Associate researcher and editor at Transtechnology Research

eugenia.stamboliev@plymouth.ac.uk

Transtechnology Research,
Room B312 Portland Square,
University of Plymouth,
Drake Circus,
Plymouth,
PL4 8AA.

Doctorate in Philosophy of Digital Media and Technology with an emphasis on transdisciplinary ethical concerns around emerging digital technology. My PhD fellowship was situated in Transtechnology Research and in CogNovo (an EU Marie Skłodowska Curie initiative exploring Cognitive Innovation and Creativity).

Research fields and intersections

Applied Ethics, Posthumanist Ethics, Humanoid Robotics, Philosophy of Technology, Critical Media and Film Studies, Science and Medical Philosophy, Media and Surveillance Studies, Data Ethics and Computer/AI Ethics

Research Interest

My wider research deals with socio-technological entanglements in the constitution of subject agency or/and the representation of such. I focus on transdisciplinary approaches to work out conflicting or dependent ethical concerns in agency debates linking philosophical, scientific and critical media schools. In particular, I examined screen materiality discussed through early psychology, early cinema and media philosophy; researched on participatory documentary as counter-narrative to marginalised imagery of refugees; and worked on ethical conflicts of social robots between humanoid companions and data tracking technologies.

My PhD thesis focused on the latter and interrogated the social robot from the angle of its digital media components and its humanoid body to explore intersected ethical concerns manifested in this technology. What I elaborated was that strong anthropomorphic views in Robot and Machine Ethics conflict with posthumanist and data ethical concerns looking at machinic capacities of social robots as data tracking devices. I concluded by highlighting how the disconnections between ethical schools of emerging digital technologies enable new surveillance practices and the formation of positivistic moral norms.

Educational background

‘Diplom’ (equivalent to BA&MA) in Communication and Media Studies (University of Arts Berlin); ‘Vordiplom’ in Law Studies, Art History, and German-Jewish Literature (Free University Berlin); ABD in ‘Philosophy, Arts & Critical Thought’ or PACT (European Graduate School Saas-Fee).

Publications (updated November 2019)

Stamboliev, E. (2019) David J. Gunkel Robot Rights [Review]. Leonardo Reviews [Online].

Stamboliev, E. (2019) Münsterberg, Flusser and the Screen Bodies [Book chapter]. In: Steinmetz, R., ed., A Treasure trove. Friend of the Photoplay – Visionary – Spy? New trans-disciplinary Approaches to Hugo Münsterberg‘s Life and Oeuvre. Leipzig: Leipzig University Press, pp. 109-129.

Stamboliev, E. (2019). ‘The caring gaze. Simulating, mediating and rethinking care algorithmically’ [Conference article]. In Transtechnology Reader 2017-2018. Plymouth: Plymouth University [in print].

Stamboliev, E. (2017) ‘On ‘Spillikin. A Love Story, or on the issues around technology performing sociability’ [Journal article]. Off the Lip: Collaborative Approaches to Cognitive Innovation. In: Avant, 8 (Special Issue), pp. 265-271, doi:10.26913/80s02017.0111.0024

Stamboliev, E. (2017) ‘Visualising the Ordinary. On Pierre Schoeller’s ‘The Lost Time’ [Journal article]. Unmediated. Journal for Politics and Communication, 1. pp. 77-80. [Online]

Stamboliev, E., Jackson, A. (2017). Human devices – Instrumentation of physicality in performance [Conference paper]. In Transtechnology Research Reader 2014/2015. Plymouth: Transtechnology Research Institute, pp. 92-101.

Stamboliev, E., (2016) Vilém Flusser – Without firm ground [Review: Vilém Flusser exhibition Without Firm Ground. Academy of Arts Berlin]. Leonardo Reviews [Online].

Stamboliev, E., (2015) Telepathy, Hypnosis and the Medium [Conference paper]. In: Punt, M., Denham, S., ed., Off the Lip. Transdisciplinary Approaches to Cognitive Innovation. 7-11. September 2015. Plymouth: Plymouth University, pp. 205-214.

Stamboliev, E. (2015). Shabbat [Encyclopaedia entry]. In: Zielinski, S., Weibel P., and Irrgang, D., ed., Flusseriana. An Intellectual Toolbox. Minneapolis: Univocal Publishing.

Stamboliev, E. (2015). Dwelling [Encyclopaedia entry]. In: Zielinski, S., Weibel P., and Irrgang, D., ed., Flusseriana. An Intellectual Toolbox. Minneapolis: Univocal Publishing.

Stamboliev, E. (2015). On Wittmann, On Münsterberg, On Cinema [Conference paper]. In: Punt, M., Blassnigg, M., Drayson, H., Woodward, M., ed., Transtechnology Research Reader 2014/2015. Plymouth: Transtechnology Research Institute.