6th International Workshop
on Active Inference

Ryan Smith

Dr. Smith's lab focuses on understanding the neurocomputational mechanisms underlying emotion-cognition interactions and how they relate to brain-body interactions, with a special focus on information-seeking behavior, prospective planning, and interoception. Lab projects also focus on how these mechanisms are affected in depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. The primary research methods used in the lab are neuroimaging and computational modeling, including a wide range of modeling approaches (e.g., drift-diffusion models, reinforcement learning models, active inference models). A major overarching focus is to characterize information processing differences between mentally healthy and unhealthy individuals with the goal of improving diagnosis and treatment selection within psychiatry and clinical psychology.

Chris Mathys

Chris Mathys is Professor of Cognitive Science at Aarhus University in Denmark. His group's research is focused on the creation of computational models of behaviour and brain function, with a recent emphasis on the modelling of delusions. As a graduate student, Chris developed hierarchical Gaussian filtering (HGF), a modelling approach that allows for the automatic, principled, and agent-specific adjustment of learning rates in rapidly changing environments. This enables the quantification of individual differences in learning, inference, and decision-making. In addition to his original background in physics and information technology, Chris has a degree in Psychology and Psychopathology and has completed post-graduate training as a clinical psychologist.

Dalton Sakthivadivel

Dalton Sakthivadivel studies nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and the mathematical physics of complex systems, with an interest in the free energy principle and its relations to these areas. He holds the Einstein Chair visiting professorship of mathematics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and also leads the theory group at VERSES.

Jun Tani

Jun Tani received the D.Eng. degree from Sophia University, Tokyo in 1995. He started his research career with Sony Computer Science Lab. in 1993. He became a PI in RIKEN Brain Science Institute in 2001. He became a tenured Professor at KAIST, South Korea in 2012. He is currently a full Professor at OIST. He is also a visiting professor of The Technical University of Munich. His current research interests include cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, phenomenology, complex adaptive systems, and robotics. He is an author of “Exploring Robotic Minds: Actions, Symbols, and Consciousness as Self-Organizing Dynamic Phenomena." published from Oxford Univ. Press in 2016.

Karl Friston

Karl Friston is a theoretical neuroscientist and authority on brain imaging. He invented statistical parametric mapping (SPM), voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and dynamic causal modelling (DCM). These contributions were motivated by schizophrenia research and theoretical studies of value-learning - formulated as the dysconnection hypothesis of schizophrenia. Mathematical contributions include variational Laplacian procedures and generalized filtering for hierarchical Bayesian model inversion. Friston currently works on models of functional integration in the human brain and the principles that underlie neuronal interactions. His main contribution to theoretical neurobiology is a free-energy principle for action and perception (active inference). Friston received the first Young Investigators Award in Human Brain Mapping (1996) and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (1999). In 2000 he was President of the international Organization of Human Brain Mapping. In 2003 he was awarded the Minerva Golden Brain Award and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2006. In 2008 he received a Medal, Collège de France. He became of Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 2012, received the Weldon Memorial prize and Medal in 2013 for contributions to mathematical biology and was elected as a member of EMBO (excellence in the life sciences) in 2014 and the Academia Europaea in (2015). He was the 2016 recipient of the Charles Branch Award for unparalleled breakthroughs in Brain Research and the Glass Brain Award - a lifetime achievement award in the field of human brain mapping. He holds Honorary Doctorates from the universities of York, Zurich, Liège and Radboud University. He received the Donald O Hebb Award (International. Neural Network Society) in 2022.

Axel Constant

Axel is a postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Engineering and Informatics of the University of Sussex (UK). His research focuses on Bayesian approaches to human cognition as applied to the study of Law, Psychiatry, Evolutionary Cognitive Anthropology, and Evolutionary Biology. His training includes studies in the Law (LL. B.), Philosophy (B.A., M.A.), Cognitive Science (M.Sc.), and the Philosophy of Biomedicine (Ph.D).

Ben White

Ben White is a doctoral researcher at the University of Sussex, working with Professor Andy Clark and Dr Beatrice Fazi and funded by the Leverhulme Trust's be.AI Project. Ben's work applies frameworks from philosophy, neuroscience, and theoretical biology to questions about technology, wellbeing, and mental health. Ben is particularly interested in the ways that the specific affordances of emerging technology can entangle with processes of perception, action, and learning, changing the way we experience the world and ourselves.

Ines Hipolito

Dr. Ines Hipolito is an Assistant Professor at Macquarie University, specializing in cognitive science, philosophy, and artificial intelligence. Her research explores the intersection of the Free Energy Principle (FEP), embodied cognition, and complex systems theory, examining how these frameworks inform our understanding of cognition, agency, and ethics.In her dual role as a Senior Research Engineer at VERSES, Dr. Hipolito is currently investigating how FEP can guide the design of AI systems that align with the intelligence of ecosystems, aiming for a harmonious relationship between humans and the natural world. This work reflects her broader vision of reclaiming cognitive diversity and reconnecting with the environment, contributing to a future where AI fosters collective flourishing and a deeper understanding of our place in the "Embodied Web" of life. Dr. Hipolito is also the Co-founder and President of the International Society for the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind, where she promotes interdisciplinary collaboration in cognitive research. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, spoken at prominent events, including Big Questions at the Sydney Opera House , and participated in numerous podcasts. Her work bridges diverse perspectives on cognition, advocating for inclusive frameworks that enhance our connection with both human and artificial minds.