Idan Caspi is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Language Sciences (ILS) at Utrecht University, specializing in the formal structure of human language (syntax) and its cognitive interfaces. He is the recipient of an NWO PhDs in the Humanities grant for his project On the Linguistic Compass of Geographical Names, supervised by Prof. Dr. Norbert Corver, Dr. Marijke de Belder, and Dr. Joost Zwarts. This project investigates the cognitive interface between geographical knowledge and knowledge of language through the study of toponyms (place names).

Before joining ILS, Idan completed a BA in Linguistics at Tel Aviv University, focusing on theoretical linguistics and psycholinguistics, and a Research Master’s in Linguistics at Utrecht University with the thesis Decomposing Manner Modifiers. 

His broader research interests include the syntax–pragmatics interface (encoding speech-acts; speaker–addressee relations), linearization in human language, the architecture/organization of the language faculty (lexicon, narrow syntax, LF, PF), and syntactic parsing, among others. Within Utrecht University, Idan also serves as a co-organizer of the Syntax Interface Lectures.