Lab members
Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi
PhD – Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, Florida Atlantic University (1995). I am interested in human cognition as arising from interactions with others, situated in the world. I think that at the heart of cognitive phenomena (and of building successful explanations of them) lies the problem of the relation between dynamic and symbolic aspects of cognition. I study human language as a particularly good manifestation of this problem, trying to employ three approaches that seem most promising: ecological psychology, dynamical systems and semiotics. Tackling such fundamental issues requires vast expertise, so the HILL's role is to form collectives of cognitive scientists, computer scientists, psychologists, mathematicians, philosophers, anthropologists and others, engaged in studying how symbolic forms emerge from interaction and how they, in turn, influence our life.
Julian Zubek
I have a background in computer science and machine learning (MEng – Warsaw University of Technology, 2012, PhD – Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences, 2017), but I was always drawn towards social sciences. I work with computational models and advanced techniques for analysis of experimental data (also in dynamical context, where data consists of long time series). My research interests include emergence of communication, study of unstructured interaction, categorization, complexity of human cognition.
Michał Denkiewicz
I am a multidisciplinary researcher with background in experimental cognitive psychology and computer science. My primary research area includes mathematical modeling of decision making and information in small groups and biological networks. Scientific interests: multiagent and networked cognitive systems and computational methods of modelling cognitive and biological processes.
Konrad Zieliński
Cognitive Science MA Student. Konrad's scientific interests concern human communication, speech, and the application of newest technologies to counter disabilities. He is a leader of Uhura project aimed at the restoration of natural interaction after laryngectomy and a leader and co-creator of MedTech Students UW, which is a learned student society for scientific collaboration between Warsaw University and Warsaw Medical University on specific health challenges.
Wiktor Rorot
I’m a PhD student at the Interdisciplinary Doctoral School, University of Warsaw, supervised by prof. Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi and prof. Marcin Miłkowski (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences). I’m interested predominantly in mind & cognition from the 4E perspective, with a special focus on the predictive processing (aka active inference, aka free energy principle) framework and on the issue of emergence and evolution of life and mind. My areas of interest include philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of biology, philosophy of science in general, consciousness studies, dynamical systems theory, information theory. At HILL I'm working on emergence of symbolic communication and the widespread use of the term “communication” in life sciences (which is the focus of my doctoral project). You can follow me and my projects on ResearchGate, Google Scholar and Twitter.
Tomasz Korbak
I studied cognitive science, philosophy and physics at the University of Warsaw. My interests resolve around machine learning and computational and Bayesian approaches of language and enactive cognition. My research at HILL focuses on signaling games and neural models of the emergence of communication in multi-agent systems. I also work on philosophical issues around self-organization and computational explanation with Marcin Miłkowski and on natural language processing outside of academia. For more information, see my homepage at https://tomekkorbak.com.
Borys Jastrzębski
Doctoral candidate in psychology and philosophy at the Interdisciplinary Doctoral School and HILL at the University of Warsaw. I graduated from the University of Warsaw, Central European University and the College of Europe. Previously, I worked in philosophy and bioinformatics. For my dissertation, I study the emergence of regular, conventional communicable signs from a multi-disciplinary and multi-scale perspective. Recently, I have been busy developing an event-based semiotic framework applicable to empirical studies in psychology. The next stage is to put it to work in modeling and experimental designs.
Ewa Nagórska
A former Cognitive Science student, she’s currently preparing her Master Thesis about experiencing changes in time perception while reading. As a president of Student Association of Neurobiology at University of Warsaw, she focused on promoting and popularizing neurosciences. Previously, she worked in Nencki Institute, studying changes in evoked potentials in rats’ brains. She’s a huge fan of uniting humanities and mathematics, as well as integrating social and life sciences.
Adrianna Biernacka
MA Student of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology (MISH UW). Researcher and user experience (UX) designer in Demant Technology Centre. Through the collaboration with HILL she comes to believe that working hands-on within interdisciplinary teams allows tackling even the most difficult problems.
Krzysztof Główka
I have a background in both computer science and cognitive science. Now I’m particularly interested in approaches to language that empirically examine its ecological and action-grounded aspects, where I believe the largest discoveries are still ahead of us. At HILL, I work on some theoretical aspects of reconciling the ecological and symbolic perspectives on language, as well as evolutionary models of language emergence. My other scientific interests include artificial intelligence, natural language processing and complexity-theoretic approaches.
Students and interns
Natalia Klamann
Has been educated in sociology (MA 2019, University of Warsaw) and cognitive science (BA 2016, University of Nicolaus Copernicus in Toruń). Enthusiastic in a wide variety of cognitive science fields, in 2017 had a pleasure to be the Vice-Head of Aspects of Neuroscience Conference, currently finishing her Master in cognitive science of human interactions. Apart of engaging in the academic world, she works in the Foundation Laboratory of Research and Social Innovation "Stocznia".
Collaborators
Yanna Popova
Dr Yanna Popova (DPhil, Oxford) has been educated in linguistics, philosophy and the arts. She works on the applications of the enactive approach in cognitive science to art, language, narrative, time experience, and creativity. Her research is interdisciplinary and she pursues questions that are best approached through a combination of empirical investigation with theoretical, mainly philosophical and psychological, considerations.
Karolina Ziembowicz
Karolina Ziembowicz is an assistant professor at the Institute of Psychology, The Maria Grzegorzewska University. Her scientific interests include dynamics of social interaction, quantification of social emergence processes as well as the influence of technology on human behavior. Google Scholar profile
Julia Krzesicka
Earned her education at the University of Warsaw. Currently PhD Student at the Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, earlier she has been educated in applied sociology and social anthropology (MA 2018, BA 2016), cognitive science, and international relations (BA 2016). Collaboration with HILL helped her to discover the power of working within interdisciplinary team. Her current interests include sociology, anthropology and philosophy of new technologies, especially in terms of design, affect and voice.
Sarah Bro Trasmundi
Sarah Bro Trasmundi (née Pedersen) is Associate Professor at the University of Southern Denmark. She has been a visiting scholar at (i) Department of Education, Gothenburg University, where she worked together with Professor Per Linell, (ii) Department of Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego, hosted by Professor David Kirsh, (iii) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences, Stanford University, hosted by Professor Michael L. Anderson, (iv) Department of German, University of California, Berkeley, hosted by Professor Claire Kramsch, (v) Department of Computing, Goldsmiths University of London, where she worked with Professor Mark Bishop. Currently she works with cognitive ethnography and embodied interaction on a large research project The Ecology of Psychotherapy: Integrating Cognition, Languge, and Emotion (EPICLE). She is the director of the upcoming CogEthno-Lab at Department of Language and Communication.
Joanna Komorowska-Mach
I am educated in philosophy and psychology. I work as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Warsaw. My research interests cover philosophy of mind, epistemology, philosophy of science, methodology and cognitive psychology. I am interested in pragmatic aspects of communication, especially concerning expressing and discussing one's own mental states. I am also a psychotherapist in training and a proud mother of three.
Agnieszka Dębska
Currently I'm a Principal Investigator in a research project concerning the neural and cognitive basis of the orthographic deficit (www in Polish: orto.nencki.edu.pl). I work in the Laboratory of Language Neurobiology (Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences). I’m interested in the neural basis of language acquisition and print processing. Especially I wonder how symbols are processed at the brain level.