Dr. Christoph Fraenz is a researcher at the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IFADO) in Dortmund, Germany, where he works within the Psychology and Neurosciences department in the Neuroimaging and interindividual differences research group under Prof. Dr. Michael Nitsche. His research focuses on the neural basis of interindividual differences in cognitive functions and personality, utilizing a multimodal approach combining psychometrics, fMRI, DTI and EEG methodologies. Dr. Fraenz's work primarily investigates how variations in brain structure and function relate to individual differences in intelligence, personality traits, and cognitive abilities across the human population. Dr. Fraenz completed his academic training with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Westfälische Wilhelms University of Münster (2009-2012), followed by a Master's degree in Psychology from Ruhr University Bochum (2012-2015). He earned his PhD from the Department of Biopsychology at Ruhr University Bochum (2015-2019) and subsequently worked as a Research Associate there (2019-2020) before joining IFADO. His publication record demonstrates a strong focus on understanding the relationship between brain structure/function and cognitive abilities, with recent work particularly examining white matter microstructure, neurite density imaging, functional connectivity patterns, and genetic correlates of brain organization. His research often employs polygenic scoring approaches to understand how genetic factors contribute to individual differences in cognition. Dr. Fraenz has published extensively in high-impact neuroscience journals including Cerebral Cortex, Nature Communications, NeuroImage, and Human Brain Mapping, with numerous collaborative publications featuring researchers like Erhan Genç, Caroline Schlüter, and Sebastian Ocklenburg.




