Meet our team

Amaani Al-Azzawi
Doctoral Researcher

Amaani is an NIHR ARC funded Doctoral Researcher in the Centre for Dementia Studies, and has previously completed an undergraduate BSc in Psychology (2021) and a postgraduate Msc in Clinical Psychology in Mental Health (2022). Amaani has completed dissertations in Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC), including exploring late-in-life diagnosis and a literature review identifying the need for bespoke ASC interventions.

A.Al-Azzawi1@uni.bsms.ac.uk

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Harleigh Angel
Administrator for the Centre for Dementia Studies (CDS) & PA to Professor Naji Tabet

Harleigh is the administrator for the Centre for Dementia Studies (CDS) & PA to Professor Naji Tabet, based at the Trafford Centre, room 201.

H.Angel@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Iris Asllani
Associate Professor

Iris Asllani graduated from University of Tirana with a degree in Theoretical Nuclear Physics. A two-time Fulbright Scholar, she obtained her Master's (Microscopy) and PhD (Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy) from the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington. She currently holds a dual faculty appointment in Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre (CISC) at the University of Sussex, UK, and in Biomedical Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), USA. 

I.Asllani@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Rebecca Atkinson
Research Fellow

Rebecca Atkinson is currently an NIHR ARC KSS Research Fellow working on the Living well with Dementia theme. Before joining the ARC KSS, she completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of Sussex. Her thesis explored the effect of carrying a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (the APOE-ɛ4 allele) and the impact of cognitive and leisure activities on healthy cognitive ageing across the lifespan. 

r.a.atkinson@bsms.ac.uk

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Finn Aubrey Conboy
PhD Student

f.aubreyconboy1@uni.bsms.ac.uk

Tahani Baldwin
Doctoral Researcher

Tahani’s project investigates the impact of digital interventions, such as mobile applications, on behavioural change, implementation intention, and cognitive processes in occupational settings. Her work will incorporate mixed methods approaches (literature review, quantitative survey, focus groups, physiological measures) to understand parameters that determine the efficacy of digital interventions for behavioural change. Tahani’s project is supervised by Professor Natasha Sigala and Professor Dorina Cadar.

T.Baldwin1@uni.bsms.ac.uk

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Georgia Bell
Research Fellow

Georgia Bell is a Research Fellow working on the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) KSS Living Well with Dementia theme. Based at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, her work focuses on loneliness and social isolation. Her PhD explored the utility of primary care psychological therapies for dementia risk reduction and treatment of depression and anxiety in people living with dementia.

g.bell@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Jimena Berni
Senior Research Fellow

Jimena investigates the relation between neuronal circuits and behaviour with an emphasis on the diversification of circuits and the role of genes in specifying different neuronal networks and their assembly during development. She uses state-of-the-art techniques of Drosophila neurogenetics and combine it with the study of behavior to understand how Hox genes orchestrate the diversification of motor circuits during nervous system development. 

J.Berni@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Alessandro Bosco
PhD student

Alessandro holds a PhD in Mental Health & Wellbeing obtained at the University of Nottingham, an MSc in Mental Health Studies from King’s College, London. He secured funding from the ESRC (£3,750) to train in international health policy at the World Health Organisation in Geneva. While working in the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Alessandro was involved in the work streams of the Quality-Rights initiative, which covered areas around building capacity to understand and promote human rights and recovery and improving the quality of care and human rights conditions in secondary mental health services for adults worldwide. 

a.bosco@bsms.ac.uk

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Bria Browne
PhD student

Bria Browne is a registered nurse with a background in dementia care. She is now completing a PhD at the Centre for Dementia Studies at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Bria’s research interests include improvements in quality of life and palliative care in dementia. She is currently investigating the determinants of multiple acute hospital admissions for older people with dementia. Bria’s supervisors are Professor Naji Tabet and Dr Khalid Ali. 

