Our Support for Ukrainian Researchers in Situated Cognition
In order to express our solidarity with the people in Ukraine, who face the destruction of their universities by the Russian army and an attack on the values we believe in: peace, democracy and freedom, the Research Training Group (RTG; DFG-Graduiertenkolleg) “Situated Cognition” offered individual support and consultation for finding a fellowship or other financial and educational support to study and work in Germany.
Within this context, we welcomed Olena Komar from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Olena received a grant from the Philipp Schwarz Initiative of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and, from January 2023 to July 2025, was a fellow of our RTG working as a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Osnabrück.
In her research, she investigated the epistemological aspects of propaganda and the ethics of beliefs, in particular, the phenomenon of the persistence of “bad beliefs” (examples of which include conspiracy theories, belief in propaganda theses, fake news) and the role of social echo chambers in shaping notions of moral responsibility.
We were extremely happy to have Olena work with us!