Elisabeth Zimmermann studied human biology and cognitive science at the University of Vienna and graduated with an interdisciplinary diploma thesis in cognitive neuroscience and behavioral biology.
From 2006 to 2025, she served as the international study program coordinator for the joint degree program MEi:CogSci - Middle European interdisciplinary master´s programme in Cognitive Science, administering it at the local and international levels. She has been teaching cognitive science at the University of Vienna since 2006, as well as at workshops at the University of Ljubljana, the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and the Interdisciplinary College, a spring school in cognitive science.
Her research interests focus on enactivism, embodied cognition, and phenomenology, particularly the relations of body and mind in dance and other body-mind practices, at both theoretical and practical levels. Her long-term practice of contact improvisation further shaped her interest in improvisation and play as cognitive phenomena involved in a range of developmental and learning processes.
She joined the KLI as Managing Editor of Biological Theory and Communication Officer in July 2025.