CEU Department of Cognitive Science

23/09/2026

Warm congratulations to Maja Blesic who successfully defended her PhD dissertation titled “How do infants form conceptual representations of scenes? The role of category labels, goal directed actions and functional information” yesterday at the CEU Department of Cognitive Science in Vienna with
Liuba Papeo (Institute of Cognitive Sciences Marc Jeannerod, Lyon) and Melissa Kibbe (Boston University, USA) as External Examiners, Ágnes Melinda Kovács (CEU) and József Fiser (CEU) as Supervisors and with Natalie Sebanz (CEU) as Head of the Dissertation Committee.
Congratulations, Maja, we are super-proud of you!!! 🤩💪🥂🎉

17/09/2026

Join us for the Virtual Open Day!
Explore Cognitive Science session 15:15–15:35 Vienna time

Thinking about your next degree? This Thursday, September 17, we're hosting a Virtual Open Day, open to anyone considering graduate or undergraduate study.

The event runs throughout the day with dedicated sessions for both bachelor's and master's programs, and is designed to be flexible, drop in and out as your schedule allows - and from wherever you are. You can hear directly from faculty, connect with current students, and get a clearer picture of what studying at CEU looks like, from the academic programs and scholarships to everyday life in Vienna.

If you know someone who might be exploring their next degree, feel free to share.

🔗 Register here: https://www.ceu.edu/admissions/connect/open-day

11/09/2026

Meet us at CEU Budapest for Researchers' Night!
Program details and registration 👇

🔬 A CEU idén is csatlakozik a Kutatók Éjszakájához!

Mi tesz valakit fogékonyabbá a merev, dogmatikus gondolkodásra? Mit árul el a kisbabák szemmozgása a rejtett tudásukról? Hogyan őrizhetők meg a veszélyeztetett levéltárak történetei?

Szeptember 25-én beszélgetésekkel, laborlátogatásokkal, kurátori tárlatvezetéssel és kerekasztal-beszélgetéssel várunk a CEU-n, a Blinken OSA Archivumban, valamint a Politikatörténeti Intézet programjain. Találkozhattok többek között Pléh Csabával, Forgács Bálinttal, Zemplén Gáborral, Rév Istvánnal és Csunderlik Péterrel, kipróbálhatjátok a VisionLab eszközeit, és bepillanthattok a CEU Babakutató Labor munkájába is.

📅 2026. szeptember 25., péntek | 15:00–21:00
📍 CEU Budapest, Nádor utca 15. és Blinken OSA Archivum, Arany János utca 32.

A részvétel regisztrációhoz kötött.
👉 Teljes program és regisztráció: https://events.ceu.edu/2026-09-25/ceu-kutatok-ejszakaja-2026

07/09/2026

Warmest congratulations to Thomas Wolf on receiving an ERC Starting Grant for his project "How do Vocalizations Support Interpersonal Coordination?" 🎉

🎓 Thomas defended his PhD thesis in our department in 2019 and has since been working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Social Mind Center.

Discover more about the project and its significance in the article below.

Vienna, September 3, 2026 – Thomas Wolf, a researcher at Central European University’s (CEU) Social Mind Center, has been awarded a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant worth €1.488 million for his project VoICes.

23/07/2026

Ákos Szegőfi, who earned his PhD in Cognitive Science from CEU Department of Cognitive Science, shares the findings of his research on misinformation, trust, deceptive communication and human decision-making!

15/07/2026

Warm congratulations to Maria Mavridaki who successfully defended her PhD dissertation titled “EPISTEMIC AGENTS IN A SOCIAL WORLD: INFANTS’ AND CHILDREN’S INFORMATION SEEKING FROM OTHERS” yesterday at the CEU Department of Cognitive Science in Vienna with Gil Diesendruck (Bar-Ilan University) and Kelsey Lucca (Arizona State University) as External Examiners, Ágnes Melinda Kovács (CEU) and Ernő Téglás (CEU) as Supervisors and with Christophe Heintz (CEU) as Head of the Dissertation Committee.
Congratulations, Mara, we are super-proud of you!!!😍🤩

13/07/2026

Warm congratulations to Ohan Hominis who successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled “Motivated Epistemic Engagement” last Friday at the CEU Department of Cognitive Science in Vienna with Melissa Koenig (University of Minnesota) and Sebastian Grüneisen (Leipzig University) as External Examiners, Azzurra Ruggeri (CEU/TUM) and Christophe Heintz (CEU) as Supervisors and with Jozsef Fiser (CEU) as Head of the Dissertation Committee.
Congratulations, Ohan, we are so proud of you!!! 👏🧑‍🎓

09/07/2026

Warm congratulations to Andreas Arslan, who successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled “What, when and why: Causal structures in event representations ” at the CEU Department of Cognitive Science in Vienna with Markus Werning (Ruhr Universitat, Bochum) and Tomer Ullman (Harvard, Psychology Department) as External Examiners, Jonathan Kominsky (CEU) and Gergely Csibra (CEU) as Supervisors and Natalie Sebanz (CEU) as Head of the Dissertation Committee.
Congratulations, Andreas, we are so proud of you!!

16/06/2026

💥We are happy to share that Ákos Szegőfi, our former PhD student who is graduating this week, currently a postdoctoral researcher at University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is one of the recipients of the 2026 CEU Best Dissertation Award for the dissertation Gaming Epistemic Vigilance (supervisor: Professor Christophe Heintz, secondary supervisor: Professor Emeritus György Gergely).
Congratulations, Ákos! 🎉

09/06/2026

Warm congratulations to Thomas Ganzetti who successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled “Affective Observation: A Route to Cultural Learning” last Friday at the CEU Department of Cognitive Science in Vienna with David Sander (University of Geneva) and Zanna Clay (Durham University) as External Examiners, Gunther Knoblich (CEU) and Christophe Heintz (CEU) as Supervisors and with Jozsef Fiser (CEU) as Head of the Dissertation Committee.
Congratulations, Thomas, we are so proud of you!!!🥳