Dr. Matthew Sims

Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge

Matthew Sims received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh and was a research assistant at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (Rome). He was an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral fellow, and subsequently a Biology and Cognition Postdoctoral Fellow at Ruhr University Bochum’s Institute of Philosophy II. During this time,  he also began culturing and running decision making experiments with the acellular slime mould Physarum Polycephalum. Matthew is currently a Research Associate at Cambridge University’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence where he works on the project Major Transitions in Cognitive Evolution, investigating the evolvability of social learning in lizards. His interdisciplinary research is located at the intersection of philosophy of biology and philosophy of cognitive science, where he has focused on using P. polycephalum, as a model organism for the purpose of addressing various long-standing puzzles in the philosophy of biology. This latter research forms the basis of his forthcoming book ‘Slime Mould and Philosophy’ (2024) on Cambridge University Press.

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Contact: ms3174(at)cam.ac.uk