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Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science

Postgraduate Studies at MACCS

Research at MACCS focuses on the production and comprehension of normal and disordered spoken and written language (see the Language Project), modeling the perception of rapidly changing visual displays (see the Visual Cognition Project) and the modeling of the nature of delusions in schizophrenia and other disorders including e.g. Capgras, Cotard, Fregoli, and Mirror delusions (see the Belief Formation Project).

Why study at MACCS?

MACCS occupies premises on the top floor of C5C "The Research Hub". MACCS PhD students in their first couple of years work in an open-plan environment which allows new students get to know other students quickly, and get advice from the ones who have been at MACCS for a while. As students get closer to writing up they can move to a shared office, which provides the necessary solitude. All PhD students are offered their choice of either a Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Windows XP workstation.

MACCS PhD students have access to the infrastructure facilities of both MACCS and SHLRC including:

  • High performance computational cluster
  • Whole-head MEG system & Child MEG system
  • ERP-FRP Laboratory
  • Eyelink II & 1000 eye-tracking systems
  • Language acquisition laboratory
  • Speech and hearing clinics
  • Speech and hearing laboratory including facilities for conducting experiments in speech physiology (speech movement/kinematics, electropalatography, oral and nasal airflow), speech acoustics, speech perception and experimental psychology (equipped with DMDX, PsyScript and other experimental display software).
  • Fully-equipped sound treated recording studio
  • The Developmental Cognitive Neuropsychology Research Unit, an outpost of MACCS located at the New Children's Hospital which provides research access to children with a variety of developmental disorders.

The Developmental Cognitive Neuropsychology Research Unit, an outpost of MACCS located at the New Children's Hospital which provides research access to children with a variety of developmental disorders.

MACCS hosts conferences in areas relevant to Cognitive Science. These conferences are discussion-oriented meetings on topics relevant to the work of the Centre, with local and overseas authorities presenting papers for discussion and allowing Centre students to interact with authorities in their field of research.

MACCS PhD students have the opportunity to publish in a new book series with the title Macquarie Monographs in Cognitive Science which is published by Psychology Press, the world's leading publisher of books in psychology and cognitive science.

Administrative Staff: Please contact with any questions

Academic staff: List of eligible supervisors

If you are interested in applying to MACCS, you should discuss a research proposal with one of these staff members before completing your application.

Name Position
Professor Anne Castles Director
Associate Professor Veronika Coltheart Associate Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Professor Stephen Crain Honorary Associate
Associate Professor Sachiko Kinoshita Associate Professor, Psychology
Associate Professor Robyn Langdon ARC Future Fellow
Associate Professor Genevieve McArthur ARC Australian Research Fellow
Professor Lyndsey Nickels Professor of Cognitive Science & Director of IDEALAB (MQ)
Associate Professor Amanda Barnier ARC Australian Research Fellow
Associate Professor Rosalind Thornton Associate Professor, Linguistics
Dr Matthew Finkbeiner Research Fellow
Associate Professor Greg Savage Research Associate Professor (CORE)
Associate Professor Mark Williams Queen Elizabeth II (ARC) Research Fellow
Dr Anina Rich ARC Research Fellow
Dr Jon Brock Research Fellow
Associate Professor Blake Johnson Research Senior Lecturer (CORE)
Professor John Sutton Deputy Director
Dr Kati Renvall Postdoctoral Research Fellow

[Complete List]