Yoon Kyung Lee

Current Position: 

• Adjunct Professor, Gachon University, Sept. 2025 - Present
• Researcher, Seoul National University, Oct. 2024-
  • Visual Art Institute, Oct. 2025 - Present
  • Institute of Psychological Sciences, Seoul National University, Oct. 2024 - Sept. 2025

Professional Experiences:

• Research Professional, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA. Sept 2023 - Aug 2024
• Lecturer, Samsung Design and Art Institute (SADI), Seoul, Korea. June 2022 - Sept 2022
• Reviewer, PRESENCE: Virtual and Augmented Reality, Korean Journal of Cognitive Science, Cognitive Science Society (CogSci)
• Python Instructor, Self-Paced Learning & Tutoring Program, Department of Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. Spring 2019
• Instructor, Faculty IT Education Program, Ajou University, Suwon, Korea. March 2019
• Teaching Assistant, <Psychology and AI>, Korean Massive Open Online Course (K-MOOC) by Ministry of Education, Korea. 2019 - 2023

Education:

• Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology (Minor: Quantitative Psychology), Seoul National University
• M.A. in Cognitive Psychology, Seoul National University
• B.S. in Psychology, The University of Iowa

Research Interests:
Yoon Kyung’s research focuses on the development and application of empathetic AI, specifically in social robots, healthcare, and AI. She uses computational and quantitative methods (deep learning, NLP, and machine learning). Her work has been published in several venues, including CogSci, IEEE IROS, IEEE RO-MAN, AAAI HCOMP, and the Korean Journal of Cognitive Science.

Teaching: 

• AI for Therapeutic Science, Gachon University (Instructor)
• AI for Psychological Science Research Methods – Guest Instructor & Co-developer (Team-taught with Prof. Jiook Cha, Seoul National University)

Community Engagement:
Yoon Kyung has organized global and local workshops and meetups to help researchers and fellow graduate students exchange scientific findings and research methods.

Co-organizer & presenter:

• Robot Learning Done Right: Responsibly Developing Foundation Models for Robotics (2025 CoRL/Humanoids) [Link]
• Large Language Models in the RoMan Age: Exploring Social Impact and Implications for Design and Ethics (2024 IEEE RO-MAN) [Link]

She is the first main organizer of the Seoul local meetup of the Cognitive Science Society (2022 and 2023). She has actively led various methodology workshops, including "Introduction to Prompt Engineering 101: Hands-on Workshop with Large Language Models" (Language model workshop for SNU graduate students) and Applied Cognition (AppCog) (a seminar for PhD students and industry researchers). She has also actively led graduate student-level journal club and tutorial sessions within the lab (Human Factors Psychology Lab).

Recent Publication 

• Lee, YK., Suh, J., Zhan, H., Li, J.J., & Ong, D.C. (2024). Large Language Models Produce Responses Perceived to be Empathic. ACII 2024 [pdf]
• Zhan, H., Zheng, A., Lee, YK., Suh, J., Li, J.J., & Ong, D.C. (2024). Large Language Models are Capable of Offering Cognitive Reappraisal, if Guided. COLM 2024. [pdf]
• Bae, S., Lee, YK., Lee, J., Kim, J., Jeon, H., Lim, S., Kim, B., & Hahn, S. (2024). Enhancing Empathy in Virtual Reality: An Embodied Approach to Mindset Modulation. arXiv preprint. [pdf] 
• Lee, YK., Lee, I., Shin, M., Bae, S., & Hahn, S. (2024). Enhancing Empathic Reasoning of Large Language Models Based on Psychotherapy Models for AI-assisted Social Support. Korean J of Cognitive Science (인지과학), 35(1), 23-48. [pdf]
• Lee YK., Jung, Y., Kang, K., & Hahn, S. (2023). Developing Social Robots with Empathetic Non-Verbal Cues Using Large Language Models. Late Breaking Report for presentation at the 32nd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2023). [pdf]

Full publication lists:

• CV (PDF)