Dr. Conor Heins
Main Focus
I am fascinated by the 'apparent teleology' of complex systems. In
particular, I hope to explore the degree to which complex (biotic and
abiotic) systems can be described as trying to infer and adaptively
intervene on their environments, in an approximately Bayesian manner. As
a doctoral student in the Department of Collective Behaviour, I hope to
apply this concept in context of collective behavioral systems. I will lean heavily on the 'Free Energy Principle' as a
unifying framework for understanding action and perception in complex
systems.
Curriculum Vitae
- 2011-2015, B.A. in Neuroscience, Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, USA
- 2015-2017, Post-baccalaureate Research Fellow at the National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
- 2017-2019, MSc. in Neuroscience, IMPRS-Neurosciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany