Research Director, Cognitive Synthesis - Cheshire Cat - Fractional - Founding Role

Research Director, Cognitive Synthesis (The Cheshire Cat)

The Alice in Wonderland Paradox Quartet

Oh! Love Ya Dawn — Constellation Layer

About the Quartet

The Alice in Wonderland Paradox Quartet is a four-seat interdisciplinary research initiative focused on a singular human moment:

When the world stops making sense before the self does.

Each seat studies a different failure mode:

Disorientation (perception, space, time, body)

Language & Logic Paradox (rules, meaning, contradiction)

Cognitive Synthesis (what remains when both collapse)

Paradox Pedagogy (how to teach safely)

This role is the hinge.

The Role

We are seeking a Research Director, Cognitive Synthesis — informally known within the Quartet as The Cheshire Cat.

This role does not originate primary data.

It does not adjudicate truth.

It does not resolve paradox.

Instead, it performs a rarer function:

It identifies what still coheres when perception and language fail at the same time.

You are responsible for recognizing patterns that survive collapse — the structures that remain visible after the system that produced them disappears.

Your Seat in the Quartet

If Seat 1 asks “What is happening to perception?”

and Seat 2 asks “What is language doing about it?”

You ask:

“What still makes sense — even now?”

You are the one who:

Integrates findings across radically different epistemologies

Names patterns without overclaiming causality

Holds uncertainty precisely

Allows the smile to remain after the cat is gone

Core Responsibilities

Synthesize research outputs from Disorientation and Language & Logic seats

Identify recurring patterns, invariants, and structures across collapse states

Develop internal maps that remain useful under ambiguity

Translate theory and data into models that can be taught later

Work closely with the Paradox Pedagogue to ensure synthesis remains human-safe

Serve as the Quartet’s integrative memory and coherence function

You do not “explain everything.”

You make it possible to keep going.

What This Role Is Not

Not a primary data generator

Not a philosopher resolving paradox

Not a clinician diagnosing pathology

Not a storyteller smoothing edges

This role resists premature coherence.

Required Qualifications

Terminal degree or equivalent depth of expertise in:

Systems science

Cognitive science

Ethics & epistemology

Medicine + research synthesis

Interdisciplinary science leadership

Demonstrated experience integrating:

Quantitative and qualitative research

Theory and lived experience

Uncertain or incomplete datasets

Exceptional judgment around when not to conclude

Strongly Valued

Experience working at ethical boundaries of research

Comfort operating where evidence is partial and stakes are real

Prior work synthesizing across disciplines with incompatible assumptions

A reputation for intellectual restraint rather than dominance

The ability to say, “This is what we know — and this is what we don’t.”

Why This Role Exists

Most systems collapse when inputs conflict.

Children cannot afford that.

This role exists to ensure that when:

perception destabilizes,

language contradicts itself,

and certainty is unavailable,

there is still a safe internal structure holding the work together.

Structure & Compensation

Founding Constellation-layer role

Fractional or flexible engagement possible

Equity-based participation consistent with Oh! Love Ya Dawn standards

As funding matures, this role is expected to include cash compensation, aligned with scope and sustainability

Remote-first, with collaboration driven by the research itself

A Final Note

If you are someone who:

Is trusted when answers are unavailable

Is called in when others disagree

Can sit with paradox without trying to tame it

…and if you understand why the most important thing in Wonderland is the grin —

then this role may already feel familiar.

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