Dr. Jessica Szczuka leads the INTITEC (Intimacy with and through Technology) research group, which is affiliated with the Chair of Social Psychology: Media and Communication at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Her research focuses on how digitalization shapes the experience and concept of love and sexuality. She pays particular attention to the perception and intimate communication with artificial entities like chatbots, conversational agents, and voice assistants. Additionally, she explores intimate interactions between people facilitated by new media. Dr. Szczuka’s academic journey began with interdisciplinary studies in psychology and computer science, culminating in a Ph.D. in human-computer interaction. Her dissertation delved into the social perception of sexualized robots.