Hi! I’m Zi Haur 👋
I am a second-year Ph.D. student in Speech and Audio Processing Lab at Kyoto University, under the supervision of Professor Tatsuya Kawahara. My research lies at the intersection of affective computing, human–AI/robot interaction, and spoken dialogue systems. Specifically, I investigate how multilingual multimodal embodied conversational agents—ranging from virtual avatars to human-like androids—can recognize, validate, and ultimately alleviate human emotions through natural speech. I also explore how an agent’s embodiment and conversational intelligence influence user behavior during interaction.
Feel free to reach out, or learn more from My CV.
🔥 News
- 2026.02: I have been selected as a student volunteer for the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026 (CHI 2026). See you in Barcelona, Spain!
- 2026.01: 🎉🎉 Our papers are accepted by 2026 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2026). See you in Barcelona, Spain!
- 2025.12: I have joined A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (A*STAR I²R) as a Research Intern under the guidance of Dr. Gao Xiaoxue and Dr. Nancy F. Chen.
- 2025.06: I have joined Speech, Language & Interactive Machines (SLIM) Research Group as a Research Intern under the guidance of Dr. Casey Kennington.
- 2025.02: 🎉🎉 Our paper is accepted by CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2025 (CHI 2025). See you in Yokohama, Japan!
- 2024.11: 🎉🎉 Our paper is accepted by The 31st International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING 2025). See you in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates!
- 2023.12: 🎉🎉 Our paper is accepted by The 14th International Workshop on Spoken Dialogue Systems Technology (IWSDS 2024). See you in Sapporo, Japan!
📖 Educations
- 2024.04 - Present: Doctorate of Informatics in Intelligent Science and Technology, Kyoto University.
- 2022.04 - 2024.03: Master of Informatics in Intelligent Science and Technology, Kyoto University.
- 2017.01 - 2020.12: Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Actuarial Science, UCSI University.
💻 Experience
- 2025.12 - Present: Research Intern, Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R), Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR).
- 2025.06 - 2025.07: Research Intern, Speech, Language & Interactive Machines (SLIM) Research Group, Boise State University.
- 2024.04 - 2024.08: Teaching Assistant, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University.
- 2020.09 - 2022.03: Data Scientist, AirAsia.Com Travel Sdn. Bhd..
- 2020.05 - 2020.12: Research Assistant, Institute of Actuarial Science and Data Analytics, UCSI University.
- 2019.10 - 2019.12: Data Analyst Intern, SIC Co. Ltd.
📝 Publications
- Zi Haur Pang, Yahui Fu, Yuan Gao, Tatsuya Kawahara. Paralinguistic Emotion-Aware Validation Timing Detection in Japanese Empathetic Spoken Dialogue, ICASSP, 2026.
- Muyun Wu, Zi Haur Pang, Koji Inoue, Tatsuya Kawahara. Still Thinking or Stopped Talking? Dialogue Silence Intention Classification Using Multimodal Large Language Model, ICASSP, 2026.
- Yahui Fu, Zi Haur Pang, Tatsuya Kawahara. Minority-Aware Satisfaction Estimation in Dialogue Systems via Preference-Adaptive Reinforcement Learning, IJCNLP-AACL, 2025.
- Koji Inoue, Mikey Elmers, Yahui Fu, Zi Haur Pang, Divesh Lala, Keiko Ochi, Tatsuya Kawahara. Prompt-Guided Turn-Taking Prediction, SIGDIAL, 2025.
- Divesh Lala, Mikey Elmers, Koji Inoue, Zi Haur Pang, Keiko Ochi, Tatsuya Kawahara. ScriptBoard: Designing Modern Spoken Dialogue Systems Through Visual Programming, IWSDS, 2025.
- Zi Haur Pang, Yahui Fu, Divesh Lala, Mikey Elmers, Koji Inoue, Tatsuya Kawahara. Does the Appearance of Autonomous Conversational Robots Affect User Spoken Behaviors in Real-World Conference Interactions?, CHI EA, 2025. [Presentation Video]
- Zi Haur Pang, Yahui Fu, Divesh Lala, Mikey Elmers, Koji Inoue, Tatsuya Kawahara. Human-Like Embodied AI Interviewer: Employing Android ERICA in Real International Conference, COLING, 2025. [Demo]
- Zi Haur Pang. Toward More Human-like SDSs: Advancing Emotional and Social Engagement in Embodied Conversational Agents, YRRSDS, 2024.
- Divesh Lala, Koji Inoue, Haruki Kawai, Zi Haur Pang, Mikey Elmers, Tatsuya Kawahara. Development and Evaluation of A Semi-autonomous Parallel Attentive Listening System, APSIPA ASC, 2024.
- Zi Haur Pang, Yahui Fu, Divesh Lala, Keiko Ochi, Koji Inoue, Tatsuya Kawahara. Acknowledgment of Emotional States: Generating Validating Responses for Empathetic Dialogue, IWSDS, 2024. [BEST PAPER NOMINEE🏆]
🥇 Honors and Awards
- 2025.02: Outstanding Research Award, awarded by Kyoto University ICT Collaboration Promotion Network.
- 2022.04 - 2027.03: MEXT Scholarship, awarded by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan.
- 2017.01 - 2020.12: UCSI University Trust Scholarship (100% Tuition Waiver), awarded by UCSI University.
📸 Media Article
- 2024.11: La Presse au Japon Les robots au chevet des aînés - Erica, une humanoïde pour créer des liens.
🔎 Reviewer Experiences
- 2025 - 2026: The ACM CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) Late Breaking Result track
- 2026: The ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW)
- 2025: Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP)
- 2025: International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI) Late Breaking Result track
- 2024 - 2026: PeerJ Computer Science
🔬 Research Projects
- JST NEXUS: Expressive and Empathetic Human-AI Interaction by Enhancing Multilingual, Multimodal Large Language Models
- JST MOONSHOT: Realization of A Society in Which Human Beings Can Be Free From Limitations of Body, Brain, Space, and Time By 2050
- KAKENHI: Intelligent Conversational System for Dialogue Engagement and Rapport with Humans