Cognitive Systems Science

Cognitive Systems Sciences (CSS) will create new windows of opportunity for interdisciplinary research and new modes of working together for the University of Reading (UoR). CSS aims to stimulate, support, and coordinate fundamental and interdisciplinary research on the complex neural systems that produce human cognition, with the ambition of understanding how these complex cognitive systems are instantiated in the brain, how they develop and how they are affected by age and disease, and to translate the results into viable clinical tools. By placing emphasis on the nonlinear dynamics at the heart of brain and cognition research, CSS will position Reading at the leading edge of advances in methodology and analysis. The centrality of nonlinear methods in addressing the problem of integrating and interpreting data drawn from the various brain measurement technologies is widely recognized. However few centers have expertise in this area and fewer still highlight this aspect of their research programs. CSS at Reading will cut across disciplinary lines and research foci and will attract students and collaborative relationships with other research institutions in the UK, the EU and abroad. It will add new dimensions to existing cognition related research projects through providing access to advanced data and signal modelling approaches to complement the University's neuroimaging and neurophysiological technology. Its multidisciplinary character will stimulate new research projects that would not be possible if researchers work separately and allow UoR to train a unique generation of researchers. Finally, it will provide a innovative platform for exchange of knowledge and expertise in normal cognition (Psychology) and abnormal cognition (Clinical Language Science), analytics (Mathematics) and complex systems research (Systems Engineering).