Find Academic Supervisors

Andrej MentelView profile

Associate Professor

• Evolutionary Anthropology
• Cognitive Anthropology
• Religious Ritual Studies
• +4 more

Andrej Mentel is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Social Anthropology within the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. He holds a Master's in Biomedical Physics and a PhD in Ethnology from Comenius University. His research focuses on evolutionary and cognitive anthropology, with specialization in ritual studies, linguistic anthropology, and environmental anthropology in the Western Balkans and Carpathian regions. Mentel combines ethnographic methods with cognitive psychology and advanced statistical analysis to explore topics like dervish orders' social functions in Bosnia, linguistic socialization in children, and cultural representations of landscapes. Educational Background: 1996-2001 Mgr. (Biomedical Physics) and 2001-2009 PhD (Ethnology) from Comenius University in Bratislava. Teaching Responsibilities include courses on field methods, data analysis, and statistical techniques at both bachelor's and master's levels. His recent grants include leading a study on pandemic strategies (2021-2023) and contributing to cross-cultural philosophy research (2015-2021). He has held research positions at Karl-Franzens Universität Graz (Austria) through various scholarships. Mentel is a member of the Slovak Association of Social Anthropology and International Association for Southeast European Anthropology. His research highlights the intersection of ritual practices with social cohesion, cognitive development through language acquisition, and environmental knowledge transmission in marginalized communities. Mentel's work bridges anthropology with quantitative methods, reflecting his unique interdisciplinary approach.

• Psycholinguistics
• Prosody in Sentence Processing
• Second Language Acquisition
• +3 more

Nazik Dinçtopal Deniz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Language Education at Boğaziçi University, with a secondary appointment in the Cognitive Science M.A. Program. She holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the City University of New York (CUNY), and prior teaching experience at institutions like Columbia University and CUNY campuses. Her research focuses on first and second language processing, particularly the role of prosody in syntactic and morphological disambiguation in Turkish, as well as rhythmic and syntactic factors in sentence processing. She directs the Psycholinguistics Lab at Boğaziçi University, equipped with eye-tracking technology to study language processing mechanisms. Her work investigates topics such as prosodic influences on ambiguity resolution, syntactic parsing strategies, and second language learners' use of linguistic cues. She has published widely in journals like Lingua and Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , and has presented at conferences including AMLaP and EuroSLA. Her teaching includes courses on psycholinguistics, second language acquisition, and research methods. Current research projects include studies on negative polarity items in Turkish and the interplay of working memory and prosodic phrasing in L2 processing.

Signy WegenerView profile

Lecturer

• Reading Development
• Cognitive Science
• Vocabulary Acquisition
• +5 more

Signy Wegener is an Honorary Lecturer at the School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, affiliated with the Centre for Reading. She holds a PhD in Cognitive Science and specializes in research on reading development, vocabulary acquisition, and cognitive learning mechanisms. Her work employs eye-tracking technology and explores topics like orthographic learning, affective priming in visual word recognition, and bilingual education. Key research interests include understanding how spacing effects influence memory retention, the role of emojis in cognitive processing, and optimizing literacy interventions for children. She has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the 2022 Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties Early Career Researcher Award and the 2023 Rebecca L. Sandak Young Investigator Award. Her recent publications focus on empirical studies of reading behavior, educational neuroscience, and developmental psychology. Collaborations span institutions globally, emphasizing cross-disciplinary approaches to literacy challenges.

