January 12, 2023

On 12 January 2023, the Research Committee of the School of Communication, organised a research seminar titled “The post pandemic world: Service robotic applications in the hospitality and tourism industry”, for academic faculty members and friends.

Professor Lisa C. Wan, Associate Professor of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management and Department of Marketing at The Chinese University of Hong Kong was the keynote speaker at the seminar. She also serves as the Co-Director of the Centre for Hospitality and Real Estate Research.

As a leading researcher in the fields of services marketing and human-robot interaction, Professor Wan’s cutting-edge research has attracted media attention across Hong Kong; she has been interviewed by local TV stations and newspapers. One of her recent publications, which was published in Annals of Tourism Research focuses on consumer reactions to service robots during the COVID-19 pandemic attracted approximately 368 local and international media pickups. The article was further disseminated to over 16,000 media outlets globally.

In the seminar, Professor Wan shared her study on the smart robot’s application in the hospitality industry and explained how the introduction of service robots altered human perceptions. Additionally, her findings uncovered an emerging direction with great potential in the communication area – human-robot interaction in a post-pandemic world.