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

Visit Amaani Al-Azzawi's profile >

Harleigh Angel
Administrative Assistant

Harleigh is the administrator assistant for the Neuroscience department based at the Trafford Centre, room 201.

H.Angel@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Harleigh Angel's profile >

Dr Iris Asllani
Senior Lecturer

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

Visit Dr Iris Asllani's profile >

Dr Andrew Barrett

Linda Bennett
Personal Assistant and Project Officer

Linda Bennett is a Personal Assistant and Project Officer for Centre of Dementia Studies at BSMS.

L.Bennett@bsms.ac.uk

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

Visit Jimena Berni's profile >

Dr Lavinia Bertini
Research Fellow

Dr Lavinia Bertini is a social and medical anthropologist with extensive experience of interdisciplinary health research, where she brings her expertise in ethnographic research methods, critical medical anthropology, and co-production to address health inequities. 

l.bertini@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Dr Lavinia Bertini's full profile >

Dr Samira Bouyagoub
Research Fellow II

Samira is based at the Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre, as part of MRI Physics group led by Prof Mara Cercignani. Her research is focused on quantitative MRI particularly diffusion MRI, a technique that measures microstructural properties of tissue. She is currently working on multimodal tissue modelling approach by combining diffusion MRI and relaxometry to further disentangle changes to brain tissue properties.

S.Bouyagoub@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Dr Samira Bouyagoub's profile >

Fiona Bright
Receptionist & Administration Assistant to Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre

F.Bright@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Fiona Bright's profile >

Gemma Brownbill
PhD Student

Gemma’s research interest is in measuring fatigue in multiple sclerosis. She uses techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation to measure central fatiguability, and corticospinal excitability. She currently pairing these measurement techniques with fMRI, to assess physiological markers of fatigue from the brain, through the spinal cord and to the muscle.

g.brownbill@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Gemma Brownbill's profile >

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. After completing her Adult Nursing undergraduate degree at Kingston University, Bria undertook a master’s degree in Population Health at University College London. In relation to Bria’s clinical experience, she focused her master’s research project on how end of life is defined in people living with dementia, which was subsequently published in the Palliative Medicine Journal in 2021.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 will be identifying patterns of characteristics within electronic hospital records of older people with dementia, that may contribute to recurrent hospital admissions. She will then gain the perspectives, attitudes and experiences from family carers and hospital staff regarding hospital readmissions within older people with dementia. Bria’s PhD will aim to provide a holistic understanding of the complex problem of why older people with dementia have recurrent hospital admissions, with future suggestions to reduce this problem. Bria’s supervisors are Professor Naji Tabet and Dr Khalid Ali. 

B.Browne@bsms.ac.uk

Jan Bush
Head of Radiography

J.Bush@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Jan Bush's profile >

Pat Butler
Departmental Assistant to the Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre

P.Butler@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Pat Butler's profile >

Dr Dorina Cadar
Senior Lecturer 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. She has extensive experience with longitudinal investigation of risk factors associated with cognitive ageing and dementia risk in national and international population studies.

D.Cadar@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Dr Dorina Cadar's profile >

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

Visit Dr Alessandro Colasanti's profile >

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

Visit Dr Edward Caddye's profile >

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

Visit Professor Hugo Critchley's profile >

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

Visit Dr Stephanie Daley's profile >

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

Visit Professor Andrew Dilley's profile >

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

Visit Dr Nicholas Dowell's profile >

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

Visit Dr Jessica Eccles' profile >

Yvonne Feeney
Time for Dementia Project Manager

Y.Feeney@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Yvonne Feeney's profile >

Di Ginn
Receptionist & Administration Assistant to Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre

D.Ginn@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Di Ginn's profile >

Esra Hassan
PhD Student

Esra Hassan is a PhD student at Brighton and Sussex Medical School with her research on the determinants of dementia attitudes in young people. Esra graduated from the University of Roehampton in 2017 with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology. Having completed a research internship in cognitive neuropsychology in 2016, Esra’s undergraduate research project used neuroimaging to detect cognitive biomarkers in anxiety disorders. In 2018, she graduated with an MSc in Clinical Neuroscience where her research was in molecular cancer biology (Glioblastoma multiforme). Esra was a neuroscience taster lecturer at the University of Roehampton and has been running seminars for students on neuroscience topics over the years which led to her interest in dementia research. Esra has worked closely with young people as a school governor since 2019, delivering tailored behavioral interventions to young people.

E.Hassan@bsms.ac.uk

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.