Shiqi ZhangView profile

Associate Professor

• Artificial Intelligence
• Robotics
• Human-Robot Interaction
• +3 more

Shiqi Zhang is an Associate Professor in the School of Computing at Binghamton University, part of the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science. His research focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence and robotics, particularly in developing algorithms for service robots in human-inhabited environments. He leads the Autonomous Intelligent Robotics (AIR) research group and coordinates AI tracks in the Computer Science program. Education: PhD in Computer Science, Texas Tech University (2013) MS and BS in Computer Science, Harbin Institute of Technology (China, 2008 and 2006) Visiting Student at Tsinghua University (2007-2008) Intern at Microsoft Research Asia (2012) Research Interests: Artificial Intelligence Robotics Human-Robot Interaction Machine Learning Task and Motion Planning Recent Research Trends: Zhang's work emphasizes integrating vision-language models, commonsense reasoning, and large language models (LLMs) for robust task planning and human-robot collaboration. Recent projects include safety-aware robotics, AR-enhanced collaboration, and ethical AI in healthcare. Awards: Outstanding Associate Editor for IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (2024) Professional Contributions: Organized workshops at ICRA 2024, RSS 2024, and AAMAS 2022. Served on committees for KR-2023 and CoRL 2023. Co-developed courses like 'Artificial Intelligence and Robotics' in the Lyceum Program. Labs/Teams: Directs the AIR Group, focusing on embodied AI, mobile robotics, and human-robot systems. Collaborates with industry and academic partners on real-world applications.

Blandin YannickView profile

Professor

• Motor Learning
• Observational Learning
• Sensorimotor Coding
• +3 more

Yannick Blandin is a Full Professor in the Faculty of Sports Sciences at the University of Poitiers, France, affiliated with the Cognition and Learning Research Center (CeRCA). His research focuses on motor learning, observational learning, and sensorimotor coding, with an emphasis on feedback mechanisms and cognitive processes underlying skill acquisition. Blandin holds a Ph.D. in Kinesiology from the University of Montreal (Canada) and has held academic roles since 1990, including Assistant Professor (1995–2001) and Lecturer (1990–1995) at the University of Montreal. His work explores how visual and proprioceptive feedback influence motor learning, the role of eye movements in sequence coding, and the application of point-light displays in rehabilitation. Collaborations include Dr. Stefan Panzer (Saarland University) and Dr. Charles Shea (Texas A&M). Key contributions include the PLAViMoP database, advancing 3D motion analysis tools for clinical and educational purposes. Research interests span motor imagery effects, contextual interference in learning, and the interplay between observational practice and physical skill development. Publications highlight studies on feedback schedules, error detection during observation, and the cognitive basis of motor sequence representation. His research has practical implications in sports training, rehabilitation (e.g., knee arthroplasty), and the design of adaptive robotic systems for motor task guidance. Blandin’s interdisciplinary approach bridges kinesiology, cognitive science, and technology to enhance understanding of human movement and learning processes.

Ken SobelView profile

Professor

• Cognitive Psychology
• Visual Perception
• Numerical Cognition
• +3 more

Dr. Ken Sobel is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA), joining the department in 2005. His research focuses on the interaction between vision and cognition, particularly in visual search, numerical cognition, and attention. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Science from Vanderbilt University, with postdoctoral training at Vanderbilt and Victoria University in New Zealand. His work explores topics like the size congruity effect, Stroop asymmetry, and visual perception mechanisms. Dr. Sobel teaches courses in Sensation and Perception, Cognitive Psychology, and Physiology of Psychology. He collaborates extensively with undergraduate students, co-authoring numerous papers in the Journal of Psychological Inquiry . His hobbies include cycling, swimming, and traveling to Italy. Key research interests include how numerical and physical size interact during visual search, the neural basis of attention, and the role of cognitive control in perceptual tasks. His publications span topics from ensemble perception to memory for witnessed events, reflecting his interdisciplinary approach to cognitive science. Dr. Sobel has advised over 20 students on research projects, emphasizing hands-on learning and undergraduate mentorship. His lab focuses on experimental methods in visual perception and cognitive modeling, supported by collaborative efforts with institutions globally.

