Tristan B. Borresen is a French-Danish doctoral candidate in philosophy and law at the University of Ottawa, under the supervision of Professor Jennifer Chandler and Professor Vincent Bergeron. Before beginning his doctoral studies in law, Tristan completed a Master of Science in Cognitive Science at the University of Edinburgh, a Master of Philosophy in Analytical Philosophy at King's College London, and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy at Sorbonne University.
It is from this interdisciplinary perspective that Tristan seeks to understand the legal and philosophical issues related to neurotechnology and, more specifically, to neural speech decoding. As part of the SSHRC-funded NEUROSPEECH research program, his research focuses on how to legally regulate neuroprosthetic communication, which restores voice to individuals with speech impairments. This research draws on legal theory, neuroscience, and philosophy, as well as empirical data gathered through interviews with potential beneficiaries of this technology. Tristan's ultimate goal is to reconsider the legal concept of speech autonomy and the technical design of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) for speech that follows the needs and preferences of users in order to develop more ethical neurotechnology.