How do we see ourselves in the eyes of others? From our pictures posted on social media, to expectations about how others will judge or understand us, we constantly learn about ourselves through the effects we have on our surroundings. This is the topic explored at a unique public engagement event at the new Blavatnik building at Tate Modern, 24–25 March.

Nick Shea, IP Professor of Philosophy, was interviewed by Catherine De Lange for a special issue of New Scientist on difficult concepts. They discussed how people sort between 'difficult' and everyday concepts, and whether concept-metacognition is involved. That didn't make it into the magazine, but there is a nice short piece on why consciousness is a difficult thing to study: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23831840-300-how-to-think-about-consciousness/

The Institute of Philosophy will host new Visiting Fellows:  Professor Robert Stainton , Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Western, will be here until 30 May 2018.  Professor Catherine Wearing , Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wellesley College, will be here until 30 April 2018.  Dr Elizabeth Edenberg , Senior Ethicist at Georgetown University, will be here from 9 May until 8 August 2018. 

Google awarded three consecutive Faculty Research Awards (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, total: US$200,000) to Professor Vincent Hayward, Leverhulme Visiting Professor, to support research on "Tactile Communication Technology for Use by The Deafblind".     Professor Hayward working with Sven Topp, who is a deafblind researcher from Austrilia, and Basil Duvernoy, a PhD candidate from Sorbonne Université, to develop a machine-mediated, affordable technology capable of reproducing formal Deafblind communication techniques with a minimal learning curve.