Curriculum Vitae

Education

PhD in Philosophy (2007), Universität zu Köln (Germany)

M.A. in Philosophy (Major), German Literature/Language, Modern History (2001)

Employment

Lichtenberg-Professor (W2), Philosophy of Consciousness & Cognition (since 03/2014)

Junior-Professor (W1), Philosophy of Consciousness & Cognition (2010–2014)

Junior Research Group Leader for Neurophilosophy, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University Tübingen (Germany) (2009–2010)

Postdoctoral Fellow (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), research project Self-consciousness and concept formation in humans (Prof. A. Newen), Institute of Philosophy, Ruhr-University Bochum and University Tübingen (Germany) (2006–2009)

Research Assistant (Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft und -Mitarbeiter) at chair Prof. K. Düsing, Philosophisches Seminar, Universität zu Köln (Germany) (2001–2005)

Teaching Assistant (Studentische Hilfskraft) @ Chair Prof. K. Düsing, Philosophy Department, University zu Köln (Germany) (1999–2001)

Areas of Specialization

Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Cognitive Science, Kant, Analytical Philosophy

Areas of Competence

Epistemology, Metaphysics, Ancient and Early Modern Philosophy

Third-party Funding (major research projects)

2020 – 2022 Funding for Covid-19 -related project “Why do people believe weird things? The Bayesian Brain, Conspiracy Theories, and Intellectual Vices, funded by the VolkswagenStiftung & RUB (120.000 €)

2019 – 2022 Extension of project Situated Cognition. Perceiving the world and understanding other minds, funded by the VolkswagenStiftung & RUB (786.600 €) https://www.rub.de/phil-alt/situatedcognition

2018 – 2021 Interdisciplinary and international collaborative research project (D-A-CH) on The structure and development of understanding actions and reasons, funded by German Science Foundation (DFG), Swiss National Fund (SNF), and FWF (Austrian Science Fund), with A. Newen (Bochum), H.-J. Glock (Zürich), J. Perner (Salzburg) (Total: 1.208.626 €). https://www.rub.de/philosophy/actionsandreasons

2017 – 2020 Research Training Group Situated Cognition, Bochum-Osnabrück), funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG), incl. 12 PIs and 12 PhD students, Speakers: Prof. Dr. Albert Newen, Prof. Dr. Achim Stephan (Share: 260.000 €)

2014 – 2019 Lichtenberg professorship associated with the project Situated Cognition. Perceiving the world and understanding other minds, granted by the VolkswagenStiftung (1.136.000 €) https://www.rub.de/phil-alt/situatedcognition

2010 – 2014 Junior Research Group on Intentionality, Embodiment and Self-consciousness, funded by the State of Northrhine-Westfalia and Ruhr-University Bochum, co-application with Prof. Dr. Albert Newen (Bochum) (538.000 €)

2010 – 2013 Research Grant by the VolkswagenStiftung for the interdisciplinary project „Being addressed as You: A Second-Person Approach to Other Minds“ (320.000 €). In cooperation with Dr med. Leonhard Schilbach (Psychiatry, Cologne), Dr. Bert Timmer­mans (University Clinic Cologne/Brussels), Prof. Vasu Reddy (Psychology, Portsmouth), Prof. Chris Frith (Neuroscience, London/Aarhus), Dr. Nikolaus Steinbeis (MPI Leipzig).

2007 – 2009 Grant by the VolkswagenStiftung for the interdisciplinary research project "Finding culturally (in)dependent levels of self-representation: The case of emotions" (41.000 Euro). For more details including cooperation partners see www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/philosophy/ emotion

2007 – 2008 Member of the „Elite program for postdoctoral fellows“ by the Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg and Grant for the project "Intentionality, Self-consciousness, and social interaction. An investigation from the perspectives of philosophy and the cognitive sciences" (73.000 Euro)

Further Grants and Scholarships

2022 Hosting and Supporting an Experienced Researcher Humboldt Fellowship for Dr. J. Suilin Lavelle from Humboldt Foundation at RUB (2022-2023)

2021 Hosting and Supporting a Postdoctoral Humboldt Fellowship for Dr. Matthew Sims from Humboldt Foundation at RUB (2021-2023)

2020 Research Grants for Prof. Louise Barrett (Lethbridge) and Prof. Robert Rupert (Colorado) as Visiting International Professors, RUB Research School (10.000 €)

2020 Hosting and Supporting a Postdoctoral Humboldt Fellowship for Dr. François Kammerer from Humboldt Foundation at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2020-2022)

2020 Grant from Thyssen Foundation for the workshop Perceiving Agents: Self and Other, held June 3-4, 2020, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (7.000 €)

2018 Grant from Thyssen Foundation for the workshop Predictive Processing, Cons­ciousness, and Self, held January 25-26, 2019, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (7.000 €)

2018-2020 Hosting and Supporting a Postdoctoral Humboldt Fellowship for Dr. Adrian Downey from Humboldt Foundation at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2018-2020)

2018-2019 Hosting and Supporting a DAAD-Annual Research Grant for Dr. Andrea Pace Giannotta (University of Florence) for research on Enactive Intentionality

2015 Grant from RUB Research School for Conference organization (Mental Representations, Sept. 21-23, 2015) (15.000 €).

2015 Hosting and Supporting a DAAD Grant, PhD student Karina Vold (McGill Univer­sity) for a 3 months research visit on to work on Extended Consciousness (4.000 €).

2015 DAAD Grant for Symposium on Social Cognition at ESPP Meeting, Tartu (Estonia), together with Prof. Daniel Cohnitz (Tartu) (4.000 €)

2012 Grant from VolkswagenStiftung for conference Interfaces of the Mind (27.000 €)

2010 – 2017 Teaching Grant from the RUB-Rectorate for Special Research-oriented teaching programs involving international guests and speakers (46.000 €)

1999 Study Grant by the Kölner Gymnasial- und Stiftungsfonds

1997/98 ERASMUS–Scholarship (European Union) @ University College London (UK)

Academic Awards

Award for Best Paper in Cognitive Sciences (2008) @ Annual meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kognitionswissenschaft, Dresden, Germany (Paper: "Ein Stufenmodell der Intentionalität")

Award for Best Philosophy Poster (2006) @ Conference: Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC) X, Oxford, England, Title: "Me-ishness. A Kantian explanation of subjective character"

Award for Best Poster Presentation (2004) @ Conference: Towards a Science of Consciousness VI, Tucson, Arizona, Title: "Physicalism, Dualism, and a Kantian Alternative"

Best Student Paper Award Nominee (2002) @ Conference: Towards a Science of Consciousness V, Tucson, Arizona, Title: "Problems of John Searle's Biological Naturalism"