Project description DEENESFRITPL The language of our brains Language sciences are moving away from individually-administered protocols towards the characterisation of how spoken language is jointly used by two or more talkers as a shared set of resources for interacting with each other. The EU-funded COBRA project will train the next generation of researchers to accurately characterise and model the linguistic and cognitive brain mechanisms that allow conversation to unfold in both human-human and human-machine interactions. The first challenge will be to determine how alignment and prediction may both rely on and contribute to setting up brain-to-brain coupling relationships. The second will relate to the development of computational models of alignment and prediction for more socially-acceptable text-to-speech synthesisers, human-machine dialogue systems, and social robots. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective COBRA aims to train the next generation of researchers to accurately characterize and model the linguistic, cognitive and brain mechanisms deployed by human speakers in conversational interactions with human interlocutors as well as artificial dialog systems. It relies on a cross-sectoral international network of 11 world-level academic research centers and 4 non-academic partners with 3 fast-developing SMEs and 1 world-level company. The partners' unique combined expertise and high complementarity will allow COBRA to offer 15 ESRs an excellent training programme as well as strong exposure to the non-academic sector in the emerging field of conversational brains. Training will cover scientific and technical skills, from the joint monitoring of brain and physiological activities in two or more people talking to each other to making multi-language databases, resources and findings available in open access, as well as transferable skills. The ESRs will conduct experimental and corpus studies on the alignment and prediction processes that make conversation between people both easy and fluent, across a large variety of communicational settings and in different languages, to better understand how these processes contribute to setting up brain-to-brain coupling relationships. Collaborative work with non-academic partners will foster the development of more effective and socially acceptable text-to-speech synthesizers, artificial dialogue systems, and social humanoid robots with high-level conversational skills. The project will open new career perspectives for ESRs with interdisciplinary training in language sciences, neuroscience and dialog systems on a very fast-growing digital market. COBRA’s training programme will also have major societal implications as it will concern aspects of the European citizens’ everyday life, from spoken interactions with machines to conversing in a non-native language. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesneurobiologynatural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdatabasesengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsautonomous robots Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.1. - Fostering new skills by means of excellent initial training of researchers Topic(s) MSCA-ITN-2019 - Innovative Training Networks Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-ITN-2019 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-ITN - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Coordinator UNIVERSITE D'AIX MARSEILLE Net EU contribution € 549 604,08 Address Boulevard charles livon 58 le pharo 13284 Marseille France See on map Region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Bouches-du-Rhône Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Participants (8) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH United Kingdom Net EU contribution € 606 345,12 Address Old college, south bridge EH8 9YL Edinburgh See on map Region Scotland Eastern Scotland Edinburgh Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA Italy Net EU contribution € 522 999,36 Address Via morego 30 16163 Genova See on map Region Nord-Ovest Liguria Genova Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 USTAV INFORMATIKY SLOVENSKEJ AKADEMIE VIED, VEREJNA VYSKUMNA INSTITUCIA Slovakia Net EU contribution € 466 493,76 Address Dubravska cesta 9 845 07 Bratislava See on map Region Slovensko Bratislavský kraj Bratislavský kraj Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN Belgium Net EU contribution € 512 640,00 Address Place de l universite 1 1348 Louvain la neuve See on map Region Région wallonne Prov. Brabant Wallon Arr. Nivelles Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 FREIE UNIVERSITAET BERLIN Germany Net EU contribution € 252 788,40 Address Kaiserswerther strasse 16-18 14195 Berlin See on map Region Berlin Berlin Berlin Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITAET ZU BERLIN Germany Net EU contribution € 252 788,40 Address Unter den linden 6 10117 Berlin See on map Region Berlin Berlin Berlin Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 FURHAT ROBOTICS AB Sweden Net EU contribution € 563 965,92 Address Lindstedtsvagen 24, tr 5 114 28 Stockholm See on map SME The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed. Yes Region Östra Sverige Stockholm Stockholms län Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 READSPEAKER BV Netherlands Net EU contribution € 281 982,96 Address Dolderseweg 2a 3712 BP Huis ter heide See on map SME The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed. Yes Region West-Nederland Utrecht Utrecht Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00