About the Centre for Cognitive Science

At the Centre of Cognitive Science we work towards a computational-representational understanding of human perception, cognition, and action through a tight integration of artificial intelligence and cognitive science. TU Darmstadt is one of the preeminent research universities in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotics in Germany and Europe. We develop computational and algorithmic solutions to challenging AI- and ML-problems and we also employ insight from AI and ML to psychology, movement science, and neuroscience. Furthermore, we believe that cognitive science can help to drastically improve our future interaction with and explainability of artificial intelligence.

July 9, 2026 – The Network for Cognitive Science and Psychology Darmstadt („Netzwerk der Kognitionswissenschaft und Psychologie Darmstadt“) was officially founded as a new non-profit association dedicated to strengthening collaboration and exchange among students, alumni, and researchers. Nineteen founding members gathered for the inaugural meeting, unanimously approved the establishment of the association, and elected its first Executive Board. Learn more

June 29, 2026 – Congratulations! Fabian Kessler successfully defended his dissertation “Probabilistic Path Planning as a Computational Model of Human Navigation under Uncertainty”. The thesis was supervised by Prof. Constantin Rothkopf, Ph.D. and Prof. Nanthia Suthana, Ph.D. Learn more

June 16-19, 2026 – The first official retreat of the TAM (The Adaptive Mind) Cluster of Excellence took place at Rauischholzhausen Castle near Marburg. Learn more

May 27, 2026 – Congratulations! Inga Ibs successfully defended her dissertation “Cognitive Strategies and Explanations for Sequential Decision-Making: A Task-Centric Approach”. The thesis was supervised by Prof. Constantin Rothkopf, Ph.D. and Prof. Dr. Ute Schmid. Learn more

March 9–10, 2026 – The official kickoff meeting of the TAM (The Adaptive Mind) Cluster of Excellence took place in Giessen. Learn more

January 1, 2026 – In 2026, CCS celebrates its 10th anniversary!
Have a look at our comprehensive Timeline, or review events and successes from past years in the Event Archive and News Archive. More to come …

January 1, 2026 – The Clusters of Excellence EXC 3066 ‘The Adaptive Mind’ (TAM) and EXC 3057 ‘Reasonable Artificial Intelligence’ (RAI) have begun their seven-year journey into cutting-edge research in the fields of cognitive science and artificial intelligence.

December 31, 2025 – The LOEWE Research Cluster WhiteBox, which was funded by the Hessian State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts over a period of five years, has been successfully completed.

December 12, 2025 – Smoky Mirrors Symposium: Self–Other Actions and Interactions in Real and Virtual Worlds. Interdisciplinary event @ TU Darmstadt in the context of Unite! bringing together research on human–human and human–machine interactions across both real and virtual environments. Learn more

November 28, 2025 – „Knowledge versus Opinion“. ProLOEWE visits the German National Academy of Sciences and presents simulation game on artificial intelligence, co-developed by WhiteBox. Learn more

October 2025 – „Zwei Wissenschaftler im Tiefenrausch“. ProLOEWE interview with WhiteBox speakers Constantin Rothkopf and Kristian Kersting. Learn more

October 23, 2025 – Congratulations! Claire Ott successfully defended her dissertation “Explaining Decisions: On Problem Solving and Analogical Reasoning in Human-Centered Explainable AI”. The thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr. Frank Jäkel and Prof. Dr. Kai-Uwe Kühnberger. Learn more

September 1–5, 2025 – The International Interdisciplinary Computational Cognitive Science Summer School (IICCSSS) 2025 was held from September 1–5 at the Centre for Cognitive Science in Darmstadt. Around 70 students attended. The program featured keynote talks, poster and paper sessions, lab tours, and a hands-on hackathon applying computational methods to real-world questions. Learn more

August 12, 2025 – „Die intelligente Täuschung – Über die Fähigkeiten Künstlicher Intelligenz“ (The Intelligent Deception: On the Capabilities of Artificial Intelligence) is the title of Frank Jäkel’s new book. This well accessible book provides a realistic assessment of AI capacities and explains why we systematically overestimate the capabilities of AI technologies. Learn more

July 23–25, 2025 – As part of the WhiteBox project, the Marketing and Human Resource Management working group organized a WebAI Hackathon. Teams of students used a new AI framework to develop creative web applications with integrated AI components in just three days. Learn more

July 10, 2025 – As part of the international conference AMAM/LokoAssist 2025, WhiteBox presented results of its work in the workshop “WhiteBox – Whitebox Modeling of Human Movement” on July 10. Learn more

May 25, 2025 – The ProLOEWE simulation game “Knowledge vs. Opinion: Artificial Intelligence” („Wissen vs. Meinung: Künstliche Intelligenz“) was honored at the Open Campus Day as part of the xchange Prize 2025 awarded by TU Darmstadt in the Knowledge Transfer & Science Communication category. Learn more

May 22, 2025 – A major success for Technical University of Darmstadt and the Centre for Cognitive Science: The Excellence Commission in the competition for the prestigious Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments selected the proposals ‘The Adaptive Mind’ (TAM) and ‘Reasonable Artificial Intelligence’ (RAI) from the fields of cognitive science and artificial intelligence for funding. Learn more

May 2025 – The Excellence Strategy is in final sprint. The decision on the funding of the Clusters of Excellence will be made in May 2025; the actual funding of the selected projects will then start on January 1, 2026 for a period of seven years. The preparation of the Hessian excellence applications has benefited greatly from the funding provided by the state of Hesse. Learn more

April 25, 2025 – A huge success for CogSci @ TU Darmstadt: CCS is part of the 10-year research program SCENE (Simons Foundation Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience) investigating how the brain is encoding affordances. Constantin Rothkopf represents TU Darmstadt as the only German institution in the international consortium and will head the “Human Team” within SCENE. The collaboration, which will officially begin July 1, will provide over 8 Mio USD per year across six teams of researchers. Learn more

April 14, 2025 – Congratulations! Mathias Schultheis successfully defended his dissertation “Inverse Reinforcement Learning for Human Decision-Making Under Uncertainty”. The thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr. Heinz Koeppl and Prof. Constantin A. Rothkopf, Ph.D. Learn more

April 11, 2025 – CCS took part in the Computer Science Easter Camp, where we engaged 30 fifth- and sixth-grade girls over two afternoons. Through interactive sessions on visual illusions, throwing experiments in virtual reality, and critical discussions on artificial intelligence, we encouraged curiosity and empowered them to think like scientists. Learn more

March 06, 2025 – Congratulations! Dominik Straub successfully defended his dissertation “Inverse normative modeling of continuous perception and action”. The thesis was supervised by Prof. Constantin A. Rothkopf, Ph.D., and Prof. Dr. Joan López-Moliner. Learn more

February 28, 2025 – Congratulations! Lisa Kempf (born Scherf) successfully defended her dissertation “Interactive Machine Learning”. The thesis was supervised by Dr.-Ing. Dorothea Koert, Prof. Iolanda Leite, Ph.D., and Prof. Dr. Georgia Chalvatzaki. Learn more

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