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We are pleased to announce that Kenneth Williford, Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Humanities at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), has been elected an Academician of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (WAAC) in recognition of his sustained contributions to the philosophy of mind and phenomenology, especially theories of self-consciousness and phenomenal consciousness.
Over many years, Professor Williford has developed a program of research centered on the self-representational theory of consciousness and phenomenological studies of consciousness. His co-edited volume with Uriah Kriegel, Self-Representational Approaches to Consciousness (MIT Press), advanced a systematic discussion of self-representational frameworks in contemporary consciousness studies; his article “Husserl’s Hyletic Data and Phenomenal Consciousness” (Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 2013) offers a significant elucidation of the relation between Husserl’s hyle and phenomenal consciousness; and in collaboration with Daniel Bennequin, Karl Friston, and David Rudrauf, he proposed the Projective Consciousness Model (PCM) in Frontiers in Psychology (2018), applying projective geometry and the free-energy minimization framework to characterize the first-person perspective, pre-reflective self-consciousness, and mechanisms of subjectivity. These representative achievements have broadened theoretical and formal understandings of consciousness and selfhood while fostering integration between phenomenology and computational neuroscience.
- Global Collaboration and Academic Ecosystem
Academicians of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness hail from institutions such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, the University of California, the French Academy of Sciences, the University of Padua, the University of Queensland, Columbia University, and the University of Exeter. Honorary Academicians come from a wide range of countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Spain, and China. In addition, leading scientists from prominent research institutes and technology companies—such as Google, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and ZEEKR—also participate.
- About WAAC
The World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (https://www.waac.ac/) is a global academic institution established in Paris in 2025. Its mission is to advance frontier research and international collaboration in artificial consciousness through the integration of science, technology, and philosophy. The Academy publishes open research, policy recommendations, evaluation standards, and more. The current President is Academician Yucong Duan, and the Secretary-General is Dr. Yingbo Li. The Honorary Academician List: On May 3, 2025, WAAC released its first batch of Top 100 Honorary Academicians, recognizing scholars who have made foundational or leading contributions to the theory of artificial consciousness.