects a timely pivot toward responsible AI at a societal scale. With a body of work exceeding a thousand cumulative citations, Jonker remains an influential voice bridging theoretical rigor and real-world human-machine collaboration.