Asimina studied as an undergraduate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, and first joined Imperial on our specialist one year MSc degree course in Applied Machine Learning.
The Maria Petrou Scholarship has been transformative for me. On a practical level, it provided the financial support needed to pursue my dream of conducting research in AI and self-governing hybrid (human-AI) systems at a world-leading university. Beyond this, the scholarship has been a profound source of encouragement, boosting my confidence and affirming that, as a woman, I can excel equally in STEM. It has empowered me to contribute to cutting-edge research and has inspired me to continue breaking barriers in engineering.
What is your research about?
Although I was not considering pursuing a PhD when I first came to Imperial, my final project on the Applied Machine Learning course changed my mind. It introduced social science concepts such as social choice theory, game theory, fairness and distributive justice, and how they can be used to design artificial intelligent algorithms. This interdisciplinary aspect of AI intrigued me and excited me to pursue a PhD.
My research focuses on the role of influence, learning, and innovation in supporting the sustainable self-organisation of hybrid (human-AI) systems. What makes this work unique is its interdisciplinarity: it bridges computer science (particularly artificial intelligence) with insights from social and political sciences.
Self-organisation refers to processes where a system's behaviour is modified by its components or agents themselves. These agents could be humans in a social system or processors in a cyber-physical system. This technique also exists in nature, for example, flocks of birds self-organise into energy-efficient V-formations for long-distance travel.
In my research, I am particularly interested in self-governance, which is a form of self-organisation centred on collective deliberation about rules, roles, structures, and procedures that enable components to coexist within a shared environment. This is highly relevant today as society increasingly comprises hybrid systems of humans and AI components—such as smart chatbots, sensors, or other AI-driven technologies—which raises unique challenges for effective self-governance.
To address these challenges, my research combines scientific knowledge from psychology, philosophy, and political science with AI techniques to design mechanisms for sustainable self-governance. This interdisciplinary approach serves two purposes:
1. It helps us understand human behaviour better so that we can design systems that support and empower people.
2. It allows us to draw inspiration from social systems to engineer robust, adaptive cyber-physical systems.
For example, consider a smart co-working space where humans and computational agents (like lights and temperature sensors) collaborate to improve comfort and efficiency. Initially, the system might use fixed schedules for lighting and heating. Over time, as sensors collect data and humans gain experience with the space and its devices, both could propose more complex rules—such as dynamic off-timers or adaptive temperature controls. Through this process, humans and AI learn from each other, co-creating flexible solutions by blending human lived experience with machine learning.
Ultimately, the significance of my research lies in integrating computational intelligence with human intelligence to foster meaningful, democratic, and evidence-based deliberation in hybrid systems. This empowers humans to take an active role in shaping the rules and behaviours of these systems, promoting sustainability, inclusivity, and innovation.
What are the best (and worst) things about doing a PhD?
One of the best things about doing a PhD is the opportunity to explore new topics and really get to grips with the mechanics of cutting-edge technology—especially in AI—and to work on engineering solutions to complex, real-world problems. There’s a real satisfaction in having the freedom to choose your area of focus and dive deeply into something you’re passionate about.
That said, a PhD also requires discipline and persistence, especially when it comes to tasks you might not enjoy as much. For instance, while I love research, problem-solving, and running experiments, writing scientific publications can be quite demanding. It’s an essential part of the process, but it involves painstakingly documenting your work and explaining its significance in a way that’s clear and convincing for the scientific community. It’s rewarding in the end, but definitely a challenging aspect of the journey.
What have been your proudest achievements to date?
I’m proud to have had interdisciplinary collaboration with the psychologist Andrzej Nowak and the classicist Josiah Ober, and to have contributed knowledge through 14 scientific publications.
I’ve also been involved in extracurriculars as a teaching assistant, tutor, lecturer, ambassador, and workshop organiser, and the achievement I’m most proud of is co-lecturing on a course in the European Summer School of Artificial Intelligence (ESSAI2024). The scientific contributions of my thesis formed the content for the half of a course on Self-Governing Systems which I had the honour to teach.
What are your plans after you finish your PhD?
I’ve not decided yet whether I want to pursue a career in academia or business, but in the near future, I’ll be contributing to the development of the syllabus of an inter-disciplinary module on AI, Ethics, Democracy and User-Centred Systems Design which will be presented in collaboration with Stanford University and University of Oxford.
What's your best piece of advice for anyone thinking about taking on a PhD?
The best advice I can give is the one that my supervisor gave me before starting my PhD. He said, “PhD is a process of growth, and las any type of growth, it involves pain. Be prepared for the pain but also keep in mind that there is a good reason for it”. So, the best advice I can give is to be aware of and prepared for that pain, but also don’t forget that this is worth it!