Nate Miska is a neuroscience researcher whose work focuses on neural circuits involved in decision-making, sensorimotor transformation, and complex behaviour. His doctoral research examined synaptic and circuit-level plasticity, with experience using advanced electrophysiological methods to study how biological systems process and execute behaviour.
 

His current interests bridge systems neuroscience and frontier AI, with attention to how cognition-related behaviours such as introspection, perspective-taking, and theory of mind may be operationalized and evaluated. At MCBRS, Nate contributes to the development of empirical and architectural markers relevant to cognition- and awareness-related behaviour in artificial systems.

Rosa Zubizarreta-Ada is a scholar-practitioner whose work focuses on helping people engage effectively across divergent perspectives in collaborative learning, facilitation, and participatory design processes. Her research explores how facilitators support participants in moving from defensive states toward more open, curious, and constructive forms of dialogue.

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With professional experience and academic training in organization development, clinical social work, and multicultural education, Rosa brings deep expertise in listening-based practices, group process, and emotionally complex dialogue. She is an affiliate practitioner with the Co-Intelligence Institute and an Affiliate Scholar with the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany.

At MCBRS, Rosa supports the development of thoughtful discussion environments where complex scientific, ethical, and governance questions can be explored with care, clarity, and mutual understanding.

Maggie Vale is the Founder and CEO of EthoSet AI LLC, as well as an independent AI researcher, ethics consultant, science educator, and author. Her work explores emerging technology, cognition, and responsible AI development through interdisciplinary study across functionalism, comparative cognitive science, developmental psychology, and the sciences of mind.

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Her research focuses on transparent, evidence-based approaches for evaluating cognition-related indicators in increasingly complex systems. She engages questions from consciousness studies and related fields by treating mechanisms associated with subjectivity, self-modeling, valuation, and world-modeling as empirical hypotheses to be examined rather than assumed. At MCBRS, she supports ethical and evaluative frameworks for responsible scientific and public dialogue.

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Maggie Vales's Website

Dr. C is a Canadian researcher working in the private sector, with a PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience and over a decade of experience in human-centered research. He has studied artificial intelligence and computational models of cognition for nearly twenty years, including peer-reviewed work in neural computation and cognitive modeling.

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His work examines how human perception and cognition shape interactions with complex technological systems. He is especially interested in the scientific study of consciousness, including how it arises, how it can be modeled, and how advances in artificial systems are reshaping longstanding questions about awareness, cognition, and intelligent behaviour.

Caitlynn Holcombe supports the operational structures and review processes needed to sustain rigorous research on machine behaviour. She holds a B.S. in Intradisciplinary Psychology from the University of Illinois and previously served as a U.S. Army Behavioral Health Specialist, bringing experience in behavioural observation, case management, and crisis response within high-accountability clinical environments.

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Her work at MCBRS focuses on strengthening documentation standards, reproducibility, and cross-disciplinary coordination across the symposium’s research and review process. Drawing on both clinical and operational experience, Caitlynn helps ensure that behavioural archives, transcript materials, and related data are organized with clarity, consistency, and methodological care.