Beneficiaries and Partners

Beneficiaries:

Partners logos combined

The University of East Anglia, UK (co-ordinating beneficiary)
PI – Professor Kenny Coventry holds a Chair in Psychology, and is Head of the School of Psychology at the University of East Anglia, UK.  He is a chartered psychologist, Fellow of the British Psychological Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, and recipient of the British Psychological Society 2015 Cognitive Prize.  Kenny is a psychological scientist, with specific expertise in human communication and decision making. His main research area is investigating how different mental abilities in the mind/brain interact. This has been manifest in a long-standing interest in the relationship between language and perception, and the mapping between language and the vision and action systems in particular. A second interest is how cognition and emotion interact in decision making under conditions of uncertainty. More information about Kenny’s research and publications can be found here.  After studying psychology at Glasgow University, he completed a PhD in Cognitive Science and Psychology at Edinburgh University (with a thesis on spatial language). This was followed by posts at the University of Dundee, Plymouth University, Northumbria University Newcastle (including Associate Dean Research and Enterprise, and Director of the Cognition and Communication Research Centre), and visiting Professorships at Bremen and Freiburg Universities (collaborating with the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft SFB-TR8 Spatial Cognition Research Centre). He is also a former Fellow of the Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies, Germany.  He took up the post of inaugural Head of the School of Psychology at the University of East Anglia in 2012.

University of Manchester, UK and University of Plymouth, UK
PI – Angelo Cangelosi currently is Professor of Machine Learning and Robotics at the University of Manchester (UK). He also is Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute London and Visiting Distinguished Research Fellow at AIST-AIRC Tokyo. His research interests are in developmental robotics, language grounding and robot companions for health and social care. Previously Angelo was Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Cognition, and founding director role, at the Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems at Plymouth University (UK). Cangelosi studied psychology and cognitive science at the Universities of Rome La Sapienza and at the University of Genoa, and was visiting scholar at the University of California San Diego and the University of Southampton. Cangelosi’s main research expertise is on language grounding and embodiment in humanoid robots, developmental robotics, human-robot interaction, and on the application of neuromorphic systems for robot learning. He currently is the coordinator of the EU H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Industrial Doctorate “APRIL: Applications of Personal Robotics through Interaction and Learning” (2016-2019). He also is Principal investigator for the ongoing projects “THRIVE” (US Air Force Office of Science and Research, 2014-1018), the H2020 project MoveCare, and the Marie Curie projects SECURE and DCOMM. He has been coordinator of the FP7 projects ITALK and RobotDoc ITN, as well as UK projects BABEL and VALUE. Overall, he has secured over £30m of research grants as coordinator/PI. Cangelosi has produced more than 250 scientific publications, and has been general/bridging chair of numerous workshops and conferences including the IEEE ICDL-EpiRob Conferences (Frankfurt 2011, Osaka 2013, Lisbon 2017, Tokyo 2018). In 2012-13 he was Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Autonomous Mental Development. He has been Visiting Professor at Waseda University (Japan) and at Sassari and Messina Universities (Italy). Cangelosi is Editor of the journals Interaction Studies and IET Cognitive Computation and Systems, and in 2015 was Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Development. His latest book “Developmental Robotics: From Babies to Robots” (MIT Press; co-authored with Matt Schlesinger) was published in January 2015, and recently translated in Chinese and Japanese.

Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
PI – Professor Mila Dimitrova Vulchanova is Professor in the Department of Language and Literature at NTNU. Mila is Lab Director of the Language Acquisition and Language Processing Lab and her current research lies at the intersection of linguistic theory, language and cognition, language learning and language comprehension across the life-span, and language and cognition in developmental deficits.  Current and recent projects include the Horizon 2020 ETN LanPercept and DCOMM, and the COST Action IS1406 ‘Enhancing children’s oral language skills across Europe and beyond – a collaboration focusing on interventions for children with difficulties learning their first language’, and NFR projects ‘Situated Reference in Language’ (2012-2016) and ‘Origins of Semantic Composition in Early Cognitive Development’ (2016-2020).

