About

Prof. Dr. Ardian Jusufi

• Senior Researcher | Institute for NeuroInformatics, University of Zurich
• Engineering Sci Dept, Swiss Fed Labs Mat Sci Technology
• Hon. Associate Professor | Macquarie University
• Editor | Institute of Physics Publishing Bioinspiration and Biomimetics

Previous Positions

• Independent Max Planck Research Group Leader — MPI for Intelligent Systems (through 2023)
• Lecturer / Assistant Professor — University of Technology Sydney (2016)

Education & Training

• PhD — University of California, Berkeley (supervised by Prof. Robert Full, CiBER Center for Interdisciplinary Bio-inspiration in Education and Research)
• Postdoctoral Researcher — University of Cambridge, Queens' College
• Postdoctoral Researcher — Harvard University MicroRobotics Lab (with Prof. Robert Wood)

Funding

• SNSF Swiss National Science Foundation — 2 active projects
• Cyber Valley Cyber Valley Research Fund
• Max Planck Max Planck Society

Research Focus

The Soft Kinetic Group develops bio-inspired robotic systems that use soft materials, embedded sensing, active structures, and control for interaction with contact-rich environments. Rather than treating the body as passive hardware, the group investigates how bodies contribute to intelligence — studying compliant morphology and distributed sensing principles and translating them into robotic systems that combine dynamical systems theory, control, and mechanical metamaterials.

Explore the group's research focus areas, peer-reviewed publications, and lab & field photos.

Academic Leadership & Service

• Panel moderator — "Soft Robotics & AI" (featuring Profs. Oliver Brock, Koh Hosoda, and others)
• Chair — Soft Robotics Symposium at PPS38 (with Profs. Rob Shepherd, Yong Lae Park, Caecilia Laschi)
• Session chair — IEEE RoboSoft, Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), AMAM, IEEE ICRA

Contact

Email: ardian.jusufi@uzh.ch
Phone: 044 635 30 51
Address: Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich

Empa Profile · Soft Kinetic Group

Open positions available — prospective team members should contact the PI directly.