معرفی
Rochelle Ackerley is a Research Director (DR2) at the Centre for Research in Psychology and Neuroscience (CRPN, UMR 7077) at Aix-Marseille University, France. She has established herself as a leading expert in somatosensory neuroscience, with particular focus on affective touch and C-tactile afferents. Her research combines physiological, psychological, and neuroimaging approaches to investigate human touch perception and its emotional and social dimensions.
Dr. Ackerley earned her BSc (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Sheffield (2001), followed by a PhD in Physiology from the University of Bristol (2006), and a Habilitation to Supervise Research (HDR) from the University of Gothenburg (2015). Her academic journey includes postdoctoral positions at the University of Manchester, University of Gothenburg, and Aix-Marseille University.
Her research interests center on the neural mechanisms of touch perception, with particular emphasis on affective touch mediated by C-tactile afferents. She investigates how different aspects of touch contribute to social interactions, emotional processing, and multisensory integration. Her work spans from basic neurophysiology to applied research in haptics and neuroprosthetics, examining how touch perception varies across skin sites, throughout the lifespan, and in different emotional contexts.
Dr. Ackerley's publication record shows consistent productivity with over 50 peer-reviewed articles, including 33 as first or last author. Her recent work (2023-2025) explores texture perception across body sites, the effects of skin moisturization on tactile sensitivity, and electronic skin technologies. Her research demonstrates how touch perception involves complex interactions between biomechanical properties of skin, neural coding mechanisms, and emotional processing.
- ERC Consolidator grant "ARTTOUCH" (2019-2023)
- ERC Proof-of-Concept grant "SOMATOSENSE" (2023-2024)
- ANR grant "UNTOUCH" (2023-2026)
- MSCA Fellowship (2015-2017)
- L'Oréal Research & Development funding (2019-2021)
Dr. Ackerley actively mentors the next generation of scientists, currently directing three PhD students and three post-doctoral researchers at Aix-Marseille University. She has organized significant scientific events including the Festival of Touch in Marseille (2023) with approximately 250 participants. She serves as President of the International Association for the Study of Affective Touch (IASAT) and Associate Editor for Royal Society Open Science, demonstrating her leadership in the field.
