merle.fairhurst@tudresden.de
Merle Fairhurst Educated on both sides of the Atlantic, Merle Fairhurst holds a diploma in music (Juilliard School) and a doctorate in neuroscience (University of Oxford). Her post-doctoral training both in Germany (Max Planck Institute for Human Cognition and Brain Sciences) and the United Kingdom (University of London) has helped her build both a rich theoretical framework of the multisensory bases of social cognition working with psychologists and philosophers but also extensive expertise in combining multiple levels of empirical observation including neuroimaging (FMRI, FNIRS), physiological markers of autonomic arousal and subjective reports. She is proud to now work within the CeTI excellence cluster in Dresden where as the Junior Professor for Social Affective Touch her team compares the subjective experience and neurophysiological markers of different digital models of social touch taking advantage of cutting edge affective haptics and virtual reality. With almost 20 years of experience and most recently after 5 years in Munich as an assistant professor (LMU) and professor for Biological Psychology (Universität der Bundeswehr München), Merle has also developed a strong teaching profile with courses for both philosophers and cognitive scientists with wide ranging topics including “Music and the mind” to “Virtual reality as an invaluable tool for psychological research on social cognition