Pedro Joel Mendes RosaView profile

Associate Professor

• Cognitive Psychology
• Emotional Regulation
• Virtual Reality Applications
• +5 more

Pedro Joel Mendes Rosa is an Associate Professor at Universidade Lusófona's School of Psychology and Life Sciences (EPCV) within the Faculty of Psychology and Education (FPE). He is actively involved in the Human Environment Interaction Lab (HEI-LAB), where he conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of cognitive psychology, virtual reality applications, and clinical psychology. His academic profile demonstrates significant contributions to multiple research domains with an h-index of 15 based on Scopus citations. Dr. Rosa's research interests span cognitive psychology, emotional regulation, eye-tracking, psychometrics, clinical psychology, sexual health, and environmental psychology. His work often employs advanced methodologies including virtual reality simulations, eye-tracking technology, and sophisticated statistical modeling. He has published extensively across these domains, with a notable increase in research output in recent years, particularly in 2023-2025. His recent publications reveal strong trends toward applying virtual reality in clinical and psychological contexts, examining emotional processing, cognitive functions, and developing prevention programs. The research demonstrates a consistent focus on methodological rigor, often employing longitudinal designs, mediation models, and cross-cultural validation approaches. His work bridges theoretical psychological concepts with practical applications in mental health, education, and technology. Award for the best doctoral study (2024) Best poster award (2018) Meritorious Researcher Award (2016) Dr. Rosa serves as a researcher on multiple significant projects including Structural Academy (2025-2028), Sexual Arousal in the Unconscious Mind (2024-2026), and PRotoTYPe: Preventing School-Based Bullying (2021-2024). He has supervised doctoral work, as evidenced by the 2024 award for best doctoral study. His research collaborations extend across Portugal and internationally, particularly within European Union-funded initiatives like Erasmus+ programs. At HEI-LAB, he contributes to advancing human-environment interaction research through cutting-edge technological applications.

Steven Van de WalleView profile

Professor

• Public Administration
• Public Management
• Public Sector Reform
• +4 more

Steven Van de Walle is a full Professor at the Public Governance Institute within the Faculty of Social Sciences at KU Leuven. He serves as a Promotor (principal investigator) for multiple research projects spanning from 2022 to 2029, focusing on public administration, governance, and trust in government. His institutional roles include membership in the Social and Societal Ethics Committee, the Council of the Faculty of Social Sciences, and the Faculty Evaluation Committee. His research focuses on: Public sector reform and modernization Public management and administration Political trust and socialization Policy implementation and bureaucratic behavior Governance innovations and democratic anchorage Professor Van de Walle's recent work demonstrates a strong emphasis on understanding how policymakers deal with uncertainty, the impact of administrative burdens, and the relationship between performance information and decision-making. His research employs various methodologies including survey experiments, eye-tracking studies, and systematic reviews to investigate complex public administration phenomena. He has particular expertise in studying trust dynamics between citizens and government institutions, as well as examining the effects of populist politics on bureaucratic systems. His current research projects address critical contemporary issues such as: Warning fatigue among policymakers Street-level bureaucracy during political transitions Digital democracy innovations Public procurement of broader social outcomes Waste management policy Professor Van de Walle has received significant research funding for his projects, including Horizon RADAR and INNOVADE, indicating the relevance and impact of his work in the field of public administration. His research has practical implications for improving public sector governance and addressing contemporary challenges facing democratic institutions.

Aoju ChenView profile

Professor

• Language Acquisition
• Prosody
• Language Processing
• +7 more

Prof. Aoju Chen is a Professor of English Linguistics: Language Development at Utrecht University's Faculty of Humanities, Department of Languages, Literature and Communication. She holds a VICI Grant (2021-2026) investigating prosodic development in early childhood and leads the NWO-funded VIDI project (2011-2016) on prosodic focus marking in children. Her research focuses on prosody's role in first and second language acquisition, with interdisciplinary projects in the Dynamics of Youth strategic theme exploring prosody's link to children's sense of belonging. Her expertise spans Information Structure, Language Comprehension, and Phonology, with a strong emphasis on cross-linguistic studies. Key projects include prenatal prosody acquisition and robot-assisted language learning. She has published extensively on prosodic focus marking, intonation, and bilingualism, with over 50 peer-reviewed articles since 2004. Awards include prestigious NWO grants and contributions to Oxford Handbook of Language Prosody (2020). Her research integrates experimental methods with computational prosody analysis, addressing both theoretical and applied questions in developmental linguistics. She leads the English Linguistics: Language Development chair and collaborates with robotics teams to apply prosody insights in educational technology. Her work bridges phonetics, psychology, and education, emphasizing real-world applications for language learning and child development.

• Sociolinguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Register Theory
• +3 more

Katja Sonnert is a researcher at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin's Department of German Language and Linguistics. Her work focuses on register theory, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics, particularly investigating how formality, morphosyntax, and verb-argument congruence interact during language processing. She contributes to the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1412 'Register: Language Users' Knowledge of Situational-Functional Variation', exploring language variation across modalities and cultural contexts. Her methods include eye-tracking, visual-world paradigms, and corpus analyses. Recent studies highlight register effects in real-time comprehension and the cognitive mechanisms underlying formality judgments. She collaborates extensively with colleagues on interdisciplinary projects, publishing in journals like Acta Psychologica and Discourse Processes .

Aaron VeldreView profile

Research Fellow

• Reading
• Eye Movements
• Semantics
• +3 more

Aaron Veldre is an Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University. He holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Sydney (2015) and previously served as a Senior Research Associate at the University of Sydney from 2015 to 2022. His research focuses on reading processes, eye movements during reading, and semantics, with a particular interest in lexical prediction, cognitive aging, and neuropsychological mechanisms. His work bridges experimental psychology, computational modeling, and clinical applications, such as studying cognitive flexibility in eating disorders. Veldre has contributed to over 38 peer-reviewed publications, with recent studies exploring predictability effects in older readers, morphological spelling regularities in bilinguals, and the interplay between task demands and lexical prediction. He actively participates in editorial roles, including as a reviewer for Frontiers in Psychology since 2023. Education PhD in Psychology, University of Sydney, 2015 Research Interests Reading science and eye movement dynamics Lexical prediction and cognitive modeling Cognitive aging and neuropsychological assessment Morphological and semantic processing in bilingualism Clinical applications of cognitive flexibility studies Publications His recent work highlights trends in predictability effects, parafoveal processing, and computational modeling of cognitive systems. Key themes include aging-related adaptations in reading, cross-linguistic comparisons of spelling systems, and experimental paradigms to assess cognitive mechanisms. Collaborations span international institutions, reflecting his interdisciplinary approach. Grants & Awards No specific grants or awards are listed, though his extensive publication record underscores sustained research excellence. Advising & Editorial Work Editorial board member: Frontiers in Psychology (2023–present) PhD supervision: None explicitly stated Labs & Teams No specific lab affiliations are mentioned, but his research likely integrates with broader networks in cognitive and clinical psychology.

Sofia PelicaView profile

Researcher

• Social Psychology
• Behavioral Science
• Health Psychology
• +7 more

Sofia Pelica is a Researcher and PhD Candidate in Social Psychology at the Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work focuses on psychological mechanisms underlying behaviors affecting communicable disease transmission, adaptive memory, and pathogen disgust. She holds an MSc in Social and Organizational Psychology (ISCTE Lisbon, 2020–2022) and a BSc in Psychology (ISCTE Lisbon, 2017–2020). Her research integrates cognitive and behavioral science approaches, emphasizing cross-cultural perspectives and open science practices. She is a member of the Junior Researcher Programme (Cambridge), collaborating on international projects linking psychology and health policy. Key interests include behavioral interventions, cultural differences, and the impact of digital communication on social inference. Recent publications explore topics like cognitive biases in financial decisions, emoji effects on attention, and predictive validity in sentence comprehension. Her work spans disciplines such as behavioral economics, moral psychology, and health policy, with contributions to journals like Scientific Reports and Behavioral and Brain Sciences .

