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Cognition

Affiliates of the Institute of Mental Health with expertise in Cognition.

Agatha Alves Anet

PhD Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Global Mental Health | Mood Disorders | Neuroscience | Wellbeing

Marc Aurel Busche

Programme Leader at the UK DRI and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at Queen Square, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Dementia | Neuroscience | Older Adult Mental Health

Dan Bang

Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

I study how humans build mental models of the world for behavioural control, with a focus on social behaviour. Social interaction is remarkably complex: an action that is rewarded in one context may be punished in another, and what we think or feel may clash with the behaviour that is required of us. I seek to understand how humans solve such problems, using behavioural testing, computational modelling and neuroimaging. These techniques allow me to characterise the cognitive processes underlying behaviour and study their implementation in the brain. A biologically-informed account of human social behaviour is important for advancing our understanding of disorders of mental health. Many mental disorders are social in nature – they manifest in interactions between people – but we lack a mechanistic explanation of what has gone awry.

Other research interests include

Mood Disorders | Neuroscience | Psychosocial | Neuromodulation

James Bisby

Lecturer, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Neuroscience

Elvira Bramon

Professor of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Division of Psychiatry

I’m interested in biological markers of brain function and structure that can be used to characterise psychosis. In particular, I have expertise in using EEG techniques like evoked potentials and quantitative EEG and have also worked with structural imaging and cognitive biomarkers for psychosis.

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Pharmacology | Serious Mental Illness | Genomics

Feifei Bu

Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Epidemiology and Health

Feifei Bu is senior research fellow in statistics/epidemiology, working with Dr Daisy Fancourt on a number of projects. She is the principal investigator of the NHS England funded project looking at patient activation measure and social prescribing, and a co-investigator of the EpiArts project examining the relationship between art & cultural engagement and behavioural & health outcomes using US cohort data. She also works on the COVID-19 Social Study investigating the psychological and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Psychosocial | Physical Health | Older Adult Mental Health

Christina Carlisi

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

I am a Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Wellcome research fellow in the Developmental Risk and Resilience Unit at University College London. Through my fellowship, I am also affiliated with the Laboratory of NeuroGenetics at Duke University. My current research uses computational methods (e.g. computational modelling, psychophysics) to examine affective processing. I am interested in how individual differences in diverse factors such as early life experiences and neurobiological mechanisms give rise to (or protect us from) the development of mental health problems and am particularly interested in developing more sensitive measures of individual differences to study how behavioural traits such as anxiety and conduct problems develop across childhood and adolescence.

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Neuroscience | Mood Disorders | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Christine Carter

Full time PhD student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dementia | Older Adult Mental Health | Physical Health | Wellbeing | Global Mental Health | Psychosocial

Justin Chan

Neuropsychiatry CT3, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dementia | Wellbeing | Older Adult Mental Health

Richard Cole

PhD student, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Dementia

Claudia Cooper

Professor of Psychiatry of Older Age, Division of Psychiatry

I am interested in the epidemiology of older people's mental health, happiness and wellbeing, and in the mental health of carers of people with dementia. Other research interests include elder abuse - its epidemiology and prevention; and the provision of quality and equality in dementia care.

Other research interests include

Dementia | Epidemiology | Psychological Interventions | Qualitative Research

Anthony David

Professor of Mental Health Director & Sackler Chair, UCL Institute of Mental Health

I graduated in medicine from Glasgow University in 1980 and trained in neurology before entering psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital, London.  I also have a Masters degree in Cognitive Neuropsychology.  I was an honorary consultant at the Maudsley from 1990-2018 and was awarded a personal chair from the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London in 1996. I was Vice Dean for Academic Psychiatry at the IoPPN in 2013-8.

