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Position Governing Body Fellow Junior Research Fellow
School Biological Sciences Department of Psychology
Email esm53@cam.ac.uk
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Elzė Sigutė Mikalonytė is an aesthetician working at the intersection of philosophy and cognitive science. She is interested in psychological foundations of philosophically relevant concepts.

Elzė is a Research Associate at the Department of Psychology and a Junior Research Fellow at ��ɫ��Ƶ, University of Cambridge. She completed her BA, MA, and PhD in Philosophy at Vilnius University, Lithuania.

In 2023, Elzė successfully defended her PhD thesis, titled ‘Mind-Independent, Yet Intuitive: A New Methodological Approach to the Ontology of Musical Works.’ During her doctoral studies, she spent a year at Institut Jean Nicod (CNRS-ENS-EHESS) in Paris, France.

Elzė is also a board member of the Lithuanian Philosophical Association and a steering committee member of the European Network for Philosophy of Music. Before she became a philosopher, she studied violin at Vilnius Conservatoire.

Elzė’s interests are in aesthetics, metaphysics, and philosophy of cognitive science. Her interdisciplinary approach has led to collaborations with philosophers, psychologists, musicologists, and neuroscientists. Elzė’s doctoral work focused on the philosophy of music and the ontology of musical works, incorporating empirical research on intuitions about the identity of musical works. She has also explored other topics in the experimental philosophy of aesthetics, such as the folk concept of art, intuitions on AI-created art, and the interaction between aesthetic and ontological judgments. At the Department of Psychology, Elzė is currently working on the “Higher Values: Aesthetic Experiences, Transcendence, and Prosociality” project with Professor Simone Schnall, Dr Ryan Doran, and Dr Jasmina Stevanov. Their interdisciplinary research investigates the cognitive and affective effects of aesthetic appreciation, exploring whether engagement with art and beauty can foster abstract thinking, encourage a broader perspective, and influence moral values and prosocial behaviour.

What's on

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Three students sit and chat at a wooden picnic table on a grassy lawn at ��ɫ��Ƶ, with "Giving Day | 6–7 May 2025" text overlaid.

Giving Day Fair

06/05/2025 at 10.00

Welcome to ��ɫ��Ƶ's first-ever Giving Day!

A bustling street in South Korea at dusk, lined with glowing neon signs in Korean, colorful storefronts, and overhead wires crisscrossing the sky.

Standard language ideology, linguistic nationalism and marginalisation: the case of South Korea

06/05/2025 at 17.30

What are the consequences of standard language ideology and linguistic nationalism?

A man in a blue suit sits on a stool, deeply focused as he plays a classical guitar against a dark background.

Music & Madeira: Celebrity Guitar Classics with Craig Ogden

06/05/2025 at 18.30

A household name to listeners of Classic FM and BBC Radio 3, with a string of number one recordings, Craig Ogden is one of the most successful classical guitarists of his generation. With thanks to Prof Brian Moore for sponsoring this, the inaugural Brian Moore Guitar Recital.

��ɫ��Ƶ Research Event 2025

08/05/2025 at 09.30

Join us for the 2025 ��ɫ��Ƶ Research Event: an interdisciplinary academic conference organised by students to showcase the diversity of the research carried out by ��ɫ��Ƶ students.