Fiona Kerr


Fiona Kerr is a specialist in cognitive neuroscience, neurotechnology, psychology and AI who was elected a fellow of the National Academy, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2024 for her recognition of "technology and human centered research, and advisory role on the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence".

Career

In 2014, Kerr received a PhD from the University of Adelaide's business school for her thesis, "Creating and leading adaptive organisations: the nature and practice of emergent logic". She is an advocate for AI and cryptocurrency.
Kerr has co-written a blog post on Parkinson's disease, and has been interviewed for some online news outlets on stress and sleep deprivation. She was interviewed by the ABC in 2019 around the neurophysiology of connecting with human interactions.
Kerr has conducted research around the impacts of online learning, and prolonged screen time, compared with in person and eye-to-eye contact. She has discussed how eye contact can raise hormonal levels, including dopamine and oxytocin, and this also lowers cortisol levels.
Kerr is also a board member of Tutti Arts as well as the private organisations, R for Robotics and Curated.
Kerr is an ambassador of the Women in Innovation organisation, known as WINN which aims to elevate women in science, engineering, technology, arts and mathematics.

Publications

Kerr has published on the neurophysiology of human presence, technology and screen time, as well as complex systems, including the following publications: