z.rucinska [at] hotmail.com
zuzannaaleksandra.rucinska [at] uantwerpen.be
Research Posts
Senior Postdoctoral Fellow on project
"Understanding virtual reality through ongoing embodied imagining"
Department of Philosophy, University of Antwerp, Belgium
October 2022 - present
Senior postdoctoral research position with the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) at the Centre for Philosophical Psychology, University of Antwerp, Belgium, led by Erik Myin.
This project brings the body into VR in a strong way. It defends a new ongoing embodied imagining (OEI) thesis for VR, which proposes that ongoing embodied processes (neural, motoric and explicit performances) allow us to anticipate future states or actions, also in virtual contexts. It sees virtual reality as a place of action possibilities available to an embodied being. This thesis is crucial for better understanding of virtual interactions. It can solve the problems to do with embodiment (is one truly embodied in the VR?) and immersion (can one be truly present in the VR?). This research will apply the OEI thesis in different contexts that utilize VR platforms, such as education, gaming, and sport.
Postdoctoral Fellow on project
"Enactive approach to pretending"
Department of Philosophy, University of Antwerp, Belgium
October 2018 - September 2022
Junior postdoctoral research position with the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) at the Centre for Philosophical Psychology, University of Antwerp, Belgium, led by Erik Myin.
My research aims to explore the potential of embodied and enactive cognitive science for explaining pretending. Enactivism includes interaction in its explanation of cognition, and often relies on dynamical explanations of cognition that stress the interplay between the brain, the body and the (social) environment. It has only begun to be applied to basic forms of pretend playing with objects, but more needs to be said to account for absences or keeping track of fiction. My work looks at development of role play and imaginary play, and aims to show that enactivist account of complex pretending is possible. This research is useful for therapeutic practice that makes use of pretend play.
Postdoctoral researcher
Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences
October 2017 - September 2018
I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, in the project ‘Cognitive Science: In Search of Unity’, led by Prof Marcin Miłkowski.
My research included the topics of possible integration of philosophical cognitive frameworks (enactivism and representationalism), unification of philosophical methodologies (mechanical and dynamical models of cognition) as well as interdisciplinary methodologies (philosophical theory and empirical findings).
Read the full description of the project by clicking the link to our website below.
Early-stage researcher
Marie Curie Initial Training Network 'TESIS'
University of Hertfordshire, UK
October 2011 - October 2014
I was formerly an early-stage researcher in the Marie Curie Initial Training Network 'TESIS' ('Towards the Embodied Science of Intersubjectivity'), working alongside Daniel D. Hutto and Shaun Gallagher on the theories of embodied cognition and radical enactivism.
The project explored (i) the theoretical possibility of non-representational ways of understanding early, pre-linguistic forms of pretence and (ii) how socio-cultural practices influence imaginative play, looking at how these practices could serve as a bridge between embodied intersubjective engagements and the acquisition of narrative-based modes of understanding others.
Read the full description of the project by clicking the link to our website below.