Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore is a leading academic in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, serving as Deputy Head of Department for Research and leader of the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Group. Her work focuses on adolescent brain development, social cognition, decision-making, and mental health. She holds Honorary Professorships at UCL and the University of the Witwatersrand. Blakemore completed her PhD at UCL, with postdoctoral research in France. She has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award and the Klaus J. Jacobs Prize. Her book Inventing Ourselves explores adolescent brain development and won multiple accolades. Her lab investigates social behavior, neuroimaging, and interventions targeting mental health in adolescents. Current projects include studies on social media effects, mindfulness training, and pandemic-related mental health. Collaborations span global institutions, emphasizing cross-cultural research and public engagement. Education: BA (Oxford), PhD (UCL) Affiliations: Newnham College Dining Fellow Key Contributions: Adolescent brain plasticity, social influence mechanisms, and mental health policy.
Matthew Lieberman is a Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), serving as Area Chair for Social and Affective Neuroscience. As a founder of social neuroscience, his research focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying real-world social interactions using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to study face-to-face communication and team dynamics. Education: Ph.D. from Harvard University Research Interests: Lieberman's work centers on making social neuroscience more socially relevant through his CEEing Model, which explains pre-reflective subjective construal in visual, semantic, and psychological domains. His lab investigates friendship foundations, ideological conflict resolution, worldview formation, and team performance optimization. He has recently expanded this framework to explore consciousness and subjectivity in neural correlates of conscious experience, bridging cognitive and affective neuroscience with social behavior. Publication Trends: His recent publications (2010-2022) demonstrate consistent advancement in social cognitive neuroscience, with increasing focus on neural synchrony during interactions, consciousness studies, and real-world applications. Key methodological innovations include fNIRS for naturalistic social paradigms and electrocorticography for precise neural sequencing. Thematic evolution shows progression from basic self/other processing to complex team dynamics and theoretical frameworks for consciousness. Laboratory: Lieberman directs the UCLA Social Cognitive Neuroscience (SCN) Lab, which pioneers the use of fNIRS in ecologically valid social settings. The lab examines neural mechanisms of social connection, conflict resolution, and collective intelligence through interdisciplinary approaches combining psychology, neuroscience, and computational modeling.
Dr. Eugene J Dawydiak is a Lecturer at the School of Psychology & Neuroscience , University of Glasgow. His research focuses on psycholinguistics, disgust sensitivity, and its relationship to social attitudes and mental health stigma. He actively supervises undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations exploring topics like trypophobia predictors and the impact of written academic feedback on student behavior. His work bridges cognitive science and interdisciplinary studies, with notable contributions to understanding how pathogen disgust influences societal stigma. Collaborative projects include analyzing student emotional responses to feedback mechanisms. Office hours and contact details are available via university portals. Key publications span 1998–2025, addressing topics from quantifier focus in discourse to modern educational feedback strategies. Research highlights include linking disgust psychology to mental health perceptions and refining methods for evaluating written academic feedback efficacy. Lab Group Approach: Dissertation supervision emphasizes collaborative research communities Methodology: Quantitative studies using online self-report measures Current Projects: Trypophobia severity predictors, stigma reduction through disgust sensitivity analysis
Marlijn Besten is a researcher at the University of Groningen, focusing on understanding mechanisms of depression vulnerability, prevention, and relapse. Her work integrates clinical psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and mindfulness-based interventions. She holds a PhD from the University of Groningen (2024) and has contributed to studies on therapeutic interventions, mood induction effects, and neural correlates of depression relapse. Research interests include cognitive and affective processes in depression, mindfulness techniques, and the role of self-referential processing and resting-state connectivity in predicting relapse. Her recent studies explore interventions like positive fantasizing and stress-induction to reduce perseverative cognition in remitted depressed individuals. Besten has received the NWA-Ideeëngenerator Prize and led a grant-funded project on spontaneous thought processes in depression vulnerability. Her work has been featured in journals like BMC Psychiatry and Journal of Psychiatric Research, with datasets available through Open Science Framework.
Dr. Jonas Kaplan is Associate Professor of Psychology at USC's Brain and Creativity Institute and Co-Director of the Dana & David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroimaging Center. He also serves as Associate Director for Mindfulness and Neuroimaging for the USC Center for Mindfulness Science. Education: PhD Cognitive Neuroscience - UCLA BS Psychology - University of Michigan Research uses fMRI to investigate neural correlates of self-referential processing, emotion regulation, social cognition, and narrative comprehension. Current projects examine neural representations of mixed emotions, autobiographical memory, and music-evoked nostalgia. Hosts the podcast FLOAT exploring intersections between neuroscience and creative processes with filmmakers, artists, and musicians. Recent publications investigate emotion-brain relationships across multiple domains including autobiographical narratives, music perception, and social cognition, using advanced multivariate pattern analysis techniques.
