Dimitris Pinotsis, PhD (PI)
Dimitris is a theoretical neuroscientist with a PhD in Mathematics and an MSc in Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge in England where he worked with Thanasis Fokas. After graduating, he published more than fifteen papers in mathematics and physics journals and then decided to pursue a career in neuroscience, his true passion. Dimitris worked with Peter Grindrod and then spent six and a half years at University College London (UCL) working with Karl Friston in machine learning and developing mathematical methods for the analysis of brain data; then continued at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he worked with Earl Miller on using predictive coding and deep neural networks to address fundamental questions in cognitive neuroscience. In 2018, he joined the Center for Mathematical Neuroscience and Psychology at City—University of London as an Assistant Professor (Lecturer). He is now an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) at the same university and a Research Affiliate at MIT's Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department.
Dimitris has received 7 Fellowships from Cambridge Isaac Newton Trust, Onassis Foundation, NATO, Bernstein Organization and others. He is also the recipient of several awards including an OCNS Award, a Smith-Rayleigh Prize of the University of Cambridge and a Poincare Institute Award. Dimitris' research has been funded by US Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Picower Innovation Fund, UKRI, Innovate UK, Gambling Commission, EPSRC and the Wellcome Trust. It spans diverse areas including machine learning, the analysis of big data in neuroimaging, theoretical neurobiology and nonlinear systems in mathematical physics.
Principal Investigator
Sean Fitzgerald, PhD
Sean is a tech start-up veteran and data scientist who holds a PhD from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. His doctoral research with George Christopoulos focused on understanding decisions made for other individuals (allocentric decisions), in particular the neural mechanisms underpinning the vicarious valuation of human effort. After submitting his thesis, Sean co-founded GolfLine, Inc., a tech firm that used machine learning to evaluate golfers’ offers for tee times. He served as the Director of Data Analytics for GolfLine and developed the key intellectual property and proprietary deep-learning neural networks responsible for the real-time bid classification. Sean's aim is to synthesize best practices from his industry and academic experiences to better understand human behavior, cognition, and neural functioning. When Sean is not staring into the abyss of stack overflow tabs on his computer, he is at the nearest sand or beach volleyball court trying to deliver a perfect hand set.
Post Doctoral Research Associate
Fintan Nagle, PhD
Fintan is a a cognitive scientist and software engineer with a background in computer science, vision science and machine learning. His doctoral work at UCL investigated temporal visual search in moving natural scenes. He has also worked on task-switching in automated driving, on visual complexity, and on knowledge networks. Fintan is interested in using machine learning to understand how the brain creates, samples from, and manipulates our environment.
Post Doctoral Research Associate
Melissa Reneaux, PhD
Melissa is a theoretical neuroscientist with a PhD degree in computational neuroscience from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. She has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Theoretical Physics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. During herdoctoral work with Prof. Karmeshu and Dr. A. Krishnamachari, she investigated the effect of dopamine in working memory maintenance in the prefrontal cortex using mean field models. After completing her doctoral work, she went on to work in the lab of Prof. Claudia Clopath at Imperial College London as a postdoctoral scholar, where she investigated the effect of inflammation in clinical depression.
Post Doctoral Research Associate
Gozde Kadioglu
Gozde graduated from MSc in Engineering Management, BSc in Control and Automation Engineering and BSc in Industrial Engineering (double major) at Istanbul Technical University. During her MSc degree, she started working as an analyst, but after her thesis, she realised that she is more interested in research than applications. In her PhD, Gozde focuses on how emotions influence perceptual decision making and how product features are processed by the brain (e.g how fast, by which brain networks, at which level of abstraction etc) using EEG and VR technologies. In her free time, Gozde is a passionate rower and swimmer.
PhD Student
Namrata Nagendra
Namrata has a BSc. (Hons.) degree in Marketing & Psychology and has previously worked in a Social-Cognitive Psychology lab working on Actions, Motivated behaviours and social contagion utilising mixed methods. She spent a year working at tech-startup Scapic working with XR technologies across various industries. Her research interests include neuroeconomics, the psychophysics of decision making and the biological basis of consumer choice; which she explores through utilisation of new technologies such as VR, AR, Motion tracking and neuroimaging. In her PhD, Namrata is exploring the effects of marketing stimuli on underlying neural correlates in consumer behaviour and decisions in digital environments with a curiosity to model these effects using computational neuroscience.
PhD Student
Rudra Grover
Rudra completed his Bachelor's in Commerce from Delhi University and is currently pursuing his MSc in Data Science at City-University of London. He is interested in using data science tools and neural networks to study the mind and how it controls the body. Rudra's project focuses on the study of brain-body dynamics through the use of EEG and ECG/GSR data; and disclosing attentional effects and their signatures in body signals.
Graduate Student
Raquel Marques Oliveira
Raquel has completed a Bachelor’s in Psychology with Criminology from Middlesex University and is currently pursuing a MSc in Clinical Social and Cognitive Neuroscience at City-University of London. She is interested in mental health, as well as clinical, cognitive and computational approaches to neurological, psychological and psychiatric illnesses.
Graduate Student
Vinus Payman
Visiting Student