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Governance, roles, and organizational units of the Active Inference Institute.

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Get involved Programs Active Inference InstituteInstitute Filtered resources Global directory About the Institute Programs

The Active Inference Institute is organized around a governing Board of Directors, executive Officers, a Scientific Advisory Board, and two operational units for education and research.

Governance Overview

The Institute is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in Delaware, USA. Governance is exercised through a Board of Directors supported by Officers for operations and a Scientific Advisory Board for scholarly guidance. This structure ensures that the Institute's direction reflects both sound governance and scientific integrity. Core governance documents, such as the Bylaws, are publicly available; the Institute also maintains a broader internal policy and process library that supports day-to-day operations.

Ecosystem shortlinkResearch

Members

The Institute is a Delaware nonprofit corporation, and Delaware nonprofit corporations have formal corporate Members — a governance layer distinct from the Board of Directors. Members hold the voting rights reserved to them under the Institute's bylaws, including approving Board of Directors elections and approving amendments to the bylaws. There are three Members: Virginia Bleu Knight, Daniel Friedman, and Karl J. Friston.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is the primary governing body of the Active Inference Institute. The Board provides strategic direction, fiduciary oversight, and institutional accountability. Board members are responsible for the long-term health and mission alignment of the Institute. The Board meets regularly; its governing documents, such as the Bylaws, are publicly available. The Board comprises ten directors of equal standing: Alexander Sabine, Alianna J. Maren, Ana Magdalena Hurtado, Ann Stapleton, Austin Cook, Daniel Friedman, Edward Ober, Ellynne Dec, V. Bleu Knight, and Vladimir Baulin.

Board of Directors rosterInstitute

Officers

Officers are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Institute. Officer roles include President, Treasurer, and Secretary, among others. Officers implement Board decisions, manage organizational processes, maintain financial records, coordinate communications, and oversee Institute Programs. Officers work closely with the organizational units and report to the Board of Directors. Current officers: Daniel Friedman (President and Treasurer) and Alexandra Mikhailova (Vice-President and Secretary).

Scientific Advisory Board

The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) provides scientific and scholarly guidance to the Institute. SAB members are experts in Active Inference, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, and related fields. The SAB advises on research directions, educational content, project selection, and the scientific quality of Institute outputs. SAB members may serve as Facilitators for research projects and learning groups. Current members of the Scientific Advisory Board: Adam Safron, Adeel Razi, Alexander Ororbia, Ali Rahmjoo, Andrew Pashea, Antonio Lucas-Alba, Arun Niranjan, Avel Guénin-Carlut, Bradly Alicea, Candice Pattisapu, Chris Fields, Christo Kurisummoottil Thomas, Cory Slater, Elliott Hauser, Haris Neophytou, Héctor Manrique, Holly Grimm, Ian Tennant, Jana Lumi, Joel Dietz, John Clippinger, Joshua Shane, Karl J. Friston, Luca Possati, Matt Brown, Maxwell J. D. Ramstead, Michael Lennon, Mike Smith, Scott David, Sebastian Alvarado, Shady El Damaty, and Thomas Kehler.

Scientific Advisory Board rosterInstitute

Organizational Units

Two organizational units carry out the Institute's programs. The EduActive Unit focuses on education: it supports learning groups, courses, textbook cohorts, seasonal schools, educational course development, and audio-visual production. The ReInference Unit focuses on research: it supports research projects, the Active Inference Journal, the Active Inference Ontology, knowledge engineering, and the Applied Active Inference Symposium. Both units are led by Facilitators who coordinate project groups, learning activities, and community engagement.

EduActive Unit ReInference Unit All Projects

Volunteers, Learners, and Interns

Volunteers, Learners, and Interns are the active participants who power the Institute's day-to-day work. Volunteers contribute across all functions — learning groups, project support, operations, writing, analysis, and media. Learners engage with educational programs at their own pace. Interns participate in structured pathways that develop skills through project contribution and community engagement. All of these roles connect outward to the broader Active Inference Ecosystem.

