We’re Karolina Finc and Adam Lewartowski, a couple of researchers from Toruń, Poland. Karolina works as an assistant professor at the Center for Modern Interdisciplinary Technologies at Nicolaus Copernicus University, and Adam is pursuing his PhD at the Interdisciplinary School for Social Sciences at the same university. This post is a short reflection, told through an honest and spontaneous conversation between us, about what we discovered at RITMO, what surprised us, and what we took home from our time there.
Adam: We stayed at RITMO during May and June 2025, and it was such an inspiring experience for us. What struck you the most about that organization?
Karolina: Above all, the openness. I’ve been to many places throughout my scientific journey, but I’ve never encountered such openness before — openness to collaboration, to proposing new ideas, to being creative. For me, that was especially important because I was returning to academia after maternity and research leave. I felt a bit insecure and unsure if I’d find my place again. But suddenly my scientific passion came back. I started having so many ideas — something that hadn’t happened for months — and it really made me both happy and surprised.
So now I’ll pass the baton to you — what surprised you the most?
A: Good question. I think what surprised me most was the transparency, especially among RITMO’s leaders. It gave me a deep sense that I was in the right place. There were no taboos, no problems that couldn’t be discussed. It’s not a rigid, hierarchical environment — no matter who I wanted to talk to, it was possible. I didn’t have to wait long or knock on closed doors. Practically throughout our stay, I talked to everyone I wanted to talk to. That was truly surprising.
And that echoes what you said about openness — and for me, also accessibility. These two — openness and accessibility — feel fundamental. The communication there was never superficial; it was always meaningful. Of course, everyone has their own projects and focus areas, but still, every person I spoke to gave me time and space to express myself, and if needed, guided me toward someone else. I really appreciated that.
Was there anything you didn’t like about the organization? Anything you would change if you were to create your own?
K: Nothing comes to mind — it felt almost perfectly organized.
A: I can’t think of anything either. I’m asking this because we also talked about how RITMO is, in a way, chaotic by design. It embraces a certain degree of chaos — which can be a bit challenging for some people — but at the same time, there are many meeting points throughout the week that keep you connected. So there’s always some kind of anchor in time.
K: Actually, that chaotic quality was one of the things I liked the most. I’m a cognitive scientist, and in my academic experiences, what I often found disappointing was that even in supposedly interdisciplinary teams, the approach was often very narrow and closed. A new or different perspective was sometimes treated as a disruption rather than as a potential for creativity. At RITMO, it was completely different — diversity of thought was valued as a strength. And yes, those meetings helped a lot. I liked that we could choose which ones to attend and still participate meaningfully.
Adam, what would you say was your most important achievement during the stay?
A: I’m happy that I managed to demonstrate my VR polyrhythmic training, even though there were some technical challenges. It’s a polyrhythmic training in virtual reality based on tracking Lissajous curves — mainly visual feedback — but it also includes other sensory modalities. My stay at RITMO really encouraged me to explore multimodal stimulation further. I also ran a few pilot sessions, and the participants provided interesting feedback. Most of them had some musical background, which introduced a bit of bias, but still — it was valuable.
Together with Karolina, we also conducted pilot interventions involving fascia work and breathing exercises recorded with motion capture. It all went surprisingly smoothly and quickly, and we’re very grateful to the team for supporting us. That experience showed us how quickly things can move when the environment is right. I also managed to analyze some of the collected data. The space itself was so conducive to focus — it really helped. I've also written and submitted a grant proposal during this stay. It was not planned, but the inner flow of RITMO helped with this process.
