Valéria Csépe - Biography#

Valéria Csépe got her degree in psychology at the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in 1976. She started to work as young researcher in the Institute of Psychology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS). Her most cited publications include works on electrophysiological correlates and animal model (benchmark study with high impact) of the pre-attentive processing of acoustic stimuli. She got her ‘university doctor’ title in 1981 and another one, equivalent to the recent PhD degree in Hungary, in 1992. She made her habilitation in 2001 and defended the DSc title at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2002.

In 1990 she started her research scholarship as Humboldt scholar at the University of Münster, using magneto-encephalography. After her return to Budapest she re-organized the human electrophysiological laboratory and started a new line of basic and clinical research in developmental cognitive neuroscience. In 2000 she established a new research group, the Developmental Psychophysiology.

Her recent research interest focuses on the brain activity correlates of higher level processing of speech and spatial cognition, both in real and virtual environment. She is distinguished professor of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology of RCNS-HAS. She is professor of cognitive psychology at the ELTE’s Department of Cognitive Psychology (established by her in 2005). She has and had many PhD students and post-docs working in her laboratory. She is head of the Cognitive Psychology PhD Program of the ELTE Doctoral School of Psychology and founding member of the Psycholinguistics and Neuroscience PhD Program of the Zagreb University.

She has more than 200 publications (majority in English) including journal articles, monographs, edited books, book chapters and conference papers. She is member of many national and international scientific organizations and editorial boards of scientific journals. She is member of the ICSU Committee on Strategic Planning and Research since 2012. She has been decorated with different awards for outstanding scientific achievement.

She is corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 2007. She was elected in 2008 and in 2011 for a second term as deputy secretary general becoming the first female chief executive officer of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.