Born in Würzburg, Germany;

Studies in Psychology at University of Würzburg, Humboldt University Berlin & University of Bonn, Germany;

Studies in Computer Science, Bonn;

PhD in Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany (2005);

Research Fellow, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, ICN & Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, University College London, UCL, London, UK (2004);

Senior Research Fellow, ICN & Institute of Neurology, UCL (2006);

Associate Professor & Principal Investigator, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands (2010);

Professor of Medicine (Neuroscience), Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway (2016);

Director, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, NTNU (2017);

Director, Department of Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany (2018);

Honorary Professor of Psychology (Learning and Memory), Leipzig University, Germany (2019);

Managing Director, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany (2020–2023).

Honorary Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning and Memory, TU Dresden, Germany (2023)

Vice President of the Max Planck Society (2023–)