K: For me, too, the data analysis part was a kind of homecoming. I’m a bit of a nerd by nature — half of me is artistic, the other half deeply analytical. So I felt completely in my element. For the first few days, I was experimenting with motion controllers to build a tool for vocal performance. It was technically challenging but rewarding. Later, during one of the presentations, I became fascinated by the Bodies in Concert project — where physiological and movement data were recorded during a concert: accelerometry, heart rate, and breathing. I wondered whether we could apply network analysis to such data. That’s what I used to do in my PhD — with fMRI data. Network science can be applied to any complex system. So I analyzed the motion data to look for patterns of synchronization and desynchronization between the audience and musicians, as well as modular changes — patterns that, in network terms, can be interpreted as shifts between integration and segregation. I created a visualization showing how the network changes over time, with the music playing in the background.. I loved it so much that I sometimes found myself coding and debugging even after coming home!
Adam, could you share a bit about your overall experience in Norway? It was your first time there, wasn’t it?
A: Yes, it was. We were there during the warmest part of the year, which was great. What really surprised me were the long days — it stayed bright until around 11 p.m.! It gave me a lot of energy. I can imagine that winter is the opposite, but for me, this light-filled period was uplifting. I also noticed how active everyone was — so many people jogging and biking everywhere. I didn’t exactly join them, but my muscle mass did increase through walking those hilly landscapes!
At first, I was also a bit puzzled by how reserved people seemed. Later, I understood that it was about respecting personal space. Once I accepted that, I found it enriching. Maybe that balance between distance and communication actually helps the whole organization function smoothly — without personal conflicts derailing things. Everyone seems to know their rhythm — and for me, rhythm has always been a central phenomenon of human experience.
K: For me, I was completely enchanted by nature. We had to organize everything quite last-minute because we received the funding decisions late. Luckily, both of us got grants, and though the planning was tight, we found an incredible place to stay near Holmenkollen ski jump. It was a bit far from RITMO, but we loved being surrounded by nature. We came with our little son, who had endless space to explore. His grandparents took turns visiting and walking with him by the streams and forest trails right by our apartment. We even took the train to the top of the mountain and visited the ski jump tower. The views were breathtaking. During RITMO’s annual picnic by the lake, it rained, but that only added to the magic. Everything went beautifully, and the atmosphere was wonderful.
I’d like to talk a bit about how we actually got to know RITMO and what led us there. Could you tell us why you chose RITMO in the first place?
A: I’ve been a rhythm researcher for quite some time, interested especially in its multimodal aspects. So I was really surprised to discover an institution devoted exactly to that — and doing it in such an interdisciplinary way. I also come from an artistic background; I’ve been making music for many years, and now I’m combining the artistic and scientific paths. Rhythm, to me, is a phenomenon that connects both worlds perfectly. Its potential for research is still far from exhausted, especially when explored through multiple scientific disciplines.
K: That’s interesting because I actually learned about RITMO from my students, who went there on Erasmus and told me about it. I immediately thought — it’s the perfect place for us! In fact, music is what brought us together. So we’re a musical-scientific couple. It’s rare to find a place that fits who we are so precisely. You started from art and moved into science, while I did the opposite — I started with science, spent many years deeply immersed in research (also in data science and scientific software development), and then, during the pandemic, felt a strong creative impulse. I bought my first piano and synthesizers, built a small home studio — and that’s when we met and started sharing music. For a while, I even considered leaving science for music, but then I realized that, for me, the two are inseparable. Science and art are deeply intertwined. And RITMO embodies that union perfectly — I’ve never before encountered such a harmonious integration of these two realms within an academic institution.
A: I completely agree. And one more thing I’d like to mention — the exploration of technology in research. Usually, technology is just a tool for experiments, but at RITMO, the focus is also on exploring what technology itself can do — and questioning how accurate or meaningful its measurements are. That “rabbit hole” I fell into there turned out to be incredibly fruitful and broadened my perspective. Initially, I was surprised that many projects weren’t built strictly around hypotheses, but I realized that their deeper conceptual context often emerges through the process itself. I’ve since adopted this approach in my own work.
K: And of course, we felt very supported by Alexander and the team, who always found time for us despite their incredibly busy schedules. We were also lucky to witness the announcement of AI MishMash funding in real time — that was such an exciting moment! We’re very grateful for the warmth and time everyone gave us — and yes, we miss RITMO deeply.
A: We truly do.