Other research interests include

Serious Mental IllnessNeuroscience | Epidemiology | Physical Health

Neil Davies 

Professor of Medical Statistics, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Cognition | Dementia | Digital Health | Epidemiology | Physical Health | Psychosocial

Quentin Dercon    

PhD student in mental health science (UCL-Wellcome programme), Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Epidemiology | Suicide and Self-harm | 

Stephen Fleming

Sir Henry Dale Fellow, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Dementia | Neuroscience Mood Disorders Psychological Interventions

Aikaterini Fotopoulou

Professor, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Katerina’s research aims to understand the interface between mental and somatic health and ultimately advance the treatment of related health disorders, including unawareness following stroke, functional motor and eating disorders. Katerina has published around 100 papers (see below for full list) and edited the volume Fotopoulou, A. Conway, M.A. Pfaff, D. From the Couch to the Lab: Trends in Psychodynamic Neuroscience. Oxford University Press, 2012. Her grant’s portfolio totals approximately 4.2 million EUR, including two ERC grants.

Other research interests include

Neuroscience Physical Health | Serious Mental Illness | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Eirini Flouri

Professor, Institute of Education

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Children and Young People's Mental Health 


India Francis-Crossley

PhD Research Student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Epidemiology | Neuroscience | Psychosocial | Serious Mental Illness


Sabina Funk

Research Associate, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Dementia | Global Mental Health Mood Disorders Neuroscience | Older Adult Mental Health | Psychological Interventions | Wellbeing

Anne Gaule

PhD Student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Psychosocial | Wellbeing | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Eriko Gavinio

PhD Student and Clinical Psychologist, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Neuroscience | Psychological Interventions | Psychosocial | Wellbeing

James Gilleen

Senior Lecturer, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Pharmacology | Psychological Interventions | Neuroscience Wellbeing Serious Mental Illness | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Sergi Costafreda Gonzalez

Associate Professor, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dementia | Serious Mental Illness | Mood Disorders | Older Adult Mental Health

Ishtar Govia

Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies

Other research interests include

Dementia | Epidemiology | Global Mental Health | Physical Health | Wellbeing | Psychological Interventions | Pychosocial | Health and Social Care | Integrated Approaches | Multimorbidity

Zoë Haime

PhD Student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Pharmacology | Psychological Interventions | Serious Mental Illness | Eating Disorders


Antonia Hamilton

Professor of Social Neuroscience, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Neuroscience Children and Young People's Mental Health


Lasana Harris

Professor of Social Neuroscience, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Neuroscience | Stigma

Tobias Hauser

Principle Research Fellow, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Digital Health | Neuroscience Pharmacology

Samuel Hewitt

PhD Student, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Mood Disorders | Neuroscience

Vivian Hill

Programme Director Doctorate in Educational, Child and Adolescent Psychology, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Psychosocial | Wellbeing | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Marjan Jahanshahi

Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Our current areas of research interest are:
1. Role of the basal ganglia in motor control, cognition and motivation and the modulatory influence of dopamine investigated through study of patients with disorders of the basal ganglia and the effect of subortical surgery.
2. Modulation of movement speed by attention and motivation in health and disease
3. Impact of movement disorders such as Parkinsons disease and dystonia on the psychosocial functioning and quality of life of the patients and their carers and more recently the effect of chronic neurological illness of a parent on their children.
We adopt a multi-technique approach and use neuropsychology, functional imaging, electrophysiological recording, and TMS in our research.

Other research interests include

Dementia | Older Adult Mental Health | Psychosocial | Physical Health 


Sunjeev Kamboj

Professor of Translational Clinical Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Mood Disorders | Psychological Interventions | Trauma | Substance abuse


Emma Jayne Kilford

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Mood Disorders | Global Mental Health | Digital Health

Peter A. Kirk

PhD in the Leverhulme Doctoral Training Program for the Ecological Study of the Brain, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Mood Disorders | Neuroscience

Christian Lambert

Principal Research Associate/Honorary Consultant Neurologist, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Dementia | Neuroscience | Parkinson's disease and Parkinsonian syndromes

Gill Livingston

Professor of Psychiatry of Older People, Division of Psychiatry

I lead the Lancet standing committee on dementia prevention, intervention and care.

