Sylvia van der Pal
Papers
5
Total Citations
106
H-Index
4
About
Sylvia van der Pal is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of child-computer interaction, healthcare robotics, and cultural psychology. Her work focuses on designing and deploying social robots to support children with chronic conditions, particularly Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM), and to promote mental health and resilience in educational settings. Her most influential study, “Friendship with a robot: Children’s perception of similarity between a robot’s physical and virtual embodiment that supports diabetes self-management” (2018, 66 citations), explores how children form bonds with robotic and virtual avatars, revealing critical insights into embodiment and trust in pediatric care. Van der Pal’s cross-cultural investigations, such as her work at diabetes camps comparing Italian and Dutch children (2016, 17 and 12 citations), demonstrate that while children universally respond positively to social robots, cultural context shapes interaction styles and self-management support needs. She also contributed to the PAL project, developing the “Charlie” robot to assist children, parents, and clinicians in collaborative diabetes care (2017, 10 citations). Most recently, her pilot intervention study (2025) evaluates robot-delivered training to improve mental health in Dutch primary schools, signaling a bold expansion into preventive child psychiatry. With a cumulative impact of over 100 citations, van der Pal is a leading voice in culturally-aware, child-centered health technology.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Child's culture-related experiences with a social robot at diabetes camps17 citations · 2016
- 3Child's Culture-related Experiences with a Social Robot at Diabetes Camps12 citations · 2016
- 4Learning with Charlie10 citations · 2017
- 5