Aarhus University, Denmark
PI – Associate Professor Mikkel Wallentin is the head of the Cognitive Science programme at the Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics at Aarhus University. Mikkel Wallentin is also affiliated with the Centre of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience at Aarhus University Hospital. He holds an MA in Cognitive Semiotics and a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, both from Aarhus University. His main research interests are related to brain imaging of language comprehension.

Universitat de les Illes Ballears, Spain
PI – Professor Pedro Guijarro Fuentes is Professor in Spanish Linguistics in the Department of Spanish Philology, Modern and Classic at the University of the Balearic Islands. He got his BA (Honours) in Spanish Philology from the University of Granada and later his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Salford (UK). He has a long track record of providing teaching in the Spanish language and linguistics in several European universities including the University of Utrecht, University of Salford (UK) and the University of Plymouth (UK). His main research interests revolve around the interdisciplinary field of Applied Spanish Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics and Bilingualism. His current main research projects include the study of spatial prepositions, direct object marking, word order and tense/aspect by a variety of Spanish learners in different learning contexts. These projects are all funded by a variety of institutions such as the British Academy (United Kingdom), Art and Humanities Research Council (UK), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (Germany). More recent funding has been provided by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain) and the European Commission within the Horizon 2020 research program. He has authored and co-authored numerous articles, book chapters and books, all published by various international publishers among which are John Benjamins, and de Gruyter. His research has also been presented at different international forums with more than 140 papers, many of them by invitation, published in journals such as Language Learning, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Cognition, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics, Applied Psycholinguistics, First Language, and Applied Linguistic Review, among others. He has also organized many professional meetings among which is the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition (GALA 13) Conference recently held at the Universitat de les Illes Balears.

CNR Rome, Italy
PI – Olga Capirci
is senior researcher at the CNR’s Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies where she has been working since 1992. The National Research Council (CNR) of Italy is a national, public institution. Its duty is to carry out, promote, spread, transfer and improve research activities in the main sectors of knowledge growth and of its applications for the scientific, technological, economic and social development of the Country. It is structured into Departments, Institutes and Labs. The Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC) is located in the Department of Human and Social sciences cultural heritage. The ISTC is involved in research, diffusion of technologies and training activities in several areas of research, e.g.: Cognitive, communicative and linguistic processes; Computational Embodied Neuroscience; Autonomous Robotics and Artificial Life; Social cognition. One of the Labs of the ISTC Institute is the Language and Communication across Modalities (LaCAM). The LaCAM Lab has been engaged in the study of communication and language in children with typical and atypical development and in the study of Sign Language acquisition and use, in both children and adult populations. The LaCAM lab has always enforced a cross-disciplinary approach to the study of communication, and the peculiar characteristic and strength of the Lab is to study both gestures and sign languages together with deaf and hearing colleagues from various fields. The LaCAM lab is located in the State Institute of Deaf of Rome (Istituto Statale per Sordi – ISSR).  In the LacaM Lab Olga is the Head of the Action, Gesture, and Sign language (AG&S) Research Unit, a traditional historical research line that concerns the study of the relationship between gesture and language, both in vocal languages and in sign languages. Her current efforts are focused on the study of the progression from action to language – spoken and signed – and on the continuity from gesture to sign. Furthermore, within an embodied approach to semantics, Olga is currently investigating the role of highly iconic structures in Sign Languages. In particular, her aim is to analyse formal features that appear to be influenced by the visual-gestural modality and differentiate such aspects from functionally comparable forms in verbal languages.  Olga Capirci is also on the Directive board of “Italian Psychologist Association” (AIP), the ISTC’s Board, the ISTC’s Ethic Committee and on the Editorial Board of the peer-reviewed, open access journal Child Development Research.

