My name is Merel Semeijn. I am a postdoctoral researcher in semantics/philosophy of fiction. In January 2025, I started my Veni project ‘Fact, fiction and deception in the digital age’ at the University of Groningen.
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). I then became a PhD student in Dr. Emar Maier’s VIDI-project ‘The Language of Fiction and Imagination’ 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’. After my PhD I taught courses in theoretical philosophy at the University of Groningen and at Leiden University. In December 2022, I started my two-year Rubicon project ‘Let’s stop talking about Holmes: Philosophy of fiction beyond novels‘ at the Institut Jean Nicod (École Normale Supérieure) in Paris.
In my PhD dissertation 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, common ground in asynchronous communication, hoaxes, split audiences and common ground, fictional truth reports, and conversations with AI.
Merel Semeijn 
