Berlin Team
Here we list all Berlin members and Berlin fellows that are currently working with us. Below we also list previous members and fellows of the ARTS AND MINDS LAB.
Head
Joerg Fingerhut
Joerg Fingerhut is the head of the ARTS AND MINDS LAB at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain and guest professor at the Department of Philosophy, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He also is the Director at HU for the Research Platform Neurourbanism which is funded through the BUA (Berlin University Alliance) project Exploring and Designing Density. Neurourbanism as Novel Approach in Global Mental Health. He is also the Principal Investigator at HU for the EU H2020 projectArt and Research on Transformations of Individuals and Societies (ART*IS). Here is his personal website.
Coordinator
Sephira Kolbe, M.Sc.
Sephira Kolbe joint the ARTS AND MINDS LAB as project coordinator for the BUA (Berlin University Alliance) Project Exploring and Designing Urban Density: Neurourbanism as a Novel Approach in Global Mental Health at the Department of Philosophy, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. With her background in clinical psychology her research centers on the intersection of urban environments and mental health, showcasing her commitment to advancing our understanding of these crucial dynamics.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Corinna Kühnapfel
Corinna Kühnapfel is a postdoctoral researcher at the ARTS AND MINDS LAB at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain/Department of Philosophy, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. She will mostly support research on Exploring and Designing Density at the RPN. Her background is in embodied cognitive science and empirical aesthetics. Her PhD as part of the EU H2020 ART*IS project at the University of Vienna dealt with the role of the body in art experiences. Read more about her academic background here.
Dr. Shadi Bagherzadeh Azbari
Shadi Bagherzadeh Azbari is a postdoctoral researcher with a background in Cognitive Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology at the BUA (Berlin University Alliance) Project 'Exploring and Designing Urban Density: Neurourbanism as a Novel Approach in Global Mental Health.' She works as the scientific coordinator for the research package on the mental well-being of city dwellers (Your Emotional City) within the Neurourbanism research platform (RPN).
Researchers
Julian Kutsche, M.A.
Julian Kutsche is a researcher at the ARTS AND MINDS LAB in the EU H2020 ART*IS project and a medical student at Charité in Berlin. He has studied philosophy, psychology and musicology at LMU Munich and HU Berlin and conducted a research project at Harvard University on fMRI activation network mapping of creativity and neurodegenerative diseases. He recently graduated in musicology with a thesis on Heidegger's understanding of mood and nostalgia in pop culture. In the lab, Julian is particularly interested in the role that aesthetic moods play in transformative processes through art.
Research Assistants
Irene Senatore
With an interdisciplinary background in arts and humanities, Irene Senatore started her Master’s at Berlin School of Mind and Brain in 2022 to bridge the gap between theoretical and empirical insights on the mind. As a 2nd year Master’s student, she has been building solid knowledge in a variety of neuroscience-related disciplines while cultivating specific research interests that lie at the intersection of different AI-related aspects, such as human-AI interaction, AI models of cognition, and ethical and phenomenological issues connected to virtual realities. During her undergrad, she delved into the phenomenology of materials, investigating how materials such as cement shape the quality of the affordances we find in our surrounding environment. Moreover, she became familiar with transdisciplinary perspectives on different forms of art and their deployment in interactive online environments. She joined the Arts and Minds Lab with the aim of further exploring 4E cognition perspectives on artistic experiences, given her strong interest in art and human artifacts in general. Irene started working at the AML in 2023.
Špela Vrtovec
Enrolled in the Master's program at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain, she previously studied at the University of Ljubljana, exploring the anthropocene and posthumanisms. Her involvement in Berlin's exhibition scene deepened her understanding of art's connection to architecture. She is interested in exhibition space design, advocating for inclusive and accessible public art experiences. Concurrently, she contributes to research on cognition in online environments at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. Spela started working at the AML in 2023.
Berlin Fellows
Visiting Research Fellows
Cain Todd (PhD)
Cain Todd is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Lancaster University (UK) and Visiting Research Professor at the University of Notre Dame (US). He works primarily in aesthetics and the philosophy of mind and perception, frequently focusing on issues concerning imagination and emotion. He is currently co-writing a book with Joerg Fingerhut for Bloomsbury Press entitled ‘Aesthetics and Emotion’, and is also working on a manuscript about the relationship between imagination and feeling.
Artistic Fellows
Dr. Barbara Jenner
Barbara Jenner is an artist with a PhD in Art History who will be working on urban aesthetics and the idea of transformation as it is employed in the contemporary art world. She studied tapestry at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. After organizing and curating a series of exhibitions, she co-founded “Five & Dime” in 2015, a venture that aimed at making editions and multiples more accessible to a broader public. In 2022, she launched her own art label, Atelier von Ehren. Under this label, she creates unique art works that are featured in galleries in New York and Austria. Currently, she is working on a series of artworks and lamps, inspired by Tanzikaki's book, "In Praise of Shadows".
Berlin Alumni
Olivia Maegaard Nielsen, M.A.
Olivia Maegaard Nielsen is a research assistant at the EU H2020 ARTIS and is finishing her master’s in philosophy at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, where she is focussing in feminist and social epistemology and wrote her thesis on the question of speaking for others. She is interested in how aesthetic experiences can overcome epistemological challenges, as well as research ethical questions. Olivia worked at the AML from 2021–2/2024.
Cristiano Bacchi
Cristiano Bacchi is a 3rd-year Master’s student at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain. With a background in philosophy and psychology, he has soon become familiar with interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the mind and the person. In his current research, he aims at bridging philosophy and mental health by engaging with questions in the philosophy of psychiatry. By joining the Research Platform Neurourbanism, he is eager to delve into another facet of mental health – how people emotionally relate to and engage with the space around them, and how the multifaceted environment in turn affects their psychological well-being. Cristiano worked at the AML from 2023–1/2024.
Ayça Akan
Hannah Kruft
Alina Podschun