On February 14, 2023, International Researchers Support Team of Kyoto University Research Administration Center (KURA) held the networking event “Meet Your KU Community!” online and 21 researchers participated. This fifth seminar in the series was held in cooperation with Hiroshima University and the researchers and URAs attended from the university.

In the beginning, Dr. Rafik Hadfi, an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Informatics at the Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University , delivered a presentation titled “The Enactive Pathway to AI“. During his talk, he highlighted the shortcomings of mind-body dualism in cognitive processes from the standpoint of AI research. Instead, he introduced the concept of enactivism, which is utilized in cognitive science. Enactivism provides a framework for understanding cognition as an ongoing interaction between mind, body, and environment. According to Dr. Hadfi, this perspective on cognition presents a promising direction for AI research.

Following the talk, Dr. Russell S. Kabir, an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University commented on the presentation by Dr. Hadfi and presented some points that triggered the discussion. In the Q&A session that followed, researchers from the fields of transportation engineering, econometrics and social informatics asked questions that spanned a variety of disciplines.

After the event, there have been a lot of exchanges between Dr. Hadfi, and Dr. Kabir, as well as with the researchers from the various fields who asked questions. It may not be long before interdisciplinary research flourishes as a result of this event!

In organizing this session, Ms. Hiroko Araki, our URA colleague, Hiroshima University (Research Strategy and Promotion Division, Headquarters for Research in Collaborative Sciences Enabling the Future), assisted us from the planning stage.
This event was planned and moderated by SASAKI Yu URA, and administrative staffs (Masumi Oishi, Ayana Uemura) of KURA supported the planning and operation of the event.
KURA will continue to make efforts to strengthen the KU research capabilities through supporting international researchers.

Rafik Hadfi, Associate Professor


Russell S. Kabir, Assistant Professor