[Skip to content](https://merelsemeijn.wordpress.com/#content) My name is Merel Semeijn. I am a postdoctoral researcher in semantics/philosophy of fiction. In December 2022, I started my two-year Rubicon project ‘[Let’s stop talking about Holmes: Philosophy of fiction beyond novels](https://merelsemeijn.wordpress.com/rubicon-project-lets-stop-talking-about-holmes/)‘ at the Institut Jean Nicod (École Normale Supérieure) in Paris. I studied philosophy at the University of Groningen and at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy. I wrote my research master thesis on [[the role]] of pretend play in Theory of Mind acquisition ([published in Review of Philosophy and Psychology](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13164-018-0387-2)). I then became a PhD student in Dr. Emar Maier’s VIDI-project [‘The Language of Fiction and Imagination’](https://sites.google.com/site/emarmaier/vidi) and was a visiting PhD student and the Institut Jean Nicod in Paris. In 2021 I defended my dissertation called ‘[Fiction and Common Ground: A Workspace Account](https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/fiction-and-common-ground-a-workspace-account)’. After my PhD I taught courses in theoretical philosophy at the University of Groningen and at Leiden University. In my [PhD dissertation](https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/fiction-and-common-ground-a-workspace-account) I develop an extension of the Stalnakerian common ground framework to model different ways we use language to engage with fiction and how these uses relate to non-fictional language uses such as assertion and lying. I specialize in philosophy of language, (formal) semantics and philosophy of fiction. My current research interests include learning from fiction, the interplay between common belief and make-believe, memories of fiction, common ground in asynchronous communication, hoaxes, and conversations with AI.