Eric Leshikar, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), serving as Program Chair for Brain and Cognitive Sciences. He holds academic roles including Program Chair and has affiliations with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on cognitive neuroscience, aging, memory, and social-emotional processing, utilizing fMRI techniques to explore self-referential encoding and memory formation. Leshikar’s work emphasizes the neural mechanisms underlying memory for impressions, particularly in aging populations. Education: PhD in Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2009) MA in Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2006) BS in Psychology and Communication, Abilene Christian University (2000) Research Interests: Dr. Leshikar investigates aging and memory, fMRI applications, social and emotional memory across the lifespan, and the cognitive neuroscience of aging. Key themes include self-referential processing, medial prefrontal cortex function, and memory enhancement strategies. Publications & Awards: He has published extensively on topics like the generation effect, self-reference effects, and transcranial stimulation. Notable awards include multiple HOPE Awards for teaching excellence and a Psychonomics Society Fellowship. His grants include funding from NSF and NIA to study memory improvement through brain stimulation. Advising & Grants: Leshikar mentors graduate and undergraduate students in research projects, such as interventions to improve memory in older adults. He co-leads grants exploring memory mediators and neural mechanisms, including a $893,852 IES grant on metacomprehension accuracy. Labs/Teams: He is part of the Center for Advanced Brain Imaging and collaborates with institutions like Brandeis University and Georgia Tech on cognitive aging projects.
Crawford Spence is a Professor of Accounting at King’s College London and Co-Director of the FinWork Futures Research Centre. He holds a PhD from the University of St Andrews (2005) and has held academic positions at the University of Warwick, Concordia University (Canada), and the UAE University. His research spans corporate accountability, tax practices, professional elites, and the impact of technology on financial professions. He serves on editorial boards for journals like Accounting, Organizations and Society and Contemporary Accounting Research . Research interests include the sociology of financial markets, audit practices in digital eras, and the intersection of technology with professional expertise. His recent work explores algorithmic cultures, blockchain’s challenges to auditing, and inertia in financial markets, as detailed in his co-authored book Inertia: Purposeful Inefficiencies in Financial Markets (Columbia UP, 2025). He has led executive education programs and contributed to accreditation processes at King’s. Current initiatives include the FinWork Futures Centre, examining technological disruption in financial work. No active PhD students are listed, though he recently secured a LISS-funded studentship for public sector audit research.
Roles & Affiliations: Dervis Can Vural is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Notre Dame. He leads the Many-Body Physics & Biology Group, focusing on systems with disorder and strong interactions. His work bridges statistical mechanics, condensed matter physics, and theoretical biology. Education: B.S. in Physics, Middle East Technical University (2002) M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2004-2011) Research Interests: Dr. Vural investigates aging and failure in complex systems, ecological evolution, thermodynamics, and quantum observables. His group explores failure cascades in biological tissues, evolutionary game theory in microbial cooperation, and the interplay between information and thermodynamics. Recent work includes modeling root morphodynamics and the role of flow dynamics in social evolution. Publications: His work spans topics like entropy extraction in counterfactual thermodynamics, ecological community engineering, and interdependency networks. Key themes include systems aging, predictive swarm dynamics, and quantum temperature modeling. Awards & Activities: 2018 Teaching Award (Sigma Pi Sigma Honorary Inductee) Organized workshops on aging systems and ecological evolution Labs & Collaborations: Collaborates with experimentalists on tissue failure models and synthetic biology. Active in interdisciplinary research, combining theoretical physics with ecology and materials science.
Brett Pelham is a Professor of Psychology at Montgomery College, Maryland. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin (1989). His career includes roles as Assistant/Associate Professor at UCLA (10 years), social psychologist at the University at Buffalo, and adjunct faculty at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Swarthmore College, and Georgetown University. He also served as Program Director in Social Psychology at the National Science Foundation (2005–2007) and Senior Research Analyst at Gallup (2003–2005). Education: Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin (1989) Research focuses on implicit processes like implicit egotism, cultural psychology, health psychology, and close relationships. Key topics include moderators of self-referential preferences, intuition’s role in self-esteem, and the evolution of collectivism. Recent projects explore racism/sexism in medicalization of birth and Google search trends linking illness and religion. His work has been published in journals like Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin . Notable awards include the 2017 SPSP Robert Cialdini Award. He has authored textbooks on evolutionary psychology and research methods. Brett teaches courses such as Experimental Research Methods, Social Cognition, and The Self-Concept. Collaborations include projects led by researchers like Mitsuru Shimizu (intuition and self-esteem) and Mauricio Carvallo (interpersonal false consensus effects).
