Dr Adrian Alsmith

Adrian Alsmith studied Philosophy & Psychology at Warwick and gained his postgraduate degrees at Edinburgh and Mainz, as part of interdisciplinary research training networks funded by the European Science Foundation and the EC’s FP7. Before coming to King’s he held research and teaching positions at the University of Copenhagen (2012 – 2018), École Normale Supérieure, Paris (2018 – 2019), and the University of Barcelona (2019 – 2020). You can read more about Adrian at his personal website.

Research interests and PhD supervision

• Philosophy of Cognitive Science
• Philosophy of Perception 
• Self-consciousness
• Virtual reality
• Imagination

The aim of Adrian's research is to understand the extent to which our capacities for bodily and mental activity structure our experience of the world and ourselves. This also an aim of much contemporary work in the mind sciences. And a better grip on this may drive innovation in virtual reality technology and body-based user interfaces. Thus, although the focus of his work is principally philosophical, he has ongoing collaborations with psychologists, neuroscientists and computer scientists. Adrian welcomes enquiries from prospective research students in areas of study relating to his research interests.

Teaching

Currently Adrian teaches modules in Philosophy of Mind to students following the BSc in Neuroscience or other undergraduate courses in the Health Schools.

Expertise and public engagement

I am happy to talk to media about any of my research or areas of expertise.

Selected publications

• Alsmith, A. J. T. (in press) The structure of egocentric space. In F. de Vignemont, H.Y. Wong, A. Farné and A. Serino (eds.) The World at Our Fingertips: A multidisciplinary exploration of peripersonal space. Oxford: Oxford University Press 
• de Vignemont, F., Pitron, V., Alsmith, A. J. T. (in press) What is the body schema? In Y. Ataria, S. Tanaka & S. Gallagher (eds.) Body schema and body image: Phenomenology, Neuroscience and Disorders. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Longo, M. R., Rajapakse, S. S., Alsmith, A. J. T., & Ferrè, E. R. (2020). Shared contributions of the head and torso to spatial reference frames across spatial judgments. Cognition, 204, 104349. 
• Alsmith, A. J. T. (online first, 2019) Bodily structure & body representation. Synthese. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02200-1
• de Vignemont, F. & Alsmith, A. J. T. (eds.) (2017) The subject’s matter: Self-consciousness and the body. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press