Massimiliano (Max) Garagnani is a University Professor at the University of London, and is primarily known for his work on bio-realistic neural network models that closely mimic the structure, connectivity, and physiology of the human cortex. Garagnani presently runs the Goldsmiths Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Postgraduate Programme [1] at the University of London, and further serves as a visiting researcher at the Free University of Berlin.[2]

Max Garagnani
NationalityItalian
Alma materUniversity of Bologna
University of Durham
Cambridge University
Known forNeural Networks
Computational neuroscience
Bioplausibility
AwardsGonda Brain Research Grant
EPSRC Fast-stream Grant
CSREA IC-AI Achievement Award
EU Marie Curie Fellowship
Scientific career
FieldsTheoretical neuroscience
Computational neuroscience
Computational cognition
InstitutionsUniversity of London
Free University of Berlin
University of Plymouth
Medical Research Council (United Kingdom)
The Open University
Doctoral advisorsDerek Long, Maria Fox (University of Durham)
Friedemann Pulvermüller (Cambridge University)

His contributions to the field of computational neuroscience have earned him a number of awards and honors, including the CSREA International Conference on AI Achievement Award, an EU Marie Curie Research Training Grant (TMR Programme), a Cambridge European Trust Scholarship, a UK EPSRC Fast-stream Grant, and membership into the Experimental Psychology Society, the Society for the Neurobiology of Language, and the Organization for Computational Neuroscience.

Biography

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Garagnani obtained his Bachelor of Science and his Master of Science degrees in 1994 through an accelerated program at the University of Bologna in Italy. He then went on to obtain his doctorate in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Durham in 1999, followed by a postdoctoral stint at The Open University.

During his time there, he sat as associate editor of the journal of Expert Systems,[3] and served as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley and the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, California, US, developing a neurally plausible connectionist model of language processing and reflexive reasoning based on temporal synchrony and dynamic binding alongside Dr. Lokendra Shastri. He left this post in 2005, opting for a second PhD, this one in computational cognitive neuroscience, at Cambridge University.[2][4]

Upon its completion in 2008, Garagnani joined the Medical Research Council - Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge as an Investigator Scientist. He departed from the MRC in 2012, becoming a visiting researcher at Cambridge University's Department of Experimental Psychology.[5] He balanced this position with a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Plymouth, which he held until 2016.[6]

As of 2023, Garagnani is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Computer Science and programme leader at the University of London, as well as a visiting researcher at the Brain Language Laboratory at the Free University of Berlin.[2] He sits on the editorial boards of the journals of Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience and Frontiers in Psychology - Cognition, is Associate Editor of IET Cognitive Computation and Systems, and holds a position on the Board of Directors of the Organization for Computational Neuroscience.

Awards and honors

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  • EPS Grindley Grant
  • Gonda Brain Research Grant
  • CSREA Achievement Award
  • EU Marie Curie Fellow
  • EPSRC Fast-Stream Research Grant
  • Experimental Psychology Society
  • Organization for Computational Neuroscience
  • Cambridge European Trust Scholar (Honorary)

Select publications

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  • Garagnani, Max; Wennekers, Thomas; Pulvermüller, Friedemann (2008-01-18). "A neuroanatomically grounded Hebbian-learning model of attention–language interactions in the human brain". European Journal of Neuroscience. 27 (2): 492–513. doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2008.06015.x. PMC 2258460. PMID 18215243.
  • Wennekers, Thomas; Garagnani, Max; Pulvermüller, Friedemann (2006-07-01). "Language models based on Hebbian cell assemblies". Journal of Physiology. 100 (1–3): 16–30. doi:10.1016/j.jphysparis.2006.09.007. PMID 17081735. S2CID 10029905.
  • Garagnani, Max; Shtyrov, Yury; Pulvermüller, Friedemann (2009-06-30). "Effects of attention on what is known and what is not: MEG evidence for functionally discrete memory circuits". Frontiers in Neuroscience. 3 (10): 10. doi:10.3389/neuro.09.010.2009. PMC 2715270. PMID 19680433.

References

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  1. ^ "MSc Computational Cognitive Neuroscience". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Dr Max Garagnani". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  3. ^ "Curriculum Vitae et Studiorum" (PDF). Cambridge MRC-CBU. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  4. ^ "Dr. Max Garagnani". Brain Language Laboratory. 13 July 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  5. ^ "MRC CBU, Cambridge – Max Garagnani". Cambridge University. Archived from the original on 16 June 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  6. ^ "Max Garagnani, PhD". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
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