B.Browne@bsms.ac.uk

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Emily Budden
Doctoral Researcher

Emily is based at the Centre for Dementia Studies in the department of Clinical Neuroscience at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. She has a background in Psychology, completing her BSc and MSc at the University of Sussex. Emily’s PhD investigates whether menopause and Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) interact with genetic risk for Alzheimer’s Disease (APOEe4) to influence women’s midlife cognitive health. She has a particular interest in sex differences in Alzheimer’s Disease risk and how to promote healthy ageing.

e.budden@bsms.ac.uk

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Professor Dorina Cadar
Reader in Cognitive Epidemiology and Dementia

Dorina's research interests and expertise are in the field of cognitive epidemiology and dementia, including immunology, biomarkers, socioeconomic inequalities, psychosocial factors, and other modifiable risk factors, such as lifestyle behaviours, social isolation, cognitive and social resilience. Her research interests cover human mental abilities, the effects of ageing and medical conditions on mental skills and cognitive decline, the impact of cognitive ability on people's lives, and dementia risk.

D.Cadar@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Alessandro Colasanti
Reader in Psychiatry

Dr Colasanti’s research investigates the biological mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of affective disorders, by using a translational approach that integrates multimodal neuroimaging modalities (PET and quantitative MRI) and pharmacological approaches in healthy human subjects and clinical populations. The aims of Dr Colasanti’s research is to translate promising findings in neuroscience and neuropharmacology into discoveries that have direct clinical relevance. He hopes to contribute to understand the causes of severe and disabling brain disorders and to develop new and better ways to treat them. 

a.colasanti@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Edward Caddye
Clinical Research Fellow in Imaging

Dr Edward Caddye is a biochemistry and medical graduate with a passion for understanding metabolism in the context of optimising human health and performance. Edward is currently a clinical research fellow in CISC, working one day per week in the academic immunopsychiatry clinic under Alessandro Colasanti.

e.caddye2@bsms.ac.uk

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Professor Hugo Critchley
Chair of Psychiatry

Professor Hugo Critchley pursues a lifelong interest in normal and abnormal human behaviour from the perspective of mind-body interaction. His work helps define the way in which states of bodily arousal are controlled by the brain and how thoughts, feelings and behaviours are shaped by physiological changes in the body.  Hugo’s team applies this understanding to gain new insights into psychological symptoms and mental health disorders, including psychosis and anxiety. 

H.Critchley@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Stephanie Daley
Reader in Mental Health and Dementia

Stephanie is a mixed methods applied health researcher. Her research interests include medical and healthcare education and training, dementia quality of care and quality of life, and autism education. Stephanie has been leading the mixed methods evaluation of the Time for Dementia and Time for Autism educational programmes. She has also worked on the C-DEMQOL (Measurement of quality of life in carers of people with dementia) study. For her PhD, Stephanie looked at the applicability of the concept and practice of recovery for older people, including people with dementia.

S.Daley@bsms.ac.uk

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Beverley Darkin
PhD student

b.darkin@bsms.ac.uk

Professor Andrew Dilley
Professor in Neuroanatomy

Andrew Dilley is Professor in Neuroanatomy and Head of the Department of Neuroscience at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Andrew’s research encompasses both laboratory and human studies into the role of peripheral neuroinflammation in chronic musculoskeletal pain. His research is aimed at understanding the causes of pain in conditions such as repetitive motion disorders, radiculopathies, non-specific back and arm pain, whiplash-associated disorders, fibromyalgia and complex regional pain syndrome.

A.Dilley@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Nicholas Dowell
Senior Lecturer in Imaging Physics

Dr Dowell is based at the Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre (CISC) in BSMS as part of Professor Mara Cercignani’s MRI Physics group. His role involves the development of quantitative imaging techniques that can provide non-invasive biomarkers of disease progression or recovery. He has worked on developing a method to reliably quantify subtle leakage in the blood-brain barrier.