Visit Dr Molly Hebditch's profile >

Dr Ben Hicks
Research Fellow in Dementia Studies

Ben Hicks is a Research Fellow and the Co-ordinator of the ESRC/NIHR funded DETERMIND research programme. Ben's research concerns supporting quality of life and social inclusion in people with dementia by exploring their differing lived experiences of the condition and addressing the inequalities that may arise in the dementia care pathway. His PhD focused on examining and supporting social inclusion in rural-dwelling older men with dementia through a community technological initiative that was tailored towards their multiple masculinities.

B.Hicks@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Dr Ben Hicks' profile >

Dr Moktar Isaac
Consultant in Old Age and General Adult Psychiatry

Dr Mokhtar Isaac is a consultant in Old Age and General Adult psychiatry at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation trust and  Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer with BSMS. He has special interest in medical education and is involved in under and postgraduate teaching. His research interests include dementia and suicide prevention. 

Christina Kampoureli
PhD Student

Christina is particularly interested in how feedback from our own brain activity can allow us to volitionally control the activation of specific brain regions and networks to achieve better performance in different cognitive tasks. She is especially keen to explore how neurofeedback can be used as a form of neurotherapy in neurodevelopmental conditions, such as ADHD. Throughout her PhD she uses techniques such as cognitive assessments, MRI and machine learning, to answer questions about the brain and behaviour.

C.Kampoureli@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Christina Kampoureli's profile >

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

Visit Amy Kartar's profile >

Juliet Kneller
Senior Departmental Administration for the Department of Neuroscience

Juliet provides administrative support to the Neuroscience team based in the Trafford Centre and is PA to Prof’s Andrew Dilley and Hugo Critchley.

J.Kneller@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Juliet Kneller's profile >

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

Visit Dr Claire Lancaster's profile >

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. The King’s Motor Neuron Disease (MND/ALS) Care and Research Centre was inaugurated in 1995. He has received The Forbes Norris Award of the International Alliance of MND/ALS Associations, the Erb-Duchenne Prize of the German Neuromuscular Society, and The Sheila Essey Prize of the American Academy of Neurology. Since 2003 he has been a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. After retiring from KCL in 2010, he was appointed Professor of Neurology at Brighton and Sussex Medical School in 2011. He remains an Emeritus Professor at King’s College London and is currently Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust and Director of the Sussex MND Care and Research Network. His research continues to focus on the causes, mechanisms, and treatment of MND, PSP, and related neurodegenerative disorders.

P.Leigh@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Prof P Nigel Leigh's profile >

Rosie Mulgrue
Personal Assistant to Dr Jess Ecccles

r.mulgrue@gmail.com

Visit Rosie Mulgrue's profile >

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). More recently, her research interests expanded from human wellbeing to social wellbeing, integrating her educations in science, business and law. 

Y.Nagai@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Dr Yoko Nagai's profile >

Alex Nagle
PhD student

a.nagle@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Alex Nagle's profile >

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 Assistant in Clinical Aspects of Consciousness Science

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. His research into virtual reality was coupled with the search for potential EEG biomarkers of cognitive decline in healthy aging populations and patients suffering from psychosis. Joel’s main strengths include the analysis and development of Virtual Reality Immersive Environments and the collection and analysis of electroencephalographic data. 

J.Patchitt@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Joel Patchitt's profile >

Dr Sarah Polack
Research Fellow

S.Polack2@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Dr Sarah Polack's profile >

Dr Lisa Quadt
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. She is passionate about equal access to healthcare and recognizing the individuals for whom we do our research in all their complexity.

L.Quadt@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Dr Lisa Quadt's profile >

Dr Gosia Raczek
Honorary Researcher and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer

Gosia is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Centre for Dementia Studies (CDS) and a module leader for the MSc in Dementia Studies. She is also a clinical academic consultant in Old Age Psychiatry at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, where she works in Memory Assessment Service in North West Sussex and Dementia Research Unit (DRU) in Crowborough. Gosia is a PhD student at the Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre working on a study of brain structure and connectivity in neuropsychiatric symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and an investigator on studies run by DRU and CDS.

g.raczek@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Gosia Raczek's profile >

Dr Colette Ridehalgh
Senior Research Fellow

Colette's research interests are all centred around people with peripheral neuropathic pain conditions such as radiculopathy, carpal tunnel syndrome and more recently whiplash injury. She uses both clinical tests (eg movements tests, neurological integrity tests, neurodynamic tests, blood tests) as well as MRI, skin biopsies and quantitative sensory testing to identify specific physiological mechanisms related to neuropathic pain but to also establish prognostic factors.

c.ridehalgh@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Dr Colette Ridehalgh's profile >

Denise Roden
Time for Dementia Project Administrator

D.Roden@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Denise Roden's profile >

Professor Itamar Ronen
CISC Academic Director

i.ronen@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Prof Itamar Ronen's profile >

Alice Russell
Research Assistant

Alice Russell is a Research Assistant for the DETERMIND project. She graduated from the University of Portsmouth in 2016 with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology. Since then, she undertook a Graduate Psychology Internship with the Adur, Arun and Worthing (AAW) Assessment and Treatment Service (ATS) at Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust (SPFT). Alice’s interest for dementia was established during her University dissertation where she interviewed Dementia Carers about how friendships affected their lives.

