Language and the Brain Symposium
| 3–4 September 2026 | Berlin | Dates & Details |
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This two-day symposium engages an interdisciplinary audience to reflect on advances in brain-based language research. It is held in memoriam of Prof. Dr. Dr. Friedemann Pulvermüller, whose contributions to the study of language, the brain, and human cognition have significantly shaped the field, and have inspired generations of colleagues and students to approach complex questions of cognition from a neuromechanistic perspective. The symposium will also serve as a closing dissemination of the ERC Advanced Grant project “Material Constraints Enabling Human Cognition”. We will present key results from the project, including insights from brain-constrained neural network simulations of language in the brain. Finally, the symposium will mark the conclusion of the Neurolinguistics research group at Freie Universität Berlin. We are happy to welcome all interested researchers for two days of discussion and fruitful exchange. Focal topics of the symposium are:
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Symposium days: 03.09. - 04.09.2026 Poster submission deadline: 15.07.2026 Registration deadline: 03.08.2026 Link to poster submission: Click here Link to registration: Click here Link to EEG/MEG analysis workshop registration: Click here Participation in the symposium is free. |
Confirmed Speakers
- Marcelo Berthier – University of Málaga, Spain
- Thomas Picht – Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
- Luciano Fadiga – Italian Institute of Technology, Italy
- Michael Pauen – Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
- Yury Shtyrov – Aarhus University, Denmark
- Olaf Hauk – MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, UK
- Günther Palm – University of Ulm, Germany
- Rachel Moseley – University of Cambridge, UK
- Sonja A. Kotz – Maastricht University, Netherlands
- Almut Schüz – Max-Planck-Institut für biologische Kybernetik, Germany
- Kristof Strijkers – Aix-Marseille University, France
- Guillaume Thierry – University of Bangor, UK & Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland
- Véronique Boulenger – Université Lyon 2, France
We will continue to update the list of invited speakers.
Satellite Workshop: EEG/MEG analysis in MNE-Python
Dr Olaf Hauk (University of Cambridge) will deliver a 3 × 2-hour workshop on EEG/MEG data analysis using the open-source software MNE-Python on 2 September 2026.
The sessions will cover key topics including preprocessing (filtering and artefact correction), source estimation, time–frequency analysis, and functional connectivity. Basic knowledge of Python coding is helpful but not required.
Call for posters
We welcome contributions focusing on the topics of the symposium. We explicitly welcome poster presentations reporting research at any stage (e.g. registered reports).
Abstracts should be up to 300 words long and should be submitted through the submission form (here) by July 15, 2026.
Posters are recommended to use the format A0, vertical.
Program
Please note that the program is tentative and will be updated at a later point in time
| Start | End | Thu, 03.09. | Fr, 04.09. |
| 09:00 | 09:30 | Registration | |
| 09:30 | 10:00 | Registration | |
| 10:00 | 10:30 | Introduction | Coffee + Poster Session |
| 10:30 | 11:00 | Talk | Talk |
| 11:00 | 11:30 | Talk | Talk |
| 11:30 | 12:00 | Talk | Coffee Break + Poster Session |
| 12:00 | 12:30 | Lunch | Talk |
| 12:30 | 13:00 | Lunch | Talk |
| 13:00 | 13:30 | Talk | Lunch |
| 13:30 | 14:00 | Talk | Lunch |
| 14:00 | 14:30 | Coffee Break + Poster Session | Talk |
| 14:30 | 15:00 | Coffee Break + Poster Session | Talk |
| 15:00 | 15:30 | Talk | Coffee Break + Poster Session |
| 15:30 | 16:00 | Talk | Talk |
| 16:00 | 16:30 | Coffee Break + Poster Session | Talk |
| 16:30 | 17:00 | Talk | Coffee Break + Pulvermüller Award |
| 17:00 | 17:30 | Talk | Closing Session |
Organization
Scientific Committee
Fynn Dobler
Tally Miller
Rosario Tomasello
Administrative Committee
Verena Arndt
Kostas Kosmas
Website
Tonja Scheidler
Funding
