Dr Rohan Kapitany

Biography	I obtained my PhD is experimental psychology at the University of Queensland (Australia), then spent three years as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford in the School of Anthropology. Following that I was a lecturer in Developmental Psychology at Keele University (UK), and now I am an Assistant Professor in Data Science at Durham University.
Research Interests	I obtained my PhD is experimental psychology at the University of Queensland (Australia), then spent three years as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford in the School of Anthropology. Following that I was a lecturer in Developmental Psychology at Keele University (UK), and now I am an Assistant Professor in Data Science at Durham University. I am interested in ritual, religion and reality beliefs. I look at each of these topics through the lens of Cultural Evolution. I'm fundamentally interested in what cognitive and environmental forces shaped human culture throughout deep history. Ritual, religion, and reality beliefs are useful tools for getting at this topic - to the best of our knowledge, no other species exhibits these traits, and to the extent that they do, they have not influenced the shape and consistency of culture across time and geographics regions as is the case with us. At a more grounded level, when I consider rituals I examine how we perceive them and evaluate their consequences; when I consider religion I examine how certain beliefs are aquired and maintained (often due to ritual commitments); and when I consider reality beliefs I examine how both adults and children understand this universe as a universe with various kinds of agencies (such as God, Santa Claus, Aliens, Dinosaurs, and Germs). I am also interested in exploring game-like methodologies in imaginary games (like D&D and other TTRPGs) as tools for understanding how the imagined influences the real (and vice versa). I am willing, able, and interested in supervising PhD research on the following topics. - Cognitive Permeation between the real and the imagined. Or put another way, how do we maintain a boundary between factual and imaginary cognitions, and when do we allow the imagined to influence the factual. - The cognitive consequences of ritual and religious experiences. How do rituals influence what we belief, how we identify, and how we behave. I'm particularly interested in topics that utilize VR technology. - How does belief in [non]real agencies and phenemona change across development. I am interested in examinine how children understand supernatural and fictive entities in their world (such as God, Santa Claus), ambiguous entities (such as Aliens and Dinosaurs) from real and fictive entities. I am open to student-led proposals on these, and related, topics. When in doubt, just send me an email! If you are a prospective MSc or PhD student, or collaborator, please reach out!
Teaching and Learning	I currently am working on curriculum development for a course on Applied Data Science. I also teach on 'Contemporary Issues' at the undergraduate level, and on 'Advanced Topics' as the postgraduate level.
PhD Supervision Availability	Yes
PhD Topics	I am willing, able, and interested in supervising PhD research on the following topics. - Cognitive Permeation between the real and the imagined. Or put another way, how do we maintain a boundary between factual and imaginary cognitions, and when do we allow the imagined to influence the factual. - The cognitive consequences of ritual and religious experiences. How do rituals influence what we belief, how we identify, and how we behave. I'm particularly interested in topics that utilize VR technology. - How does belief in [non]real agencies and phenemona change across development. I am interested in examinine how children understand supernatural and fictive entities in their world (such as God, Santa Claus), ambiguous entities (such as Aliens and Dinosaurs) from real and fictive entities. I am open to student-led proposals on these, and related, topics. When in doubt, just send me an email!