Academia
Research interests
Academic me is interested in a wide variety of subjects, ranging from linguistics to biology to computer science to philosophy of science and anywhere in between. Interdisciplinary research in general is close to my heart.
I started out in what may be deemed “classical” linguistics, doing a Bachelor in linguistics at Paderborn University, Germany, where I quickly developed an interest especially for topics related to psycholinguistics and generative syntax. Eventually, I stumbled upon language evolution. For my Bachelor’s thesis, supervised by Katharina Rohlfing and Eyke Hüllermeier, I looked at interactions between mothers and 3-month-old children and developed a method for distinguishing between meaningful and meaningless patterns in these interactions.
Mainly as a means to explore language evolution further, I followed with a Master in Cognition and Language (CCiL), jointly organised by Universitat de Barcelona, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. I wrote my Master’s thesis with Cedric Boeckx and Iza Romanowska, in which I created an agent-based model to investigate the role of self-domestication, globularisation, and population size in the development of modern linguistic complexity.
Currently, I am enrolled in a Master in Cognitive Science at Osnabrück University. From my 5th Bachelor semester onwards, I have received a scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes).
Preprints
| Ruland, Marcel; Andirkó, Alejandro; Romanowska, Iza; Boeckx, Cedric (2020): An agent-based model of the gradual emergence of modern linguistic complexity. bioRxiv 2020.11.12.380683; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.12.380683 |
Presentations and talks
| Ruland, Marcel; Romanowska, Iza; Andirkó, Alejandro; Boeckx, Cedric (2021): The artificial past: Adventures in agent-based modelling and archaeolinguistcs. Talk at the Computational and Digital Archaeology Laboratory seminar series. Cambridge University. |
| Ruland, Marcel; Andirkó, Alejandro; Boeckx, Cedric (2019): Agent-based modelling and ordered steps towards modern linguistic complexity. Presentation at the Protolang conference. Lisbon, Portugal. |
| Rohlfing, Katharina; Ruland, Marcel; Henzgen, Sascha (2018): Applying frequent pattern mining to multimodal behavior in interaction: Visualizing significant patterns. Presentation at the European Conference on Data Analysis. Paderborn, Germany. |
Education
| 10/2019 – 07/2021 | Universität Osnabrück, Osnabrück (DE) Master in Cognitive Science |
| 10/2018 – 07/2019 | Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona (ES) Master in Cognitive Science and Language (CCiL) |
| 10/2017 – 09/2021 | German Academic Scholarship Foundation scholarship recipient |
| 10/2015 – 07/2018 | Paderborn University, Paderborn (DE) Bachelor in Linguistics |
| 10/2008 – 06/2011 | Frankfurter Schule für Bekleidung und Mode, Frankfurt am Main (DE) Apprenticeship Diploma (Gesellenbrief), in Hairdressing |
| 07/2007 – 07/2008 | Akademie für Tonkunst, Darmstadt (DE) Principal Study Piano |
Workshops and conferences visited
| 09/2021 | Protolang 7, Dusseldorf (DE) 3 day conference and workshop on the evolution of language, where I was part of the local organising committee |
| 09/2019 | Protolang 6, Lisbon (PT) 5 day conference and workshop on the evolution of language, where I gave a talk about my Master’s thesis |
| 08/2018 | Complementarity, Rot an der Rot (DE) 13 day workshop on the concept of complementarity in physics and other sciences |
| 07/2018 | European Conference on Data Analysis, Paderborn (DE) 3 day conference, where I gave a talk about my Bachelor’s thesis |
| 04/2018 | Evolang XII, Toruń (PL) 4 day conference and workshop on the evolution of language |
| 04/2018 | Foundations in Mathematics – Modern Views, Munich (DE) 4 day conference and workshop on the philosophy of mathematics |
| 03/2018 | The Algorithmisation of the World, Roggenburg (DE) 7 day workshop on automatisation across a variety of different fields |
| 03/2018 | Paradoxes in Mathematics, Göttingen (DE) 3 day workshop on mathematical paradoxes and the role of intuition in science |
| 09/2017 | Protolang 5, Barcelona (ES) 4 day conference and workshop on the evolution of language |