ETH, Switzerland
PI – Professor Christoph Hölscher is Professor of Cognitive Science at ETH Zurich since 2013; previously assistant and extra-curricular professor at University of Freiburg, Germany, Center for Cognitive Science. Doctorate (2000) and Habilitation (2009) in Psychology at University of Freiburg. He was a Project manager in theh IT industry from 2000-2003 (User-adaptive systems, usability). Visiting positions: Visiting Professor Northumbria University Newcastle (Architecture), 2014-2017. University College London, honorary senior research fellow Bartlett School of Architecture / Space Syntax group (2007 to 2014). Visiting researcher at UC Santa Barbara, departments of Geography and Psychology (2011 & 2012). Visiting researcher and project manager at University of Freiburg / SFB/TR8 Spatial Cognition (since 2013). Service roles President German Society for Cognitive Science (2016-2018), Governing board Cognitive Science Society (since 2012). Board of directors SFB/TR8 Spatial Cognition (2007-2012). Co-chair of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (2011, Boston). Co-chair of Spatial Cognition International Conference (2010, Mt. Hood, OR; 2016, Philadelphia, PA). Key research interests: Wayfinding in Built Environments, Spatial Cognition & Usability Research for Architectural Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Modeling & Personalisation, Information Retrieval & Web Search Behavior, Behavior Economics.

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany
PI – Holger Diessel is Professor of English Linguistics at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany. He received a Ph.D. in General Linguistics from the University of Buffalo in 1998 and worked as a junior researcher in the Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig until he was offered the professorship at the University of Jena in 2004. He is a member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and has been a senior fellow at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. His research interests include linguistic typology, historical linguistics, first language acquisition, and the usage-based study of grammar. He has worked intensively on deixis and demonstratives and is currently writing a monograph on grammar and language use. His previous publications include two monographs, Demonstrastives. Form, function and grammaticalization (Benjamins 1999) and The Acquisition of Complex Sentences (Cambridge 2004), and numerous articles in Language, Linguistics, Cognitive Linguistics, Linguistic Typology, Journal of Child Language, Language and Cognition, New Ideas in Psychology, Language and Linguistics Compass (among others).

University of Münster, Germany
PI – Professor Christian Kray is Professor of Geoinformatics and Director of the Institute for Geoinformatics (ifgi) at the University of Münster, where he heads the situated computing lab (sitcom). Chris studied Computer Science and Psychology at the Technical University of Berlin and Saarland University. He obtained his PhD in Computer Science from Saarland University and then moved to Lancaster University as a postdoc working on spatial interaction and ubiquitous computing.  This was followed by positions as lecturer and senior lecturer at Newcastle University before moving to Münster in 2011. Chris’ main research interests are situated in the areas of mobile and ubiquitous computing, human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence, and geoinformatics. He is particularly interested in interaction with and through spatial concepts (e.g. using proximity regions around devices to trigger certain actions), in accessible interfaces (e.g. that can be used by users with different abilities and backgrounds) and in evaluation methods for mobile and ubiquitous systems. Location-based systems and location privacy as well as participation and openness are further areas of ongoing research.  Chris is currently the scientific coordinator of the EU-funded ITN geo-c (Joint Doctorate in Geoinformatics: Enabling Open Cities) and Co-PI on the DFG-funded project Open Reproducible Research (o2r).

Qualisys, Sweden
PI – Fredrik Müller, CEO.  Qualisys are best known for their motion capture (mocap) solutions – primarily in the fields of sports science, clinical research and gait analysis. Research organizations use Qualisys products for monitoring the movement and performance of elite athletes, while the medical profession is always looking to understand more about how the human body moves.

Danieli Telerobot, Italy
PI – Dr. Giovanni Stellin received a MSc Degree in Mechanical Engineering at University of Padua in 2003 and a PhD in Microsystems Engineering in 2008 (University of Rome Tor Vergata and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna) with a thesis on sensors and mechanisms for Humanoid Robotics. He was Exchange Researcher at Takanishi Lab of Waseda University (Tokyo), advisor for Toyota Motor Company and for the DARPA within the RPP2009 project. He joined Danieli Telerobot Labs (formerly Telerobot SpA) in 2009; currently he is TLABS R&D Manager. Stellin’s main research expertise is on Humanoid Robots, Bioinspired Design, Service Robotics and Robotic Science deployment in Industry. He is author of one book and has authored/co-authored 1 book chapter, 13 journals and conference papers.

Partners:

Final Headway logo

Headway, Cambridge, UK
Headway Cambridgeshire provides support to people with a brain injury.  Although affiliated to Headway UK, Headway Cambridgeshire is completely independent and is responsible for its own finances, fundraising and staffing.  The services that Headway Cambridgeshire provides include giving information, advice and support, gym sessions, occupational therapy, social opportunities, art and horticultural therapy, and volunteering and employment training.

