Biography
Dr Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska is a Research Associate at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, with a background in social communication, theatre studies, and interactive media and performances. In her research, she explores how new technologies (re)shape our understanding of death, loss, grief, and afterlife presence. Her work intersects the fields of technology, culture, and thanatology.
From 2020 to 2023, she held an individual grant entitled "Immortality: Technocultural Strategies of Contemporary Times," funded by the Polish National Science Center. Recognizing the clear need for interdisciplinary research in the field of (im)mortality technologies, she developed a theoretical framework for a new sub-discipline called "(im)mortality studies" as part of her doctoral dissertation (defended with the highest distinction in 2022).
In 2021, she co-organized and co-moderated an international conference titled Digital (Im)mortality: Philosophy, Ethics, and Design at the University of Cambridge. She is also a team member of an international scientific consortium 'Digital Death: Transforming History, Ritual, and Afterlife' (as part of the EU CHANSE).
In 2024, she was awarded by Schmidt Sciences as one of the 15 global researchers addressing the hard problems of AI within the AI2050 Early Career Fellowship. Over the next two years, she will lead research titled "Imaginaries of Immortality in the Age of AI: An Intercultural Analysis," aiming to understand the context-specific meanings of AI for our relation to (im)mortality. Additionally, her work has recently been acknowledged by the British Academy within the Global Talent Visa program under the category of "Exceptional Promise."
More information about her research can also be found on her webpage.
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