Other research interests include

Dementia | Epidemiology | Older Adult Mental Health | Psychosocial

Alex Lloyd

Research Fellow, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Psychological Interventions | Psychosocial  

Maria Long

Trial Manager (NHS) and PhD student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Serious Mental Illness | Psychological Interventions | Psychosocial | Physical Health | Wellbeing | Epidemiology

Millie Lowther

PhD Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Mood Disorders | Psychological Interventions | Neuroscience

Natalie Marchant

Senior Research Fellow, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dementia | Psychological Interventions | Neuroscience | Older Adult Mental Health

Ronan McCoy

Student Advisor - Student Support and Wellbeing

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Substance abuseTrauma | Identity development


Rosie McGuire

Post-doctoral research associate, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Trauma | Psychological Interventions | Health and Social Care

Andrew McWilliams

Clinical Research Fellow and Specialist Registrar in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Epidemiology | Neuroscience | Liason Psychiatry

Carlos Mena

PhD Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Mood Disorders | Neuroscience | Psychological Interventions | Psychosocial | Anxiety

Emily Midouhas

Associate Professor, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

I take a developmental psychopathology approach to understanding: 1) The effects of the social and built environment on the emotional and behavioural problems of children; 2) The mental health of children with special educational needs across childhood and adolescence, particularly children with ADHD and autism; and 3) The role of biological factors in the association between life adversity and mental health across the lifecourse. I examine these topics using advanced quantitative analyses of large-scale longitudinal cohort data. I am also an active member of Child Behaviour and Cognition (CuBiC) lab, http://cubiclab.weebly.com.

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Psychological Interventions Children and Young People's Mental Health


Jakub Onysk

PhD Student, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Cognition | Neuroscience | Psychological Interventions | Suicide and Self-harm | Machine learning methods in the context of neuroscience and mental health 

Vasiliki Orgeta

Associate Professor, Division of Psychiatry

Dr Vasiliki Orgeta is a research psychologist interested in emotional well-being in people with dementia and their family carers. Her research focuses on the development and evaluation of  psychological and psychosocial interventions in dementia and mild cognitive impairment. She is also interested in how stress could be influencing risk of dementia and the effect of caregiving on caregivers physical and mental health.

Other research interests include

Wellbeing | Physical Health | Psychosocial | Older Adult Mental Health | Neuroscience | Epidemiology | Psychological Interventions | Mood Disorders | Dementia

Steven Papachristou

Lecturer in Psychology, Department of Psychology and Human Development

Other research interests include

Mood Disorders | Serious Mental Illness | Pharmacology Children and Young People's Mental Health

Panayiota Petrochilos

Consultant Neuropsychiatrist and Department lead for Neuropsychiatry, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Mood Disorders | Neuroscience | Dementia | Psychological Interventions

Patrizia Pezzoli

Lecturer, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Trauma

Giulia Piazza

PhD Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Mood Disorders | Psychological Interventions | Pharmacology | Neuroscience | Psychosocial

Alexandra Pike

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Mood Disorders | Psychological Interventions

Liam Pikett

Research Assistant, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dementia | Psychological Interventions | Psychosocial | Children and Young People's Mental Health


Gary Price

Consultant Neuropsychiatrist , Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dementia | Psychological Interventions | Neuroscience | Pharmacology


Priya Rajyaguru    

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellow, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Epidemiology | Global Mental Health | Mood Disorders | Psychosocial | Wellbeing

Philippa Renouf

Research Assistant, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Dementia | Wellbeing | Older Adult Mental Health | Psychological Interventions

Oliver Robinson

ICN Group Leader, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

We try to better understand anxiety disorders and 'normal' adaptive anxiety and how they relate. We use threat of shock, functional magnetic resonance imaging, computational psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychopharmacology techniques. We ultimately want to improve outcomes for sufferers of anxiety. For more details visit my lab website: www.oliverjrobinson.com

Other research interests include

Mood Disorders | Neuroscience | Pharmacology | Psychological Interventions

Jonathan Roiser

Professor of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Our aim is to understand the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying symptoms of mental illness, especially those relating to motivation. We utilise experimental techniques drawn from cognitive psychology, functional neuroimaging, psychopharmacology, and computational modelling, both in patient populations and healthy volunteers.

