The lab members of ACE-Lab are of a diverse variety of educational backgrounds ranging from communication, linguistics, semiotics, psychology, teaching and much more, emphasizing the multidisciplinary variety and strength of ACE-Lab.
Some of the prominent subjects with which some of the members of ACE-Lab work include, but are not limited to, reading in many different forms, embodiment, cognition, education, and learning.
ACE-Lab Members
Fields of Research
- Cognitive ethnography
- Distributed cognition
- Embodied interaction
Sarah Bro Trasmundi (née Pedersen) is Associate Professor at the University of Southern Denmark. She has been a visiting scholar at (i) Department of Education, Gothenburg University, where she worked together with Professor Per Linell, (ii) Department of Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego, hosted by Professor David Kirsh, (iii) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences, Stanford University, hosted by Professor Michael L. Anderson, (iv) Department of German, University of California, Berkeley, hosted by Professor Claire Kramsch, (v) Department of Computing, Goldsmiths University of London, where she worked with Professor Mark Bishop.
She is the Co-Director of Centre for Human Interactivity (CHI) and works with cognitive ethnography and embodied interaction on a large research project "The Ecology of Psychotherapy: Integrating Cognition, Language, and Emotion" (EPICLE). Futhermore, she is currently the P.I. of the research project "How do University Students Read? A Cognitive Ethnography Study", and the director of the Advanced Cognitive Ethnography Lab at Department of Language and Communication.
Selected publications
Trasmundi, S.B. (2020). Errors and Interaction: A cognitive ethnography of emergency medicine. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Trasmundi, S. B. & Cowley, S. J. (2020). Reading: How Readers Beget Imagining. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, [531682].
Loaiza, J. M., Trasmundi, S. B. & Steffensen, S. V. (2020). Multiscalar Temporality in Human Behaviour: A Case Study of Constraint Interdependence in Psychotherapy. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, [1685].
Fields of research
- Ecological linguistics
- Distributed cognition
- Human interactivity
For more than a decade, Professor Sune Vork Steffensen has contributed to the development of ecological linguistics through numerous publications. His current research combines interaction analysis, ecological linguistics and situated, distributed and systemic approaches in cognitive science. He is one of the pioneers of Cognitive Event Analysis, i.e. the study of how short-scale interbodily dynamics, constrained by large-scale sociocultural patterns, enable agents and systems to achieve results. His main empirical interest is interactivity in organizational settings (primarily within the health sector), e.g. expertise, decision making, and problem solving in complex sociocultural environments.
He is currently PI on a large project on The Ecology of Psychotherapy: Integrating Cognition, Language, and Emotion (EPICLE). Furthermore, Sune Vork Steffensen is treasurer of the International Society for Interactivity, Language and Cognition.
Selected publications
Steffensen, S. V. (2011). Beyond mind: an extended ecology of languaging. In S. J. Cowley (Ed.), Distributed language (pp. 185-210). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Steffensen, S. V. (2013). Human interactivity: Problem-solving, solution-probing and verbal patterns in the wild. In S. J. Cowley & F. Vallée-Tourangeau (Eds.). Cognition Beyond the Brain: Computation, Interactivity and Human Artifice (pp. 195-221). Dordrecht: Springer.
Steffensen, S. V., & Fill, A. (2014). Ecolinguistics: the state of the art and future horizons. Language Sciences, 41, Part A, 6-25.
Steffensen, S. V. (2015). Distributed Language and Dialogism: notes on non-locality, sense-making and interactivity. Language Sciences, 50, 105-119.
Steffensen, S. V., Vallée-Tourangeau, F., & Vallée-Tourangeau, G. (2016). Cognitive events in a problem-solving task: a qualitative method for investigating interactivity in the 17 Animals problem. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 28(1), 79-105.
Fields of research
- Cognitive Ethnography
- Interactivity
- Hybrid Cognition
Line Maria Simonsen is a Ph.D. fellow at the University of Southern Denmark, member of Centre for Human Interactivity. She is visiting Gothenburg University, hosted by senior lecture Oscar Lindwall and the Department of Applied Information Technology (October 2019) and Department of Cognitive Science at Macquarie University, Sydney, to work together with Professor John Sutton (February-August 2020) in order to develop a theoretical and methodological framework of Hybrid Cognition.
Moreover, in employing cognitive ethnography, Cognitive Task Analysis and Cognitive Event Analysis in her Ph.D. project she investigates how digital platforms, i.e., e-consultations, enable, condition and constrains interactions in healthcare. Her goal is to advance theoretical basis for investigating various dynamics of the socio-technological systems in health care as well as contributing with empirical interventions to clinical practice.
Selected Publications
Simonsen, L. M., & Steffensen, S. V. (under review). Enacting hybrid cognition in medical discharges.
Simonsen, L. M., & Steffensen, S. V. (2019). Hybrid Cognition in medical simulation: Investigating micro-level organisational cognition. Proceedings of the European Academy of Management Conference, Lissabon, Portugal., 1-35.
