About the summer school

The Summer School on Consciousness and Metacognition 2021 will be the first in a series of 3 interdisciplinary summer schools hosted by UCL in London (UK) and PSL in Paris (France). The goal of this summer school is to serve both as an intensive workshop, knowledge exchange and networking opportunity.

Notably, research on consciousness and metacognition (“thinking about thinking”) spans the neurosciences, psychology, philosophy and artificial intelligence, and is naturally interdisciplinary. There is a rich and growing research tradition on these topics in both London and Paris, and within UCL and PSL specifically. Consciousness science is a rapidly expanding area, with the journal Science listing the problems of consciousness as being one of the key challenges for the 21st century. However, despite much excitement in this research area, the tools and interdisciplinary background needed to carry out robust, impactful research in consciousness science are rarely acquired in standard graduate or postdoctoral education, even in cognitive science.

The school will allow faculty at both sites to share their latest research, and students to interact both with each other and the speakers, providing feedback and generating new research ideas and collaborations. It will further create natural opportunities for students to arrange research visits between London and Paris, and it will enable longer-term student mobility and postdoctoral recruitment.

The school will be virtually hosted by UCL and PSL on 28-30 June 2021. .

Who can apply?

Everyone interested in attending the summer school, either as observers or on the interactive track, should fill out the application form in our Apply page. Priority for the interactive track will be given to students with UCL and PSL affiliations. We may be able to accept a small number of applicants with other affiliations, if space allows. Please indicate your affiliation clearly on the application form.

To apply, please visit our applications page and check the eligibility criteria. Applications will be considered up until midnight on Monday May 24th*.

The summer school is jointly funded by Université PSL, the UCL Institute of Advanced Studies and UCL Global Engagement.

Further editions of the Summer School are planned for 2022 (in Paris) and 2023 (in London).