Sander Martens is a researcher at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), Faculty of Medical Sciences, specializing in the Clinical Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Research Program (CCNP). His work bridges cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychiatry, focusing on individual differences in attention, emotion, and social cognition. His research portfolio prominently features: Attentional mechanisms (e.g., attentional blink, selective attention) Working memory-emotion interactions Neurocognitive markers of mild cognitive impairment Alexithymia and facial emotion processing Social hierarchy effects on fairness perception Analysis of his 2022-2025 publications reveals an interdisciplinary trajectory combining behavioral paradigms, neuroimaging, and computational modeling to dissect cognitive processes in health and disease. A consistent theme is how social contexts modulate attentional and decision-making systems, particularly through hierarchies and competition dynamics. His science communication contributions earned recognition: SCIENCE COMMUNICATION BY SCIENTISTS: APPRECIATED! UMCG initiative: Marvelous Mind (2021) Dr. Martens mentors 6 students and actively engages the public through events like Marvelous Mind and Weekend van de wetenschap. He contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to mental health and well-being through his cognitive neuropsychiatry research. As a core member of CCNP, he collaborates on projects investigating neural substrates of psychiatric conditions using structural and functional neuroimaging approaches.
Nathan Spreng is a Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University's Faculty of Medicine and serves as Director of The Laboratory of Brain and Cognition at the Montreal Neurological Institute (The Neuro). Holding the prestigious James McGill Professor title and recognized as a Killam Scholar, his work bridges clinical neuroscience and cognitive research within McGill's Neuroscience Mission. His research focuses on how large-scale brain networks support cognitive processes including memory, decision-making, attention, and social cognition. Spreng's laboratory investigates the dynamic interactions between brain networks such as the default mode network, dorsal attention network, and frontoparietal control network, examining how these systems change across the lifespan in both health and disease. His methodological expertise includes developing multivariate and network-based statistical approaches for analyzing brain structure, connectivity, and activity. Analysis of Spreng's publication record reveals a consistent focus on the default mode network's role in higher cognition, with significant contributions to understanding its interactions with executive control systems. His work spans fundamental cognitive neuroscience through clinical applications in aging and neurodegenerative disorders, particularly Alzheimer's disease. Scientific recognition includes: Killam Scholar award Spreng leads active research initiatives including studies on loneliness and Alzheimer's funded by $2.7M grants, with his work featured in prominent media outlets for demonstrating 'what loneliness looks like in the brain.' His laboratory develops and implements advanced neuroimaging analysis techniques to investigate brain network properties underlying cognitive processes. The Laboratory of Brain and Cognition serves as the primary research hub for Spreng's investigations into cognitive neuroscience, collaborating with The Neuro's Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group and contributing to institutional initiatives like the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute.
John Huguenard serves as Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, teaching core research courses including Medical Scholars Research (NENS 370), Graduate Research (NENS 399/NEPR 399), and Early Clinical Experience (NENS 280) across all academic terms from 2021 through 2026. His research program investigates neural circuit mechanisms underlying epilepsy and autism spectrum disorders, with particular emphasis on thalamocortical dysregulation. Utilizing stem cell-derived models (cortical organoids, assembloids), electrophysiological techniques, and genetic disease models, his work spans fundamental neurophysiology to therapeutic development for conditions including Timothy syndrome, Angelman syndrome, and absence epilepsy. Analysis of his 15 most recent publications reveals evolving research trajectories: increasing focus on myelin plasticity in seizure progression (2023), human stem cell models for thalamocortical disorders (2024), and antisense oligonucleotide therapies (2025). His work consistently bridges basic circuit neuroscience with translational applications, particularly in calcium channelopathies and autism-related circuit dysfunction. Professor Huguenard maintains active mentorship through multiple research courses (NENS 199/399, NEPR 299/399), supervising undergraduate and graduate scholars in neuroscience research. While specific grant funding details are not provided in the source materials, his sustained publication output across high-impact journals indicates robust research program support.