Simonsen, L. M. (2017). Framings i distribuerede kognitive systemer: Hvordan praktikere møder patienten. Kandidatafhandling. Odense: Syddansk Universitet.
Fields of Research
- Practical phenomenology
- Cognitive ethnography
- Organizational development
Malte Lebahn is enrolled as a Ph.D. fellow at University of Southern Denmark after graduating from a Master of Communication at Aalborg University. Maltes research interest is the coupling of phenomenology and cognitive science in the study of complex work environments.
In his current Ph.D. project (SimLearn), he studies four hospital wards through cognitive ethnographic methods. Based on his studies, he develops simulation training scenarios tailored to the departments and assesses if the training increases the potential for learning with the healthcare staff. The goal is the increased potential for fewer medication errors in hospitals.
Selected Publications
Lebahn, M., Bing, R. G. & Christiansen, N. H. (2015). Den blinde plet: Et filosofisk hermeneutisk kommunikationsspeciale på Aalborg Universitetshospital. Speciale. Aalborg: Aalborg Universitet
Fields of Research
- Cognitive Ethnography
- Distributed Cognition
- Embodied Interaction
Malene Jensen has a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Copenhagen. She is currently enrolled as a Ph.D. student at the University of Southern Denmark. She has previously worked as an associate professor at the University College Absalon, where she was involved in the teacher education program.
Her main research interest is classroom interaction with a focus on 1) the inclusion and exclusion dynamics, and 2) the interactive and reflexive positioning which take place in communities of practice. As a former teacher and reading tutor in elementary school and as a reading tutor educator at the university college, she has worked with a cognitive and sociocultural approach to reading.
In her current Ph.D. project, she investigates reading activities at the university college from an embodied and ecological perspective. Particularly she is interested in analyzing how reading practices are constrained, what inhibit students from applying an efficient and functional reading strategy and which interventions should be initiated to accommodate the identified challenges. The project is part of the externally funded research project: "How do University Students Read? A Cognitive Ethnography Study".
Camille Munk Holmstedt is a master student of English Studies at the University of Southern Denmark. Her main research interests are within the fields of:
- Languaging including linguistics, dialogic and eco-social approaches to the study of human interactivity.
- Radical embodied cognition
She has previously worked with data transcriptions in relation to the project 'The Ecology of Psychotherapy: Integrating Cognition, Language, and Emotion' (EPICLE) under the Centre for Human Interactivity.
Her most recent research activity is a paper presentation on personhood and dialogical interactions on psychotherapy:
- Holmstedt, M. C. (2019). Language & Life: Being a Person in Therapy. Paper presentation at The International Scientific Conference on Language, Discourse and (Inter)Culture in Human Communication. Siberian Federal University in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
She is currently a research assistant on the project 'How do University Students Read? A Cognitive Ethnography Study.'
Jakob Godsk Nielsen is a third year psychology student at the University of Southern Denmark. His main research interests span:
- Reciprocity between cognition and interaction in a holistic rather than mechanistic approach
- Cultural determination of patterns of behaviours and ways of thought
He has previously been affiliated with the department of Political Science at University of Copenhagen, where he attended courses in sociology, methodology and scientific theory. Currently Jakob works at different volunteer counseling services, through which he is accumulating extensive experience with youth counseling. Jakob is also one of the research assistants working on the project "How do University Students Read? A Cognitive Ethnography Study". Jakob is currently working on an article revolving around personality traits and reading.
Rachel Kooy is a councelor, researcher and lecturer, who is currently affiliated with the University of Southern Denmark. Her previous experiences include teaching psychology courses at Humboldt State University, on topics such as personality theory, prejudice and discrimination, and human development. She has additional practical expertise in psychology from working as a qualified rehabiliation counselor. Her research interests include personality, councelling, cognition and psychotherapy.
Fields of research
- Cognitive Ethnography
- Distributed Cognition
- Embodied Interaction
Hana Hnilicová obtained a MA degree in Business, Language and Culture (profile Human Resource Management) at the University of Southern Denmark, with a thesis that discussed a cognitive-linguistic approach to dance-making.
In the dissertation "Another kind of listening: Case study of instant choreography" (2016), she linked her interest in personal development or 'becoming' with a part phenomenological, part micro-analytic study that explored her direct experience with learning to dance.
As soon to be certified professional coach at Academy of Coaching Excellence and a yoga teacher, she likes to use her authentic experience and interdisciplinary background (from teaching, personal development and movement) to the study of human embodied interaction. She likes to zoom in on how people develop new ideas, overcome challenges and make decisions, while undergoing learning or 'becoming'.
Hana is an aspiring Ph.D. student and a research assistant on the project "How do University Students Read? A Cognitive Ethnography Study".
Selected publications
Hnilicová, H. (2016). Another kind of listening: Case study of instant choreography (Master's dissertation). University of Southern Denmark, Odense.