Massimiliano (Max) Garagnani conducts research in the field of computational cognitive neuroscience, with a particular focus on the development of biologically realistic neural models for the study of the brain mechanisms underlying language, attention, memory, and spontaneous decision-making processes.
Education
He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Bologna in 1994, graduating with highest honours. He earned a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Durham (UK) in 1999 and a second PhD in Computational Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Cambridge in 2009. He also completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education at Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2023.
Academic Career
After a period as a Research Fellow at the Open University (UK), he carried out research at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley and at the UK Medical Research Council’s "Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit" in Cambridge. He was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Plymouth and a Visiting Researcher at Freie Universität Berlin. From 2016, he held teaching positions at Goldsmiths, University of London, first as Lecturer and subsequently as Senior Lecturer. Since 2025, he has been Associate Professor at the University of Bologna.
Teaching Activities
Prof. Garagnani has carried out extensive teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, contributing to the design and coordination of bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes. He is co-founder and co-director of the MSc in Computational Cognitive Neuroscience at Goldsmiths, University of London, and has designed and coordinated the course “Modelling Cognitive Functions”. He has taught core courses in programming, problem solving, and computational modelling, and has supervised numerous master’s and doctoral theses.
Scientific Activity
He is the author of numerous publications in leading international journals in the fields of cognitive neuroscience, neural modelling, and artificial intelligence. He has participated in and coordinated research projects funded by national and international agencies, including the EPSRC, BBSRC, and the UK Medical Research Council. He maintains ongoing collaborations with European and international research groups and serves as a reviewer for numerous scientific journals.
Institutional Activities and Academic Appointments
He has held institutional and scientific roles at the international level, including serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the "Organization for Computational Neurosciences" and as Associate Editor of scientific journals in the fields of cognitive computation and neuroscience. He acts as an evaluator for national and international research funding bodies and is a member of scientific committees and advisory boards.
Membership of Scientific and Editorial Committees
Prof. Garagnani serves as Associate Editor and Review Editor for several international journals and regularly performs peer review for journals in neuroscience, psychology, and computational sciences. He is a member of international scientific societies, including the Organization for Computational Neurosciences, the Experimental Psychology Society, and the American Psychological Association.
Awards and Honours
Over the course of his career, he has received numerous academic awards and honors, including prizes for scientific excellence and significant contributions to the fields of artificial intelligence and cognitive neuroscience, as well as competitive research grants and fellowships. In 2025, he was elected a full member of Sigma Xi – The Scientific Research Honor Society.
Other Activities
He is frequently invited as a speaker at international conferences and seminars and actively participates in scientific debate on the relationship between neural models, cognition, and artificial intelligence, contributing to the interdisciplinary development of the field.
