Research & Collaboration

My research examines how movement-based and embodied practices function as structured environments for learning, adaptation, and perceptual refinement. Working at the intersection of ecological approaches to learning, qualitative inquiry, and cross-cultural practice, I investigate how individuals develop adaptive expertise in complex and asymmetrical environments.

I collaborate with universities, research centers, and practitioner communities on interdisciplinary projects that integrate conceptual rigor with sustained lived practice.

Research Focus Areas

1. Movement-Based Practices as Technologies of the Self
   How do disciplined practices reorganize perception, attention, and action over time? Drawing on Foucault’s concept of technologies of the self, I study how structured embodied disciplines cultivate ecological attunement, adaptability, and intentional self-transformation across cultural contexts.
2. Ecological Learning & Adaptive Expertise
   Building on ecological approaches to perception and action, I examine how affordances, constraints, and perception–action coupling shape learning in dynamic environments. My work extends these concepts into asymmetrical and uncertain contexts, including self-defense, performance, and high-stakes interaction.
3. Practice as Research: Knowledge Through Technique
   Influenced by Ben Spatz’s articulation of technique as knowledge, I approach sustained practice as a site of epistemic production. This includes analytic autoethnography, practitioner-informed qualitative research, and conceptual synthesis across movement, cultural analysis, and learning theory.
4. Cross-Cultural Transmission of Embodied Disciplines
   How do embodied practices shift when transmitted across cultural contexts? My research examines how Japanese martial arts, for example, are interpreted, adapted, and recontextualized in Western settings—reshaping pedagogy, epistemology, and assumptions about expertise.

Current & Emerging Projects

Training for Asymmetry
A qualitative investigation of how movement-based disciplines cultivate perceptual attunement and adaptive response in asymmetrical interpersonal encounters. This project refines ecological learning concepts through sustained engagement with practitioner expertise.

Lessons in Violence Evasion
An interdisciplinary research initiative examining how ecological attunement and movement-based awareness can reduce vulnerability in asymmetrical environments. This work integrates qualitative research, cross-cultural analysis, and practitioner-informed models of adaptive behavior.

Methodological Orientation

My research typically integrates:

• Qualitative interviews with senior practitioners
• Analytic autoethnography
• Phenomenological and case-based analysis
• Practice-based inquiry
• Conceptual synthesis across ecological learning, cultural analysis, and embodied practice
• My research includes long-term practitioner engagement at Shinobi Martial Arts, where collaborative inquiry with senior instructors informs conceptual development.

I am particularly interested in collaborative models where practitioner knowledge and scholarly analysis inform and refine one another.

What I Contribute to Collaborative Projects

• Doctoral-level training in interdisciplinary qualitative research
• Experience teaching research design at the PhD level
• Long-term movement-based practice as sustained fieldwork
• Conceptual development bridging theory and lived inquiry
• Clear, publication-oriented writing

I am comfortable contributing as:

• Principal qualitative investigator
• Co-author and conceptual collaborator
• Methodological consultant
• Grant-writing partner

Collaboration & Funding Conversations

I welcome conversations regarding:

• Interdisciplinary grant proposals
• Cross-cultural research partnerships
• Research cluster development
• Applied initiatives related to movement, learning, adaptation, and asymmetry
• Edited volumes or special journal issues