Dr Nicola Schmidt-Renfree
Research Fellow

Nicola previously worked as a lecturer in communication at the University of Ulster and as a lecturer in English language at the University of Kent. After moving from Kent to the county of Sussex, she studied for her PhD in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex, and this has led to her interest in developing research and taking up my Postdoctoral Research Fellowships at BSMS.

N.Schmidt-Renfree@bsms.ac.uk

View Dr Nicola Schmidt-Renfree's full profile >

Dr Natasha Signala
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

Visit Dr Natasha Signala's profile >

Kathy Sleigh
Reception & Administration Assistant to the Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre

K.Sleigh@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Kathy Sleigh's profile >

Dr Oliver G. Steele
Lecturer 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. Oliver is also acutely interested in the mechanism by which therapeutically relevant NMDAR antagonists, such as ketamine and memantine, modulate neuronal function.

O.Steele@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Dr Oliver G. Steele's profile >

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. He is also running an number of other research projects including investigating the role of inflammation in mental illness; the effect of blood glucose on outcome in schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder; brain connectivity in chronic ketamine users; and the effect of auditory binaural beats on cognition and mental state.  

j.stone@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Professor James Stone's profile >

Will Strawson
PhD Student

Will moved to Brighton and Sussex Medical School to complete a 4-year Sussex Neuroscience PhD under the initial supervision of Sarah Garfinkel (UCL) and continued supervision of Hugo Critchley (BSMS, Sussex) and Charlotte Rae (Psychology, Sussex). Will continues to maintain productive collaborations with researchers inside and outside of Sussex.

w.strawson@sussex.ac.uk

Visit Will Strawson's profile >

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. It is hoped that such work will eventually help in the introduction of much needed disease modifying treatments to significantly slow down the progression of AD.

N.Tabet@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Professor Naji Tabet's profile >

Dr Georgios (George) Tertikas
Clinical Research Fellow

George Tertikas studied medicine in the University of Crete and completed his studies in 2017. Following clinical rotations in several psychiatric posts and his developing interest on the stratification of psychiatric population through computational modelling, he started working in the Clinical Imaging Science Centre as a clinical research fellow where he is undertaking his PhD. Under supervision of Professor Hugo Critchley and Dr Daniel Campbell-Meiklejohn, he is currently investigating anxiety’s effect on different strategies of exploration.

G.Tertikas2@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Dr George Tertikas' profile >

Rachel Thompson
Network Coordinator, Sussex Motor Neurone Disease Care and Research Network

Rachel has been coordinator of the Sussex MND Care and research network since its inception in 2016. Prior to this, Rachel worked as Speech & Language Therapist in West Sussex, specialising in progressive neurological conditions. Her current role focusses on working with NHS and third sector partners to improve care and support for people with MND in Sussex and increasing participation in research. She works in the MND clinic with Dr Andrew Barritt at University Hospitals Sussex, holding an honorary contract with the Trust. Rachel also organises regular knowledge updates and conferences for local health and social care staff.

R.Thomson@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Rachel Thompson's profile >

Georgia Towson
Research Assistant

Georgia Towson graduated from the University of Southampton in 2019 with a BA in Human Geography, before graduating in 2020 with an MSc in Public Health. During her MSc, Georgia worked alongside Wessex Academic Health Science Network as a student researcher looking into the early impact of a new eLearning resource upon staff and residents in the community care setting, as well as the challenges to implementation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Georgia has also worked as an FSA/MTA in a variety of wards including emergency care and elderly medicine. She has developed an interest in improving quality of life of those with dementia, as well as those in care home settings. She is currently working as a Research Assistant on Time for Dementia.

Anna Watson
Clinic Research Assistant

Currently research assistant to Dr Jessica Eccles under the Neurodivergent Brain Body Clinic (NBBC). This clinic aims to better Neurodivergent healthcare for Sussex patients, bridging the gaps between physical and mental health assessment and intervention. The NBBC works within the SPFT NHS Neurodevelopmental Service, in which I also carry out service audits and am sitting as Co-Chair for the Ethnic Minority Staff Network.

anna.watson@spft.nhs.uk

Visit Anna Watson's profile >

Professor Harry Witchel
Professor of Physiology (Neuroscience and Imaging)

Harry is a 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). Harry is currently examining mind wandering and boredom using PsychoPy and matlab, as well as doing educational research.

H.Witchel@bsms.ac.uk

Visit Professor Harry Witchel's profile >