N.G.Dowell@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Jessica Eccles
Reader in Brain-Body Medicine

Jessica Eccles trained in medicine at University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, completing a BA in The History and Philosophy of Science, sparking a keen interest in philosophy of mind and brain-body interactions, and since graduation from medical school has pursued a combined academic clinical path at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. As an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow she completed her PhD in the relationship between joint hypermobility, autonomic dysfunction and psychiatric symptoms and following an NIHR Academic Clinical Lectureship is now a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the department of Neuroscience at BSMS. 

J.Eccles@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Hussien Elkholy
Clinial Lecturer in Psychiatry

Dr Elkholy is a NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, BSMS, and a Professor of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Egypt. Dr Elkholy graduated from Ain Shams University in Egypt, where he also obtained his Master's Degree in Neurology and Psychiatry (MSc), and Doctorate Degree in Psychiatry (MD). Dr Elkholy's main areas of interest are Addictive Behaviours, Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Adults, and Women Mental Health.

H.Elkholy2@bsms.ac.uk

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Yvonne Feeney
Time for Dementia Project Manager

Y.Feeney@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Guy Fincham 
Researcher in Psychology

Dr Guy William Fincham's journey with breathwork began as a personal healing tool for chronic fatigue syndrome, which inspired him to share his knowledge with the world. He trained as a Breath Teacher with the Breath Body Mind Foundation in New York and has since established collaborations with leading institutions including Oxford, UCSF, Imperial, Maastricht, UCLA, and the company Othership.

g.fincham@bsms.ac.uk

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Annabelle Hartanto
PhD student

Annabelle is now in the process of completing the Sussex Neuroscience 4-Year PhD program, where she focuses on using computational methods to study how speech and language changes with decline in cognition caused by Alzheimer's disease pathology. Annabelle is interested in understanding how early speech changes can be detected and how these changes fit in the Alzheimer's disease progression timeline. She is also interested in how underlying biological mechanisms relate to the changes in speech. 

a.hartanto@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Molly Hebditch
Research Fellow

Dr Molly Hebditch is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Dementia Studies working on the Mixed methods evaluation of the Time for Dementia programme. Molly's research interests include education in dementia and the improvement of quality of life and care practices for those affected by dementia. Her PhD explored medical and nursing student’s career preferences for working with people with dementia and how to increase interest in this field. Prior to this, Molly completed her MSc in research methods for Psychology at UCL.

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Louise Hopkins
Assistant Administrator

l.hopkins@bsms.ac.uk

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Jessie Huang
PhD student

j.huang@bsms.ac.uk

Kristen Jakobsen
PhD Student

Kristen’s research focuses on multimodal imaging of brain metabolism. Their areas of expertise include, neuroimaging, brain metabolism, mood disorder.

k.jakobsen1@uni.bsms.ac.uk

Amy Kartar
Clinical and Neuroimaging Research Assistant

Amy is particularly interested in research in clinical populations using neuroimaging, in order to develop novel, non-pharmacological therapeutics that incorporate both the brain and body to reduce symptoms. She is also interested in the physiological impacts of breathwork and its resulting impact on consciousness.

aak27@sussex.ac.uk

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Dr Claire Lancaster
Lecturer

Dr Claire Lancaster is a lecturer in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Brighton & Sussex Medical School. She has a background in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, previously studying at the University of Bristol (BSc), University College London (MSc), and the University of Sussex (PhD).

C.Lancaster@bsms.ac.uk

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Professor P Nigel Leigh
Professor of Neurology

After training in general medicine and neurology at the London Hospital, The Hammersmith Hospital, and University College Hospital, he spent 2 years as Lecturer in Medicine and Neurology Specialist at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He completed his PhD with Professor David Marsden FRS at the Institute of Psychiatry, London, and was appointed to the University Chair of Neurology at The Institute of Psychiatry and King’s College School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1989.

P.Leigh@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Snezana Levic
Senior Lecturer in Physiology

Snezana received her PhD in Neuroscience from University of California, Davis in 2006.  After working as a research scientist at the universities in USA, France and UK, Snezana joined BSMS as a Lecturer in Physiology in 2014.

