Team

Kayla holds a BA in Philosophy from Bryn Mawr College where she focused on the work of continental German thinkers (mostly Heidegger), and an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania where she specialized in data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence. From 2023-2025 she was an AI Engineer and worked on perceptual AI, AI explainability, and US government-partnered projects. She is now pursuing an MA in Philosophy with a focus on Theoretical Philosophy at RUB and supporting the team as student assistant.

GA 3, 146
E-Mail: kayla.carnation@rub.de

Franziska has just finished her BA with a thesis on Quantum physical approaches to consciousness. Second examiner was Prof. Paavo Pylkkänen (University of Helsinki). Franziska now starts her MA and supports the team as student assistant.

GA 3, 146
E-Mail: franziska.klasen@rub.de

BA & MA Philosophy, Bonn

Yizhi is a member of the Research Training Group 'Situated Cognition' and has started a PhD thesis on Mindwandering (2023-2026). Thus, his current research delves into the conceptual issues surrounding mind wandering, aiming to provide a more robust framework to better clarify the explanandum of mind wandering research. Additionally, I am investigating the agential status of mind wandering and its relationship with automaticity. This includes exploring whether mind wandering is an automatic process, in what sense it can be considered automatic, and the role that control plays within it.

GAFO 04/983
E-Mail: Yizhi.Li@ruhr-uni-bochum.de

MA Philosophy, Bochum

Nadine is our administrative manager. Her responsibilities include the administration of third-party funds, the coordination of study matters, the organization of workshops and conferences, and service & support for our international guests.

GA 3/146
E-Mail: nadine.overkamp@ruhr-uni-bochum.de

MSc Cognitive Neuroscience (Sussex)
BA Philosophy, London
MA Philosophy, Birmingham

Libby is a visiting fellow from Lisbon, funded by the RUB Research School and working on a PhD project investigating natural and artificial agents in the context of agential thinking in philosophy of mind and biology in general. She has obtained a MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience from Sussex and BA and MA in Philosophy from London and Birmingham. She has just obtained a writing-up fellowship from the Konrad Lorenz Institute Vienna where she is currently finishing her thesis.

GA 3, 129
E-Mail: libertysevers@gmail.com

PhD Phil., Ruhr University Bochum
M.A. Phil., University of Cologne

Tobias has joined the group in 2018, after having specialized on the topic of Animal Minds and Rationality. After having worked in the interdisciplinary project 'The structure and development of understanding actions and reasons' (DFG), he has managed the interdisciplinary research project 'INTERACT! New Forms of Interaction with Intelligent Systems', funded by the State of Northrhine Westfalia (2021-2024). Together with researchers from various disciplines on the RUB campus, Tobias is now forming an interdisciplinary research profile on questions to do with our social interaction with AI systems.

GA 3, 129
E-Mail: tobias.starzak@rub.de

M.A. Phil./ Cogn. Sc., University of Kwa-Zulu Natal
B.A. Phil. & Psych., University of Kwa-Zulu Natal

Elmarie finished her PhD in 2020 as member of the Research Training Group on Situated Cognition. Her dissertation topic was Perceiving Agents. Situating Self and Other in a predictive coding framework, with Robert Rupert being her second thesis supervisor. She is now developing an embodied view of predictive processing that covers various facets of cognition. Elmarie will be on leave in 2026.

E-Mail: elmarie.venter@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
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