Meet the Lab

Professor Eric Vanman

Eric is a Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Queensland, where he investigates the social and neural mechanisms underlying human responses to emotion, artificial agents, and robots. His research program employs multiple methodologies, including facial electromyography, psychophysiology, and neuroimaging, to examine how people perceive, respond to, and interact with both human and artificial social agents.

Beyond his research, Eric supervises PhD and honours students, teaches courses in statistics, research methods, and the psychology of technology, and serves on Human Research Ethics Committees. He is an active member of the Australasian Society for Social and Affective Neuroscience (AS4SAN) and the International Society for Research on Emotion (ISRE), where he contributes to conference organisation and program committees.

Eric received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Southern California (1994), followed by postdoctoral training in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience. Before joining UQ in 2007, he held faculty positions at Georgia State University, Emory University, and a research position at Texas A&M University.

For his full CV, click here.

Email: e.vanman@psy.uq.edu.au

Current Members (in progress)

Our lab includes PhD candidates, undergraduate students, and research assistants. We have weekly lab meetings in the School of Psychology.

Noah Rose (PhD candidate)

Noah Rose is a PhD candidate and tutor at the University of Queensland. He completed his Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) at UQ in 2024 with a thesis examining the effectiveness of generative AI-powered tutors. His current research investigates AI companions and the people who form personal relationships with them. His research interests span cyberpsychology, human-AI interaction, communications, politics, decision-making, and opinion polarisation.

Honours Students

Eric will be supervising individual honours projects in 2026.

Lab Alumni

Dr. Faye Nitschke

Dr. Roger Gamble

Dr. Lewis Nitschinsk

Dr. James Casey

Dr. Katie McKay

Dr. Ellie Moses

Dr. Ruri Katsunuma

Dr. Carly McComb

Dr. Joel Larwood

Dr. Leah Sharman

Dr. Billy Sung

Dr. Nerisa Dozo

Dr. David Cowan

Dr. Belinda Craig

Dr. Michael Philipp

Dr. Sashenka Milston

Dr. Beth O'Brien-McInally

Dr. Jenni Wallis

Mari Horiguchi

Alexandra Hall

Sarah Rowley

Rosemary Baker

Tash Bobir

Kyah Johnstone

Jenna Scambler

Sara Berndt

Martin Henrion

Hayley Colman

Julia Riches

May Chantra

Shelby Ceh

Kaela Savage

Tobren Watson

Sebastian Rahe

Madeline Fitzgerald

Zhuman (Mandy) Li

Jake Morrison

Pei Wen Tan

Samantha Lo Monaco

Lewis Nitschinsk

Lucinda Hinckfuss

Vanessa Standring