Life as it could be

Dr. Karine Miras is an assistant professor in the Bioinspired Robotic Lab at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Her research is at the intersection of Evolutionary Robotics and Artificial Life, with two aims: to design autonomous intelligent systems and contribute to biological discussions.

Specifically, she studies gene expression of artificial creatures in interaction with the environment.

"I'm interested in understanding what allows for the evolution of complex life through the study of artificial life."

Research topics of interest

embodied intelligence
evo-devo
epigenetics
explainable robot DNA
phenotypic plasticity
Gene Regulatory Networks
gene interaction

My research explained to the general public

NEWS

October 8th, 2025. I won a silver medal in the Virtual Creatures Competition 2025.
October 7th, 2025. Niels Fontijne presented our work on biologically plausible representations at the ALife conference 2025.
April 2024. I'm co-organizing the Virtual Creatures Competition 2024.
March 2024. I'm organizing The Evolution of Things Workshop 2024.
February 2024. I've been granted tenure at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
January 2024. I'm the workshop chair of the ALife conference 2024.
March 2019. I'm co-organizing the EvoMan competition.
July 2018. I received an honorable mention award in the Virtual Creatures Contest.