Dr Helen Keyes is Head of the School of Psychology, Sport and Sensory Science within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. A cognitive psychologist by training, she leads cross-disciplinary research that spans public-health psychology, road-user behaviour, visual perception and higher-education pedagogy, while also holding strategic governance roles across the university and NHS. Education & Professional Qualifications PhD Psychology, University College Dublin BSc (Hons) Psychology, First Class Honours, University College Dublin PGCert Learning and Teaching, Anglia Ruskin University SMI Level 7 Senior Leadership Programme, Institute of Government and Social Policy Heads of Leadership Development Programme, Progress 360 Aurora Leadership Development Programme, Advance HE Research Interests Helen’s research centres on improving population-level health and wellbeing , with a particular focus on: How cyclists and drivers perceive and interact within the road environment, and how targeted interventions can enhance safety for vulnerable road users. Visual and auditory perception in dynamic real-world settings such as driving, cycling and competitive sport. Higher-education student engagement, wellbeing, employability and success, employing experimental pedagogical methods to design scalable interventions. She conducts this work through three complementary ARU research collectives: the Applied Social Change Research Hub , the ARU Centre for Societies and Groups , and the Cognition Group within the ARU Centre for Mind and Behaviour . Publication Themes Between 2022 and 2024 Dr Keyes published extensively on global adolescent health trends, road-user behaviour, ageing and cognition, and the psychological benefits of attending live sport. The corpus highlights a commitment to large-scale epidemiological datasets, naturalistic behavioural observation and intervention evaluation, with an overarching goal of translating psychological science into policy and practice. Scientific Awards & Recognition BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant (2015) Cambridgeshire County Council Research Funding (2017) Children’s Traffic Club Consultancy Grant (2019) Colchester Borough Council Consultancy Grant (2020) Senior Fellowship, Higher Education Academy Associate Fellowship, British Psychological Society Advising & Grant Portfolio Dr Keyes welcomes doctoral supervision enquiries in visual/aural perception, cycling and driver behaviour, and higher-education interventions. She has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on grants exceeding £250k, with funders including the BA/Leverhulme Trust, local authorities and industry partners. She is Academic Lead for Embedding Wellbeing into the Curriculum and chairs the university’s Academic Misconduct and Plagiarism work-stream. Laboratories & Teams Her work is embedded in the Applied Social Change Research Hub and the Cognition Group , both housed in the ARU Centre for Mind and Behaviour. These interdisciplinary teams provide state-of-the-art eye-tracking, driving simulation and mobile psychophysiology facilities to support experimental work in controlled and naturalistic environments.
Alan Kersten serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology within the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science at Florida Atlantic University. His leadership extends to directing the FAU Event Memory Lab, where he investigates cognitive processes underlying event representation and memory. His academic journey began with a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1989), followed by MS (1993) and PhD (1995) degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Kersten's research centers on mental representations of motion events, distinguishing between intrinsic motions (internal to objects/people) and extrinsic motions (environmental context). This framework manifests across diverse cognitive tasks including verb learning, eyewitness memory, and motion classification. His work reveals intrinsic motions are tightly bound to object identity, while extrinsic motions operate independently—fundamental insights for understanding cognitive architecture. Analysis of his publication history shows consistent focus on event memory mechanisms, with recent work (2021-2025) expanding into emotional modulation of memory, developmental comparisons, and executive function interactions. His articles predominantly appear in high-impact journals like Journal of Experimental Psychology: General and Memory & Cognition , reflecting methodological rigor in experimental cognitive psychology. His scholarly recognition includes: 1999 APA Division of Experimental Psychology New Investigator Award 2014 FAU Distinguished Teacher of the Year 2020 FAU Researcher of the Year (Associate Professor Level) As Consulting Editor for Memory & Cognition (2016-present) and ad-hoc reviewer for NSF/ESRC grants, Kersten actively shapes the field. His Event Memory Lab trains graduate students in advanced methodologies examining how aging, emotion, and executive function constrain event processing—work with implications for eyewitness testimony reliability and cognitive aging interventions.
Adam Gazzaley is the David Dolby Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Physiology, and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, where he serves as Founder & Executive Director of Neuroscape, a translational neuroscience center. His work bridges cognitive neuroscience, technology development, and clinical applications. His research focuses on cognitive control mechanisms , neuroplasticity , and technology-driven interventions for cognitive disorders. Key areas include attention, memory, aging, and the development of closed-loop video games integrated with VR/AR, physiological monitoring, and brain stimulation. Recent work explores psychedelic neuroscience in aging populations and digital therapeutics for multiple sclerosis. Notable trends across his 160+ publications show increasing focus on digital biomarkers , personalized cognitive training , and translational applications of neuroplasticity principles. His work spans basic neuroscience (fMRI/EEG/TMS methodologies) to clinical implementation (FDA-cleared digital therapeutics). 2015 SfN Science Educator Award 2020 Global Gaming Citizen Honor Newsweek's 2021 America’s Greatest Disruptors 2017 PROSE Award for The Distracted Mind As Chief Science Advisor of Akili Interactive and co-founder of JAZZ Venture Partners, he translates research into commercial applications. He has advised Apple, GE, Nielsen, Deloitte, and Magic Leap, and served on the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition. His Neuroscape lab develops open-source cognitive assessment tools while advancing rigorous placebo-controlled trials of digital interventions.