S.Levic@bsms.ac.uk

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Bethany Linder
Research Fellow

Bethany Linder is a Research Fellow working on the COV-DEM project. Her work involves conducting qualitative interviews with health professionals, people affected by dementia, people with hearing impairment, and caregivers of people with learning disabilities to investigate how governmental health guidelines can be best communicated to people from these populations. Bethany's research interests involve identifying strategies to improve the quality of life and care of people living with dementia. 

B.Linder@bsms.ac.uk

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Rosie Mulgrue
Personal Assistant to Dr Jess Eccles

r.mulgrue@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Yoko Nagai
Senior Lecturer in Translational Neuroscience

Dr Yoko Nagai is a translational neuroscientist with interests in mind-body interaction and human consciousness. Her main work involves the investigation and development of a non-drug therapy for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. The therapy is termed as Autonomic Cognitive Rehabituation training (ACRT). This pioneering work attracted funding for clinical trials from various grant bodies (Bial Foundation, Tourette Syndrome Association USA, Wellcome Trust).

Y.Nagai@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Stephen Naulls
PhD student

Stephen studied medicine at Imperial College London, also completing an intercalated BSc in Neuroscience and Mental Health. He later gained an MSc in Health Policy at Imperial, with a dissertation focussed on harm reduction for underserved communities. Stephen’s current research focuses on addiction in the LGBTQ+ community, aiming to combine both neuroscience and population-health driven approaches.

s.naulls@bsms.ac.uk

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Nik Nikolić
PhD student

Nik began his career as a pharmacist and progressed into clinical practice as an Independent Prescriber and Advanced Clinical Practitioner, specializing in First Episode Psychosis. His clinical experiences sparked a deep interest in research, particularly in addressing the unmet needs of neurodivergent individuals. This focus led to his most recent publication, which aligns closely with the goals of his National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship.

n.nikolic@bsms.ac.uk

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Dr Akin Ojagbeimi
NIHR and Wellcome International Intermediate Fellow

Akin Ojagbemi MBBS, PhD, MSc is NIHR and Wellcome International Intermediate Fellow. He is an old age psychiatrist trained in dementia care at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neurosciences, King’s College London. Akin had his PhD from Stellenbosch University, Cape-Town South Africa on the neurobiology of Schizophrenia as expressed in indigenous Africans, and a postdoctoral fellowship training in Clinical Trials Design and Implementation at Northwestern University Chicago, United States of America. He is currently developing task shared psychosocial interventions on digital platforms suitable for use by non-specialist healthcare workers for the identification and treatment of older people’s depression and dementia in underserved populations.

Joel Patchitt
Research Fellow in Experimental Psychophysiology

Joel completed his degree in Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Westminster and was awarded the British Psychological Society Prize for Westminster in 2020. Joel has worked at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience where he conducted research into Virtual reality tools for the assessment of cognition in patients suffering from psychosis-related illnesses. 

J.Patchitt@bsms.ac.uk

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Magdalena Pfaff
PhD student

Magdalena Pfaff completed her Honours undergraduate degree at Maastricht University in Liberal Arts and Sciences (University College Maastricht), with a focus on Human Physiology, Neuroscience and Psychology. In 2023, she joined Brighton and Sussex Medical School and the School of Psychology to complete a four-year Sussex Neuroscience PhD. Magdalena is setting up a multi modal study with a focus on the interaction of Beliefs and Inflammation, using methods such as MRI, EEG, and Blood processing, under the supervision of Prof. Hugo Critchley (BSMS), and Dr Charlotte Rae (School of Psychology).

mp667@sussex.ac.uk

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Dr Lisa Quadt
Principal Research Fellow

Lisa is a cognitive neuroscientist whose interest in the central and autonomic nervous system, and the interactions between mind, brain and body are applied to the understanding of neurodivergent individuals. She is a research fellow within the Department of Neuroscience at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex. Lisa’s interests lie in the neurovisceral characterizations of neurodivergent populations, and how we can understand both vulnerabilities and strengths in neurodiversity.

