Teaching

My academic teaching activities at the Faculty of Medicine of the UKE and the Faculty of Psychology of Hamburg University focus on:

  • Cognitive and systems neuroscience
  • Physiology of sensory and motor systems, plasticity, learning and memory
  • Foundations of perception, consciousness and action

I am involved in coordinating the integrated curriculum (iMed) for medical undergraduate students at the UKE. Furthermore, I am involved in coordinating graduate training activities for PhD students and MD/PhD students in neuroscience, offered by the Hamburg Brain School (HBS).  

In addition to my academic classes, I regularly teach interdisciplinary courses, summer schools and workshops in cognitive science, neuroscience and philosophy of mind together with colleagues from other disciplines. 

Teaching Materials

I have published two eBooks (in German) that together provide a basic introductory course to systems neuroscience. Hence, I call them „Brain Primer“. Furthermore, I have edited the German edition of one of my favourite neuroscience textbooks, „Neuroscience: exploring the brain“ by Bear, Conners and Paradiso, which is published by Springer Spektrum, Heidelberg. Further information on these books can be found below.

Brain Primer: Sehen – vom Auge zum Gehirn
E-Book in German

Latest edition:

  • iBook: Version 2.0, January 2016, ISBN: 978-3-00-047593-1
  • EPub: Version 3.0, December 2021, ISBN: 978-3-00-047593-1

This E-Book is a textbook providing the reader with an introduction to the neurophysiology of the visual system. Topics covered by the book include optics of the eye, retinal structure and processing, visual pathways and visual cortex. The E-Book version available at the iBooks Store is enhanced with interactive graphics, self-quizzes and study cards. The book is also available in EPub format from other distributors like Amazon, Thalia, bol.de, ebook.de, kobo.com. It can be read on Mac, PC, tablets and smartphones using E-Book readers like iBooks, Adobe Digital Editions, Kindle or Tolino.

Brain Primer: Nervenzellen, Sinne und Gedächtnis
E-Book in German

Latest edition:

  • EPub: Version 4.0, December 2021, ISBN: 978-3-00-052289-5

This E-Book is written in a „lecture notes“ style and meant to be used as a companion to introductory lectures on neurophysiology and sensory systems. Topics covered include cellular neurophysiology, physiology of the somatosensory, olfactory, gustatory, auditory and vestibular system, as well as introductions to cortical integration and learning and memory. The book is available in EPub format from the iBooks Store and from other distributors like Amazon, Thalia, bol.de, ebook.de, kobo.com. It can be read on Mac, PC, tablets and smartphones using E-Book readers like iBooks, Adobe Digital Editions, Kindle or Tolino.

German Edition of Bear, Connors, Paradiso „Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain“ 
E-Book in German

I have edited the German edition of one of my favourite neuroscience textbooks which has been published by Springer Spektrum, Heidelberg:

MF Bear, BW Connors, MA Paradiso: Neurowissenschaften. Ein grundlegendes Lehrbuch für Biologie, Medizin und Psychologie. Deutsche Auflage herausgegeben von Andreas K. Engel. 4. Auflage 2018. Springer Spektrum Heidelberg

Summer Schools and Workshops

Tutorial classes, summer schools and workshops I have tought include the following:

  • October 1996 – Tutorial Class „Neurobiologische Aspekte von repräsentationalen Zuständen“. Autumn School Cognitive Science, University Saarbrücken (with Thomas Metzinger, Mainz)
  • July/August 1997 – Tutorial Class „Dynamik neuronaler Netze – Physiologie und Theorie“. Summer School of Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Marienau (with Peter König, Osnabrück)
  • August/September 1998 – Tutorial Class „Repräsentation und Bewusstsein – philosophische Konzepte und neuronale Grundlagen“. Summer School of Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, St. Johann, Italy (with Thomas Metzinger, Mainz, and Wolf Singer, Frankfurt)
  • June 2000 – Tutorial Class „Constraining Consciousness: Towards a Systematic Catalogue of Explananda“, organized as part of the 4th Conference of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC), Brüssel, Belgium (with Thomas Metzinger, Mainz)
  • September 2000 – Tutorial Class „Einführung in die Kognitive Neurowissenschaft“. Summer School of Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, St. Johann, Italy (with Peter König, Osnabrück, and Rainer Goebel, Maastricht)
  • August/September 2003 – Tutorial Class „Kognition und Handlung – neuronale Mechanismen der Welterzeugung“. Summer School of Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, St. Johann, Italy (with Peter König, Osnabrück, and Rainer Goebel, Maastricht)
  • June 2005 – 3rd European Neuro-IT and Neuroengineering School „Neuroengineering of Cognitive Functions“. Future Centre of the Telekom Italia, Venice, Italy (with Alois Knoll, Munich, Guy Orban, Leuven, Peter König, Osnabrück, Gulio Sandini, Genua, and Marc de Kamps, Munich)
  • August/September 2006 – Tutorial Course “Kognition in Mensch und Maschine”. Summer School of Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, St. Johann, Italy (with Alois Knoll, Munich) 
  • March 2007 – Module „Consciousness“, European Diploma in Cognitive and Brain Sciences (EDCBS). Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies, Delmenhorst, Germany (with Kevin O‘Regan, Paris, Kai Vogeley, Köln, and Rainer Goebel, Maastricht)
  • Juli 2007 – 5th European Neuro-IT and Neuroengineering School „Cognition and Action“. Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies, Delmenhorst, Germany (with Alois Knoll, Munich and Rolf Pfeifer, Zurich)
  • September 2007 – Summer School of Sino-German Graduate Training Group „Cinacs“. Tsinghua University, Beijing, China (with Jianwei Zhang, Hamburg, and others) 
  • September 2009 – Summer School of Sino-German Graduate Training Group Cinacs. Tsinghua University, Beijing, China (with Jianwei Zhang, Hamburg, and others) 
  • September 2011 – eSMCs Summer School „The future of the embodied mind“. San Sebastian, Spain (with Ezequiel di Paolo, San Sebastian, and others)
  • September 2012 – BCBT/eSMCs Summer School “Sensory-Motor Contingencies in perception, cognition and action”. Barcelona, Spain (with Paul Verschure, Barcelona, and others)
  • September 2013 – Summer School of Sino-German Graduate Training Group Cinacs. Tsinghua University, Beijing, China (with Jianwei Zhang, Hamburg, and others)
  • September 2013 – eSMCs Summer School „Embodiment and morphological computation”. Zurich, Switzerland (with Rolf Pfeifer and others)
  • September 2014 – Tutorial Class „Paradigmenwechsel in der Kognitionswissenschaft: von Repräsentationen zu handlungsorientierten Ansätzen“. Summer School of Schweizerische Studienstiftung (with Peter König, Osnabrück, and Kevin O’Regan, Paris) 
  • October 2015 – socSMCs Autumn School „The sensorimotor foundations of social cognition“. Boltenhagen, Germany (with Peter König, Paul Verschure, Danica Kragic and others)
  • September 2016 – BCBT/socSMCs Summer School „Socializing sensorimotor contingencies”. Barcelona, Spain (with Paul Verschure, Barcelona, and others)
  • September 2017 – Tutorial Class „Sensomotorische Grundlagen sozialer Kognition – neue Einblicke in soziales Verhalten“. Summer School of Schweizerische Studienstiftung (with Peter König, Osnabrück)
  • September 2018 – socSMCs/EUCognition Summit “Social cognition in humans and robots” . Summer school of the socSMCs project (with Paul Verschure, Peter König and others)
  • June 2024 – International Workshop „Advancing Brain Theory: Networks – Multi-Timescale Dynamics – Embodiment“. Workshop of the euSNN project