
The MSc in COMPUTATIONAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE at Goldsmiths, University of London (UK) is now ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS for 2021-21 ENTRY.
Note that places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis. If you are considering this programme, we recommend applying now rather than later to avoid disappointment.
This cutting-edge Masters course, a combined effort of the Computing and Psychology Departments, builds on the multi-disciplinary and strong research profiles of our staff. It equips students with a solid theoretical basis and knowledge of experimental methods in computational cognitive neuroscience, providing them also with an opportunity to consolidate their skills in a practical research project, possibly carried out in collaboration with a partner from industry.
COURSE OUTLINE
This is a one-year (full-time) or two-years (part-time) MSc degree programme, consisting of taught courses (120 credits) plus research project and dissertation (60 credits). (Note: students who need a Tier-4 VISA to study in the UK can only register for the full-time pathway). It is designed for students with a good degree in the biological / life (psychology, neuroscience, biology, medicine, etc.) or physical (computer science, mathematics, physics, engineering) sciences, however, individuals with different backgrounds but commensurate experience will also be considered.
The core contents of this course include (i) fundamentals of cognitive neuroscience (cortical and subcortical mechanisms and structures underlying cognition and behaviour, plus experimental and neuroimaging techniques), and (ii) concepts and methods of computational modelling of biological neurons, simple neuronal circuits, and higher brain functions. Students are trained with a rich variety of computational and advanced methodological skills, taught in the four core modules of the course (Modelling Cognitive Functions, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cortical Modelling, and Advanced Quantitative Methods). Unlike other standard computational neuroscience programmes (which focus predominantly on modelling low-level aspects of brain function), one of the distinctive features of this course is that it includes the study of biologically constrained models of cognitive processes (including, e.g., language and decision making). The final research project can be carried out ‘in house’ or in collaboration with an external partner, either from academia or industry.