the MetaLab

About the Summer School

The Summer School on Consciousness and Metacognition 2025 is the fourth in a series of interdisciplinary summer schools hosted by UCL in London (UK) and PSL in Paris (France). The goal of this summer school is to serve as an intensive workshop, knowledge exchange, and networking opportunity.

Notably, research on consciousness and metacognition (“thinking about thinking”) spans the neurosciences, psychology, philosophy, and artificial intelligence, and is naturally interdisciplinary. There is a rich and growing research tradition on these topics in both London and Paris, and within UCL and PSL specifically. Consciousness science is a rapidly expanding area, with the journal Science listing the problems of consciousness as being one of the key challenges for the 21st century. However, despite much excitement in this research area, the tools and interdisciplinary background needed to carry out robust, impactful research in consciousness science are rarely acquired in standard graduate or postdoctoral education, even in cognitive science.

The school allows faculty at both sites to share their latest research, and students to interact both with each other and the speakers, providing feedback and generating new research ideas and collaborations. It further creates natural opportunities for students to arrange research visits between London and Paris, and it allows longer-term student mobility and postdoctoral recruitment.

The school will be hosted by UCL in London on 14-16 July 2025.

Who can apply?

We welcome applications from graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Priority will be given to applicants with UCL and PSL affiliations. We may be able to accept a small number of applicants with other affiliations if space allows. The application form will ask for your affiliation — please indicate this clearly.

There are no application or tuition fees. Travel and lodging for PSL students will be covered. A social dinner will also be covered for all students.

Everyone interested in attending the summer school should fill out the application form HERE. Applications will be considered up until midnight on Friday, February 28th, 2025.