About iCog

A network for postgraduates and early-career researchers working in cognitive science in the UK and beyond.

Background and aims

iCog seeks to facilitate collaboration across constituent disciplines and to raise the profile of cognitive science.

The project of cognitive science is, in the broadest terms, to understand the workings of the mind. Researchers in its constituent disciplines — anthropology, psychology, philosophy, computational intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics — attempt to answer such questions as:

Despite a good deal of progress on these and other issues in recent decades, current disciplinary boundaries in the majority of British universities, funding agencies, and learned societies make it difficult for those working in one discipline of cognitive science to receive training in the methods of other disciplines, and meet with researchers working on similar issues in other discipline areas. This can be particularly discouraging for postgraduates and early-career researchers whose research does not fit neatly within disciplinary boundaries. 

Even where interdisciplinary work exists, balanced and reflective collaboration can be difficult to achieve. iCog aims to promote dialogue and collaboration between disciplines, rather than one-sided conversations.

iCog organises regular conferences and workshops.

iCog Committees

The iCog steering committee co-ordinates iCog activities.

Steering committee members:

Former steering committee members:

iCog conferences and workshops have their own organizing teams. The organizing committees for our conferences are listed below.

iCog 5 Conference Committee, 2019 (Reading):
Lily FitzGibbon, Kathryn Francis

iCog 4 Conference Committee, 2017 (Oxford):
Sam Clarke, Chris Fowles, Jamie Findlay

iCog 3 Conference Committee, 2016 (London):
Brianna Beck, Katharina Brecht, Cristina Cioffi, Tony Cheng, Merle Fairhurst, Rory Bufacchi, Emmanouil Protonotarios, Thomas Tanay

iCog 2 Conference Committee, 2014 (Edinburgh):
Daniel Calder, Joe Dewhurst, Lauren Hadley, Caitlin Hamblin, Rosa Hardt, Annina Hessel, Jarosław Lelonkiewicz, Mariana Vega-Mendoza

Inaugural Conference Committee, 2013 (Sheffield):
Ed Donnellan, Ryan Doran, Lily FitzGibbon, Max Gattie, Helen Mort, Philipp Rau