• Second Language Acquisition
• Bilingual Processing
• Psycholinguistics
• +3 more

Dr. S.S. Bultena is an Assistant Professor at Radboud University, affiliated with both the Centre for Language Studies and the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures. Her research focuses on second language acquisition and bilingual processing, employing EEG, eye-tracking, and behavioral tasks to investigate first language influence on second language learning. Key interests include cognates and error-based learning. She holds an H-index of 10 and has received the Onderwijsprijs Letteren - junior teacher award in 2019. Her teaching spans courses like Introduction to Linguistics , Second Language Acquisition , and Research Topics in Second Language Acquisition . She leads the project The language leak: The statistics of language as a novel window into the multilingual mind (2023–2028). Media engagements include features in Tech Gelderland (2021) and NEMO Kennislink (2023). Research emphasizes neurobiological and cognitive mechanisms underlying language learning, with a focus on error detection and cross-linguistic influences. Recent work highlights the role of uncertainty and conflicting representations in L2 error processing, alongside electrophysiological markers of learning.

Katherine WhiteView profile

Professor

• Developmental Psychology
• Language Acquisition
• Cognitive Development
• +3 more

Katherine White is a Professor specializing in developmental research, particularly focusing on infant and toddler language acquisition. She leads the Developmental Research Area and directs the Lab for Infant Development and Language. Her academic background includes a BA from Cornell University and a PhD from Brown University. Her research investigates how infants and toddlers perceive and learn speech sounds, process linguistic variability (e.g., accents, disfluencies), and integrate social cues with linguistic information. Key topics include the impact of speaker identity, visual speech cues, and sociolinguistic factors on early language development. She has pioneered studies on accent adaptation, phonological biases, and the role of disfluencies in word learning. Her work often employs large-scale collaborative projects like ManyBabies 5 to investigate universal developmental patterns. She emphasizes methodological rigor, particularly addressing experimenter identity as a confounding variable in developmental studies. The Lab for Infant Development and Language uses advanced tools like SMART-T for anticipatory eye-tracking paradigms to study real-time language processing in infants. Publications span topics from phonetic category acquisition to the sociolinguistic dimensions of childhood language use, with contributions to understanding how children navigate linguistic diversity and social context.

Adriana Cruz RubioView profile

Researcher

• Experimental Pragmatics
• Translation Studies (Medical)
• Communication Studies
• +3 more

Dr. Adriana Cruz Rubio is a Researcher at Heidelberg University’s Institute of Translation and Interpreting and the Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies (HCIAS). Her work bridges research, teaching, and institutional coordination since 2013. As part of the Communication and Cognition research group, her research focuses on experimental pragmatics and communication, with a specialization in medical translation. She coordinates digital teaching initiatives and international programs, including double-degree collaborations with Universidad de Salamanca and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Her doctoral fellowship from the German National Academic Foundation (2014–2017) underscores her scholarly contributions. Adriana’s teaching emphasizes experimental pragmatics and specialized translation, complemented by leadership in virtual academic exchanges and intercultural collaboration projects. Research Interests: Adriana’s work explores experimental pragmatics, discourse processing, and cognitive aspects of language. Her studies often employ eye-tracking technology to analyze how speakers process pragmatic scales, discourse markers, and anaphoric references. She investigates cross-linguistic differences (e.g., Spanish and German) in focus operators like incluso and sogar, contributing to theories of information structure and cognitive processing. Key Contributions: Adriana has co-authored books and chapters on discourse marking, experimental pragmatics, and cognitive linguistics. Her recent work includes studies on the processing of Spanish discourse particles and their implications for clinical linguistics. She actively collaborates on international projects, such as developing a manual of experimental tools for linguistic research (forthcoming with Routledge). Professional Roles: Beyond academia, Adriana coordinates international study programs and advises on digital teaching strategies. She has organized workshops on eye-tracking methodology in Panama, Colombia, and Chile, promoting experimental linguistics across borders. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates translation studies, cognitive science, and intercultural communication, reflecting her dual focus on research and pedagogy.