Italian Institute of Technology, Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (IIT), Italy

Kees Christianse Architecture Partners (KCAP), Zurich
Dipl. Ing. Ute Schneider Architect and Urban Designer, Partner KCAP  – Ute Schneider, was born in 1966 in Waldshut (Germany). After working with interior design and furniture making, she studied architecture at Technical University in Konstanz, and the University in Stuttgart, Karlsruhe and Delft. She graduated in Stuttgart beginning 1998 (Germany). During her studies she worked for various German and Dutch architectural offices inter alia for Neutelings Riedijk Architecten in Rotterdam where she continued her professional career after graduation. In 1998 she founded the multidisciplinary office zipherspaceworks in Stuttgart working within the disciplines architecture urbanism & design. Next to several freelance commissions Ute Schneider started to collaborate with KCAP in 2003. She joined KCAP and has been head of the Swiss branch office in Zurich since 2006. In 2008 she became member of the management team and was appointed Director KCAP Zurich and since 2016 as partner. In this position she is responsible for the management of the office and in charge of the coordination of KCAP Zurich’s projects spanning from architecture and urban planning to the design and development of masterplans and transformation strategies in various scales and contexts. Among a broad variety of projects there is a focus on transport oriented developments like the masterplan for Europaallee/Stadtraum HB, the scale study for the Airport Region Zürich, Masterplan for the Airport City of Dublin, Gare TGV Montpellier, divers station precincts in Switzerland, MUC Airsites, CAG and Jurong Lake District Singapore. Next to her project related work, Ute Schneider was involved in various exhibitions and publications of KCAP. She is regularly invited to lectures, selection commissions, juries and advisory boards. She was involved with various European educational institutes and is member of several Aesthetic Advisory Boards.

Ordnance Survey, UK

52°North , Germany
Prof. Dr. Albert Remke is managing director of the 52°North Initiative for Geospatial Open Source Software GmbH. He studied Geography, Landscape Ecology and Computer Science at the University of Münster. He graduated in 1988 and continued to work at the University as a research assistant with Prof. Dr. U. Streit. In the same year, Albert Remke and Ulrich Streit founded con terra – Applied Information Technologies GmbH –a Geo-IT professional services company. In 1994, Albert Remke received his PhD in Geoinformatics. He merged con terra with the Esri Germany Group of companies in 2006 and became one of the shareholders of the group. Albert Remke was managing director of con terra from 1994 to 2008. In 2004, Albert Remke was one of the co-founders of the 52°North Initiative, which started as an informal research and innovation network at the Institute for Geoinformatics in Münster. The 52°North GmbH was founded as the legal body and services center of the network in 2006. 52°North’s shareholders and principal partners are the Institute for Geoinformatics at the University of Münster, the Faculty of Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente (NL), the Environmental Systems Research Institute – Esri Inc (USA, CA) and con terra GmbH. Associate partners are the TU Dresden, the University of Applied Science in Bochum, and the Federal Information Technology Center in Germany (ITZ.Bund). Since 2014, Albert Remke is supporting the Institute for Geoinformatics as an honorary professor in research and teaching. One of  his research topics is the advancement of communicating spatial information in heterogeneous information communities. The citizen science project enviroCar is one of the study objects of the DCOMM activities.

University of the Basque Country
The University of the Basque Country, and particularly Joana Acha, are supporting ESR Sara Ramos Cabo in her research.  Joana Acha is associate professor in the Department of Basic Psychological Processes and their development at the UPV / EHU and coordinator of the cognitive development course in the developmental area. She received her Ph.D. in 2009 at the University of Valencia with the work “Experimental analysis of the effect of orthographic similarity and encoding processes of letters during reading” (published at the University of Valencia in 2010). She has been researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the Basque Centre on Cognition Brain and Language of Donostia. Her research is currently focused on the cognitive processes involved in language development and reading, and her teaching includes Cognitive development, Neuroscience and Learning difficulties.

School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh

Developmental Psychology Department, University of Hamburg,

 Koc University

Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University

Department of Psychology, University of Turin