We are happy to welcome our new Visiting Fellow Ronald Planer to the KLI. Ronald is currently a Lecturer in the School of Liberal Arts at the University of Wollongong, Australia, where he also serves as Head of Post-Graduate Studies. He obtained his PhD in Philosophy and Cognitive Science from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, in 2015, and conducted post-doctoral research on the evolution of language at the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne. His research interests span multiple fields including evolutionary and developmental biology, archaeology, anthropology, and linguistics—especially as regards humans, hominins, and other great apes.

During his fellowship at the KLI, 1^st Oct to 23^rd Dec 2025, Ronald will work on his project, “Cooperation, Common Knowledge, and Social Scale”, which examines the challenges to common knowledge introduced by increasing scales and complexities of human societies—from hunter-gatherer bands, to tribes, chiefdoms, states, and countries.

Ronald has co-authored (along with Kim Sterelny) the book From Signal to Symbol: The Evolution of Language (MIT Press). When not working, Ronald enjoys playing music (guitar) and spending time outdoors.

Here’s wishing Ronald a productive and enjoyable time at the KLI and in Austria.