L.Quadt@bsms.ac.uk

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Francesca Rigby
Time for Autism Project Administrator

F.Rigby@bsms.ac.uk

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Denise Roden
Time for Dementia Project Administrator

D.Roden@bsms.ac.uk

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Professor Itamar Ronen
CISC Academic Director

i.ronen@bsms.ac.uk

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Jocelyn Rose
PhD student

Jocelyn’s doctoral research investigates the integration of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy within altered-state–assisted treatments, exploring EMDR's potential as a trauma-responsive and evidence-informed approach to psychedelic and breathwork treatments.

J.Rose1@uni.bsms.ac.uk

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Professor Natasha Sigala
Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience

Natasha studied Biology at the University of Patras, Greece, where she then completed an MSc in Human and Animal Physiology. In 1997 she moved to Germany, where she earned her PhD with summa cum laude in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and the Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen. With the fancy title of Doctor rerum naturalis she joined the Dept of Exp. Psychology at the University of Oxford and the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit Cambridge in 2002, and worked between the two places until 2010, when she joined BSMS as a Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience.

N.Sigala@bsms.ac.uk

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Lucy Stafford
PhD Student

l.stafford2@uni.bsms.ac.uk

Dr Oliver G. Steele
Lecturer B in Physiology (E&S)

Oliver’s research interests revolve round understanding the electrical functioning of neurons in both health and disease. Oliver has gained research experience across a range of neurodegenerative disorders (Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s) and neurodevelopmental disorders such as CDKL5 Deficiency. Most recently Oliver’s research has centered on the electrophysiological correlates of ApoE polymorphism at the synapse and intrinsically, independent of Alzheimer’s Pathology.

O.Steele@bsms.ac.uk

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Professor James Stone
Professor of Psychiatry

Professor Stone’s main research interests at present are the role of glutamate and GABA in psychosis and depression, the early stage testing of novel treatments and the development of neuroimaging biomarkers to enable a stratified medicine approach for psychiatric conditions. He is supervising PhD projects on the biological mechanisms of action of ketamine in treatment resistant depression; the role of GABA modulation in psychosis; and the role of gut microbiota in depression. 

j.stone@bsms.ac.uk

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Professor Naji Tabet
Professor, Dementia and Old Age Psychiatry

Naji's research interests and expertise are in the field of dementia. His research focus follows a parallel strategy. The first is in fully engaging in the assessment of disease modifying treatments through clinical trials. Naji is the clinical lead of the Dementia Research Unit. Working with multi-national Pharmaceutical companies and National academic colleagues, he has been leading the unit in a series of important clinical trials.

N.Tabet@bsms.ac.uk

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Dani Thorn
Research Assistant

Dani Thorn is the research assistant on the NoDem Study, based at the Centre for Dementia Studies at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. This research looks at the practices, attitudes and outcomes of patients that do not receive a dementia diagnosis at a memory assessment service. This work is important to improve processes and better support people that have expressed memory problems, but do not get a dementia diagnosis.

d.thorn@bsms.ac.uk

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Professor Harry Witchel
Professor of Physiology (Neuroscience and Imaging)

Harry is the Discipline Leader in Physiology, and uses time series analysis to correlate physiological and motion metrics with physiological, psychological or pathological (disease) states. His work in the laboratory focuses on the triangulation of behavioural data, physical properties and subjective reporting. Harry uses wearable sensors, motion capture and time series analysis to determine the cognitive, emotional and behavioural correlates of engagement and disengagement in response to different psychologically relevant stimuli (e.g. audio and video).

H.Witchel@bsms.ac.uk

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Sam Wray
PhD student

Sam is a PhD student supervised by Hugo Critchley and Charlotte Rae. Their work focuses on interoceptive attention using the heartbeat evoked potential. They are also focused on exploring the heartbeat evoked potential as a methodology.

s.wray@bsms.ac.uk