About HCRAI

Human-Centric Responsible AI (HCRAI) was founded to address a persistent gap in AI: important decisions about safety, ethics, and governance are often made without a clear understanding of how people use and experience AI systems over time.

Many of the most important risks — and opportunities — emerge through interaction in practice. They are shaped by context, vulnerability, and changing patterns of use, and are often missed by purely technical approaches or compliance-led assessments.

HCRAI brings behavioural science, human-computer interaction, and AI ethics and governance together to help organisations make better decisions about AI in the real world.

Sara is a behavioural scientist and AI strategy and governance practitioner with over 17 years of experience working across product management, behavioural research and UX in global technology organisations (i.e., Shopify, Expedia, F-Secure, Unit4) and start-ups (Health/Mental Health/ Wellbeing, Education, Gaming, HRTech).

Her work combines academic rigour with real-world practice. She holds an MSc in Strategy and Management of International Business (ESSEC), an MSc in Behavioural Science (LSE), and is completing doctoral research in Psychology of Emotions and Wellbeing at Universidade Católica Portuguesa.

Sara is an Oxford-certified AI ethicist and an ISO/IEC 42001 AI Management Systems auditor. Through HCRAI, she supports organisations in understanding how people interact with AI systems in practice, and in making informed decisions around wellbeing, safety and governance.

Yasmina is a PhD researcher in the Psychology of Emotions and Wellbeing at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, with a research focus on the psychological impact of empathic AI and human-AI interaction.

She holds a master’s degree in Statistics and Information Management, bringing together expertise in data analysis, psychology, and user experience. Her research contributes to understanding how AI systems shape emotional experience, trust, and wellbeing in real-world use.

Alongside her academic work, Yasmina works as a consultant at a leading AI company focused on customer experience, contributing to the development of intelligent systems that support organisational insight and decision-making. She collaborates with HCRAI on selected research and advisory projects.

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Sara Portell