Francesco Pavani

• 2000   Ph.D. in Psychology, University of Bologna. Supervisor: Prof. Elisabetta Làdavas
• 1998   Honory Research Fellow, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London. Supervisor: Prof. Jon Driver
• 1995   Master equivalent degree (Laurea Magistrale) in Psychology, University of Bologna.
• 1994   Visitor Scholar at the Center for Neural Engineering, Brain Simulation Laboratory, University of Southern California, Los Angeles (USA). Supervisor: Prof. Micheal A. Arbib

2017 - present  Professor of Experimental Psychology (Professore I fascia, ssd M-PSI/01), Dipartimento di Psicologia e Scienze Cognitive, Università di Trento (from 01/10/2017).

2016 - present  Associate member and double affiliation professor (professore con doppia appartenenza) at the Centre de Recherche en Neuroscience de Lyon (CRNL, France), Integrative, Multisensory, Perception, Action, Cognition Team (ImpAct), promoted by INSERM (U1028), CNRS (UMR5292), Université Claude Bernard (Lyon 1) and Lyon Civil Hospital (HCL). (from 01/10/16 until 2026)

2005 - present  Certified Psychologist (listed in the Albo degli Psicologi della Provincia di Trento, from 22/02/2006, ID 438).

2005 - 2017      Associate Professor of Experimental Psychology (Professore II fascia, ssd M-PSI/01), Faculty of Cognitive Science, Università di Trento (from 12/09/2005 to 30/09/2017)

2004 - 2005      Lecturer of Experimental Psychology (Ricercatore, ssd M-PSI/01), Faculty of Cognitive Science, Università di Trento (from 01/01/2004 to 11/09/2005)

2002 - 2004      Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Cognitive Science Laboratory, University of Trento. Supervisor: Prof. Umberto Castiello (from 01/12/2002 to 31/12/2003)

2000 - 2002      Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, United Kingdom. Supervisor: Prof. Jon Driver (from 01/11/2000 to 31/10/2002)

Since the beginning of my training as a scientist and throughout my career, my research interests have been focused on multisensory aspects of perception and attention, in both typical and atypical populations. Atypical populations include adults and children with hearing loss, and adults who suffered from brain-damage. In my research I combine methods from human psychophysics, neuropsychology and neuroimaging to investigate the cognitive architecture of multisensory perception, attention and language in humans, as well as their neural correlates. 

Current research areas include the study of: 

• multisensory contributions to language processing
• multisensory and auditory space perception
• multisensory mechanisms of selective attention
• functional and neural plasticity in deaf individuals and in cochlear implant users

At the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, I coordinate a productive and international research group denominated Cognition Across the Senses (CAtS). The research group includes post-doctoral fellows, PhD students, Master and Bachelor students, and internship fellows. CAtS pursues three purposes in parallel: (1) basic and translational research; (2) education for students enrolled in psychology programs and for young scientists at the beginning of their career; (3) communication of cognitive neuroscience results to society. For a full description of CAtS see: http://r.unitn.it/en/cimec/cats.

• Member of the Italian Psychology Association (AIP, Sezione di Psicologia Sperimentale)
• Member of the Italian professional association of Psychologists (Albo degli Psicologi della Provincia di Trento, ID 438)

• Giulio Tarra Award “Ricerche e studi sulla sordità” Pio Istituto dei Sordi di Milano, 2019
• Prix Médisite en Neurosciences - Fondation de France, 2016 (to Alessandro Farné and Francesco Pavani)
• Chaire CIC-Cerveau et Santé Mentale, Fondation Neurodis, 2015 (3 months, Lyon, France)
• Travel fellowship, EuroConference on Cognitive and Neural Bases of Spatial Neglect, 2000 
• Premio giovani ricercatori, Italian Association of Psychology, 1997

Keynote lectures

• Associazione Italiana di Psicologia (Sezione di Psicologia Sperimentale, Milano (Italy), 18/09/19
• 4° Convegno Nazionale LIS, Roma (Italy), 11/11/18
• CLASTA (Communication and Language Acquisition Studies in Typical and Atypical populations). Annual Conference, Bologna (Italy), 17/05/2014
• Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition (16th Journée Scientifique), Montreal (Canada), 30-31/03/2007.

Presentation in symposia (invited)

• “Sensing beyond deafness”, Université de Grenoble (France), 29/06/2015
• Mini-Symposium, Society for Neuroscience, San Diego (USA), 13/11/2013
• “The listening brain”, Centro Studi e Ricerche Amplifon, Milano (Italia), 24-25/11/2011.
• Giornate di Neuropsicologia dello Sviluppo, Simposio “Plasticità, sviluppo, ambiente”. Bressanone (Italy), 21-23/01/2010
• Annual Autumn School in Cognitive Neuroscience, Oxford (UK), 02/10/2008
• “Shadow/Illumination”, European Conference of Visual Perception (29th Meeting), St.Petersburg (Russia), 25/08/2006.
• European Societies of Neuropsychology (2nd Meeting), Toulouse (France), 20/10/2006.
• European Workshop on Cognitive Neuropsychology (19th Meeting), Bressanone (Italy), 21-26/01/2001.
• Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (7th Meeting), Graduate Student Symposium, Washington DC (USA), 11-13/04/1999.

Main academic roles

2021 - present Vice-Director of the Center for Mind Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento (from 02/12/22)

2021 - present  University of Trento Rector’s delegate (Rector Flavio Deflorian) for coordinating PhD programs at the University level (from 22/04/2021)

2013 - 2019    Head of the PhD School in Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Center for Mind Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento (from 04/03/13 to present; second mandate)

2006 - present    Member of the PhD School in Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Center for Mind Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento (from 01/05/06 to present)

2011 - 2013       University of Trento Rector’s delegate for coordinating undergraduate and graduate recruiting (from 19/01/2011 to 31/03/2013)

2011 – 2013       University of Trento Rector’s delegate in the commission for High Apprenticeship of the Autonomous Province of Trento [Rappresentante per l'Università di Trento nella commissione per l'Alta Formazione Professionale della PAT] (from 19/08/2011 to 31/03/2013)

2004 - 2006       Member of the PhD School in Cognitive Sciences and Education, Dep. of Cognitive Sciences and Education, University of Trento (from 14/01/2004 to 30/04/06)

2004 - 2011       Faculty of Cognitive Science Director’s delegate for the recruitment of new bachelor and master students

2006                 Examiner in the University of Trento Commission for the attribution of internal scientific grants

2003                 Member of the Departmental group for the development and coordination of the Experimental Psychology Laboratories, Department of Cognitive Sciences and Education, Università di Trento.