The University of Bucharest, through ISDS, provides the rare opportunity for PhD students to focus their study and research on complex topics, through Interdisciplinary Research Training Groups (IRTG), which are formed and developed around research themes that require an interdisciplinary approach, involving at least three supervisors from distinct fields.
After the successful defense of their thesis, the enrolled students will obtain the doctoral title in the particular field they have been registered in, as well as a Certificate highlighting their interdisciplinary achievements, inside the IRTG. During their doctoral studies, students will be guided by their supervisor and by a committee including specialists from different fields of study.
Mind, Language, and Cognition
(Computer science, Linguistics, Sociology, Philosophy, Psychology)
Cognitive Science is defined as the interdisciplinary study of cognition in humans and animals – and lately, with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, also in machines. It is based on the fundamental acknowledgment that understanding the mind and understanding the brain are ultimately inseparable, and any pursuit to this effect should combine both these directions and should be interdisciplinary. This is one of the “hottest” gaps in science, addressing core questions of human cognition and consciousness, and these questions cannot be lucidly addressed without efforts from several sciences that are traditionally insular and more or less disconnected.
This line of research requires competencies and inputs from various fields: neurobiology can provide an understanding of how neurons communicate and form human neural circuits, cognitive psychology bridges the gap between biological structures and psychological manifestations such as cognitions, behaviors, and thoughts, linguistics adds knowledge on how natural language is comprehended and produced, mathematics and computer science model and design artificial systems that recognize and generate new language, by emulating human language, while philosophy wraps it all up, bringing in deep thought and a strong tradition of discussing these aspects of human functioning.
The program will focus on topics such as natural language processing, artificial learning, machine learning, AI, computational design, language acquisition as a cognitive process, cognitive states and their linguistic expressions, polysemy and cognitive phases, principles of cognitive grammars, behavior modeling & behavior dynamics, group and individual cognitive biases, cognitive flexibility and language, social network modeling, emotion dynamics, social cognition.
Prospective candidates are advised to choose their field of study and contact in advance one of the supervisor-members of the IRTG, from the list below:
- Dragoș Iliescu (Psychology) – iliescu@fpse.unibuc.ro– speaker for this IRTG
- Liviu Dinu (Computer Science) – ldinu@fmi.unibuc.ro
- Mircea Dumitru (Philosophy) – dumitru@unibuc.ro
- Laura Grünberg (Sociology) – grunberg@g.unibuc.ro
- Gabriel Hâncean (Sociology) – hancean@sas.unibuc.ro
- Emil Ionescu (Linguistics) – ionescu@litere.unibuc.ro
- Ioana Podină (Psychology) – podina@fpse.unibuc.ro
The admission contest will be organized in compliance with the ISDS Admission Methodology available here.
Complex Systems Disentanglement through Data Analysis
(Geography, Physics, Sociology)
A big challenge across many scientific disciplines is the understanding of the dynamics of very complex systems such as the human brain, the Earth, the global economy, the social system along its components (e.g. history, culture, politics).
A huge amount of experimental data reflecting the largely unknown dynamics of these systems was generated in the last years and a large part of it is available in open-access databases. At the same time, new data analyzing methods were proposed in the last years to understand the properties of the studied systems. One of the advantages provided by these methods is that they could be applied to any type of data, regardless of how they are derived (direct measurements, indirect methods, pols, etc.) and what system they are describing. This implies that these methods might have applications across many scientific disciplines, like, Geography, Geology, Economics, Sociology, Psychology, Mathematics, Physics. Consequently, the huge amount of experimental data available and the new analysis methods provides a tremendously scientific opportunity to investigate complex systems through interdisciplinary collaborations.
Prospective candidates are advised to choose their field of study and contact in advance one of the members of the IRTG from the list below:
- Gabriel Hâncean (Sociology) – hancean@sas.unibuc.ro– speaker for this IRTG
- Virgil Baran (Physics) – virbaran@yahoo.com
- Mihai Dima (Physics) – dima@unibuc.ro
- Daniel Peptănatu (Geography) – peptenatu@geo.unibuc.ro
- Cosima Rughiniș (Sociology) – rughinis@gmail.com
The admission contest will be organized in compliance with the ISDS Admission Methodology available here.
Natural Resources & Social-Ecological Systems
(Geology, Geography, History, Political Science)
Natural resources represent a fundamental factor in human society, influencing profoundly its evolution, history, economy, and spatial distribution. Since the dawn of humankind, natural resources have shaped the foundations of our society, drove the agricultural and industrial revolutions, and deeply controlled the development of all societies. Therefore, following the natural resources from prospection, exploration, exploitation, and use implies following the mainlines for each societal history, economy, military might, politics, technological evolution, not only in the past and present but for their future as well. Hence, the approach to them as a key variable in human history and social systems is by definition interdisciplinary.
The project proposes advanced interdisciplinary studies covering a wide range starting from Earth Sciences (Geology and Geography) and Life Sciences (Environmental and Evolution sciences), to History, Economics and Political and Administrative sciences, as key fields for understanding complex processes shaping the human society in the past, present and future. Societal trends and threats as complex processes in economy, politics, military sciences, and sociology can be understood profoundly only through complex, interdisciplinary studies in these fields.
The group addresses the fundaments of human society in geological, geographical, environmental, evolutionary, economic, political, and social terms and sciences. In this way, the Ph.D. students will gain unique and sound interdisciplinary research experience.
Prospective candidates are advised to choose their field of study and contact in advance one of the members of the IRTG from the list below:
- Dragoș Paul Aligică (Political Science)- paligica@yahoo.com– speaker for this IRTG
- Daniel Constantin Diaconu (Geography)-diaconu@geo.unibuc.ro
- Cristian Constantin Drăghici (Geography)-draghici@geo.unibuc.ro
- Bogdan Murgescu (History)- murgescu@istorie.unibuc.ro
- Radu-Daniel Pintilii (Geography)-pintilii@geo.unibuc.ro
- Mihai Emilian Popa (Geology)-popa@unibuc.ro
The admission contest will be organized in compliance with the ISDS Admission Methodology available here.