VolunteerParticipate

Ecosystem Relationship

The Institute sits inside the broader Active Inference Ecosystem — a global network of researchers, practitioners, learners, universities, companies, and collaborators who work with and around Active Inference. The Institute provides Ecosystem Support through communications, education, project facilitation, computational and storage resources, publishing and licensing support, funding discovery, and partnerships. The Ecosystem in turn contributes members, projects, ideas, and feedback that shape the Institute's directions.

Ecosystem shortlinkResearch

Governance network

How entities, policies, and processes connect

A public-safe network of governance entities, policies, and processes with their RACI-style relationships. Select a node to trace its accountable, responsible, consulted, and informed links.

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Institute structure

How the Institute is organized

Public narrative content describing how the Institute is structured and organized.

Institute Structure

The below is the overall Institute Structure (organizational morphology), in terms of internal entities and engagement interfaces with The Active Inference Ecosystem.

A. Governance & Oversight

Responsible for strategic direction, ethics, and high-level guidance.

Board of Directors(BoD) — Provides formal governance, legal oversight, and sets the Institute's overarching strategy.
Scientific Advisory Board(SAB) — A group of external experts who provide scientific and technical guidance to the Board of Directors, Organizational Units, Projects, and People.

B. Institute Operations

Functions that enableThe Active Inference Instituteto operate and serveThe Active Inference Ecosystem

Headed by Officers with stewardship of Board of Directors and insights from Scientific Advisory Board.

Core functions include:

Administrative& Financial: Manages budget, legal, and other organizational requirements.
Funding & Resources: ManagesGrants,PhilanthropyandPartnershiprelations.
Communications& Outreach: Manages internal/external comms, website content, and brand.
Information Management& Infrastructure: Manages all shared, platforms, and technical resources.

C.Researchunit:ReInference (Research)

Focused on creating new knowledge, models, and technologies.

Program 1: Foundational & Theoretical Research
- Focus: Advancing the core mathematical and philosophical underpinnings of Active Inference.
- Projects include: Active Inference Ontology, Theoretical Neurobiology (TNB) Group, Tech Tree
Program 2: Applied & Computational Research
- Focus: Building and testing computational models and real-world applications.
- Projects:AICACP, CogNarr (Cognitive Narrative) Ecosystem: Facilitating Group Cognition at Scale, Symbolic Cognitive Robotics, GEO-INFER, Active Entity Ontology for Science (AEOS), FarmWorks, Myth of Objectivity, Wave Hypothesis
Program 3: Software & Tooling Development
- Focus: Creating and maintaining core software, standards, and reusable tools for the ecosystem.
- Projects include:Knowledge Engineering,Generalized Notation Notation,RxInfer.jl Learning Group, Active Blockference, Active InferAnts

D.Educationunit:EduActive (Education)

Focused on disseminating knowledge, building skills,Educational Standards & Qualifications, and fostering community.

Program 1: Curriculum & Content Development
- Focus: Creating structured learning materials.
- Projects include:Courses (Social Science course, Physics course), Textbook Group, Fundamentals of Active Inference, @start
Program 2: Media & Outreach
- Focus: Broadcasting knowledge to a wide audience.
- Projects include: The Active Inference Journal, Production.
Program 3: Live Events & Community Engagement
- Focus: Creating interactive and cohort-based learning experiences.
- Projects include: Applied Active Inference Symposium, Seasonal School.

E. TALENT & PROJECT INCUBATOR

Where people and ideas develop.

Program 1: Talent Development
- Focus: Nurturing the next generation of researchers and practitioners.
- Projects/Positions:Internship and Fellows

Fellows and interns may work on Projects within the main divisions or develop new projects within the Incubator.

Program 2: Community Incubator
- Focus: Providing a lightweight, supportive home for experimental, volunteer-led, and exploratory Ecosystem Projects.
- Project Lifecycle: Projects can be proposed by any community member (at Project ~ Preparation), and report updates via Project ~ Measurement.

Key surfaces