Doctoral Programme - Language & Cognition

This doctoral programme (2013-2022) focused on the rapidly growing field of cognitive science. It catered to a wide community of researchers studying the interaction between language and cognitive systems. Cognitive science is by definition a place of convergence and Language and Cognition sought to bring together in a disciplinary and institutional interface research groups working on similar theoretical grounds and methodological approaches in their analyses of language phenomena.

The programme was designed primarily to enable doctoral students to become familiar with the various aspects of theoretical and methodological approaches to language as a cognitive process. It provided to its target audience scientific, theoretical and methodological bases in order to stimulate a firm anchoring of their dissertation project within a wider field of scientific investigation.

Through its organizational structure and modus used for workshops, the programme also sought to stimulate the development of a Swiss network of scholars across institutional partners. It also encouraged the development of strong links between the participants of the doctoral programme in order to build and foster a truly dynamic research community.

The programme also responded to the recent creation of Centers for Cognitive Sciences at several Swiss institutions. 

Structure and organization

The doctoral programme Language and Cognition offered series of 2-3 day workshops on the following related themes:

  • Cognition and language development
  • Cognitive Psycholinguistics
  • Cognition and interpretative processes
  • Bilingualism and cognition
  • Cognitive and language disorders
  • Cognitive Sociolinguistics
  • Language and Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Cognition and L2 Acquisition
  • Experimental Methodology
  • Statistical Methodology

Invited international experts participated actively in these workshops, in which doctoral students took part in question and answer sessions, presentations of state-of-the-art research, and discussions of projects. They were expected to present their research work through posters, or short sketches.

Workshops typically took place in venues that allowed the group to develop a dynamic community and that facilitated social and scientific contacts between the participants. Each participating scholar offered a workshop within their field of specialisation. The foci on offer alternated between different main thematic clusters. 

Organisation

The SwissUniversities doctoral workshop Language & Cognition was organised by the University of Fribourg in collaboration with the University of Geneva and the University of Neuchâtel.

Contact

All questions should be addressed to the programme coordinator, Prof. Didier Maillat

Past modules

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