Bio.

Marjan Sharifi is a cognitive scientist and interdisciplinary scholar. Her work applies empirical insights from mind-wandering and empathy research to inform artistic and design practices, with a focus on new media and interactive technologies.  

In 2022 she was awarded the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global fellowship to fund her research. Her project aims to empirically evaluate the possibility to enhance creative thoughts when mind-wandering through the use of a digital arts intervention. This project is funded until the end of 2026 and is a collaborative effort between The University of California, Berkeley and École normale supérieure Paris (ENS). At Berkeley she is within the psychology department working within the lab of Dacher Keltner, and at ENS at the Laboratory for Cognitive Science and Psycholinguistics (LSCP) working with Jérôme Sackur.

She received her Ph.D. in psychology in 2017 working within the Social Neuroscience department of the Max Planck Institute for Human and Cognitive Brain Sciences in Germany. Her doctoral work focused on examining the underlining emotional, cognitive and behavioral mechanisms of narcissism. Drawing from behavioral economics, she applied game theoretic models to examine narcissistic social behaviors. Her doctoral research also included the first study to uncover the intrapersonal regulation strategies of narcissists using insights from mind-wandering.

In 2018 she was a visiting scholar at University of California, Berkeley working with philosopher Alva Noë and also an adjunct lecturer at the Southern California Institute of Architecture where she taught architects how to apply the psychology of mind-wandering to their design practices. During her time at UC Berkeley, she connected with researchers working on AI and the effects of digital technologies on society. These experiences at UC Berkeley have positively influenced her research and interest in investigating the resonance of technology on our cognition and social interactions.  

Marjan regularly collaborates with artists, and has spent time as a research scientist in two renowned artist studios in Berlin: Studio Olafur Eliasson and Studio Tomás Saraceno. For five years she was an adjunct lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts, within the Art and Media master’s program. She also regularly works together with CalArt’s Center for integrated Media, where she has been a visiting artist. She has developed seminars, symposiums, workshops, and curated exhibitions with her students. Examples can be found within the subsection Mind + Design.  

Complementing her academic and research work, Marjan also has experience working in industry as a brand consultant at WPP and as a marketing analyst for Christian Dior in London. Her diverse work experiences and international mindset enable her to uniquely inform the design process from a humanist perspective. She is open to and enjoys sharing her cumulative knowledge through lectures and workshops, and as a creative consultant.