Elena Walsh

Elena Walsh is a Lecturer in the School of Liberal Arts at the University of Wollongong. Her research focuses on the Philosophy of Psychology, Science, and AI, particularly exploring emotional dispositions through dynamical systems theory and predictive processing. She investigates ethical governance of AI, embedding norms into machine learning, and technology's impact on human character and attention. Walsh holds a PhD from the University of Sydney (2019) and previously worked as a policy advisor at the Department of Premier and Cabinet and researcher at the Practical Justice Initiative, UNSW.

Education: PhD in Philosophy, University of Sydney (2019); earlier studies not specified.

Research Interests: Integrates emotion studies with AI ethics, Buddhist philosophy, and moral psychology. Examines how technologies reshape human emotional capacities and ethical frameworks. Active in debates about explainable AI and predictive processing models of mind.

Funding: Secured the 'Mind-Reading Machines: Mental Health and the Rise of 'Empathic' AI' grant (2022-2023) via University of Wollongong's AEGiS scheme.

Teaching: Instructs courses on epistemology, logic, and moral philosophy, including Aristotelian ethics. Supervises higher degree research on topics like representational content in cognitive science.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates with colleagues in interdisciplinary philosophy and cognitive science networks, though no formal lab name is stated.