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Mood DisordersNeuroscience | Pharmacology Physical Health | Psychological Interventions 

David Ruttenberg

PhD Student and UCL Staff (Content Creator and PGTA), Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

I am a passionately devoted scientist & PhD candidate within the University College London's Institute of Education & Culture, Communication & Media Department's Knowledge Lab and at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience's Developmental Diversity Lab & Cognition Emotion and Education Lab (CEE) within the Centre for Attention Learning and Memory (CALM) at the Medical Research Council’s Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at University of Cambridge (CBU).

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Older Adult Mental Health | Wellbeing | Sensory, Anxiety and Attention


Azadeh Shariati

Research fellow in soft robotics    

Other research interests include

Digital Health | Children and Young People's Mental Health 

Karin Shmueli

Associate Professor in MRI, Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering

I am interested in developing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques to increase image contrast and resolution by exploiting new contrast mechanisms. The current goal of my research programme is to characterise frequency and susceptibility contrasts and to develop and translate MRI techniques exploiting these mechanisms to improve disease diagnosis and monitoring of therapies. Conventional MRI uses only the signal magnitude, but utilising the frequency (or phase) of the MRI signal has dramatically improved visualisation of tissue structure and can reveal tissue composition. During my previous post at the USA National Institutes of Health, I developed new methods to calculate tissue magnetic susceptibility maps from MRI frequency images. MRI tissue Susceptibility Mapping is an exciting technique and a rapidly growing research area. Together with my research group and collaborators, I now aim to unlock the potential of these MRI frequency and susceptibility methods to generate clinical MRI biomarkers of disease.

Other research interests include

Dementia | Neuroscience | Physical Health | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Andrew Sommerlad

Principal Research Fellow, Division of Psychiatry

Dr Sommerlad uses multiple methodologies including observational research using longitudinal cohorts and routinely collected electronic health records, qualitative research, systematic review and meta-analysis to examine clinically relevant outcomes in dementia and cognition for older people.

Other research interests include

Dementia | Neuroscience | Epidemiology | Older Adult Mental Health

Aimee Spector

Professor of Old Age Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

My research broadly focuses on the development and evaluation of psychosocial interventions and outcome measures for people with dementia. My recent research has taken a more global focus, for example I lead an MRC funded implementation trial of CST in Brazil, India and Tanzania. I work closely with colleagues from Hong Kong University and Peking University through formal strategic partnerships, with several joint projects adapting and evaluating psychosocial interventions for dementia (including digital interventions) and cultural adaptations of outcome measures. I have developed and published a range of outcome measures including measures of dementia knowledge, sense of competence, hope and resilience, and independence and engagement.

Other research interests include

Dementia | Global Mental Health | Psychological Interventions | Psychosocial

Maarten Speekenbrink

Professor of Mathematical Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Psychological Interventions | Neuroscience | AI for mental health |

Anahita Talwar

Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Mood Disorders | Neuroscience | Computational Modelling | Psychological Interventions

Muhammad Umar

Phd Student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Mood Disorders | Epidemiology | Neuroscience | psychiatric genetics

Vincent Valton

NIHR UCLH BRC Fellow - Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Mood Disorders | Pharmacology | Neuroscience

Essi Viding

Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

I combine cognitive experimental measures, twin model-fitting, brain imaging, and genotyping to study different developmental pathways to persistent antisocial behaviour and mental health problems more generally.

Other research interests include

Neuroscience Psychosocial | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Andrew Watson

Honorary Clinical Lecture, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

I combine cognitive experimental measures, twin model-fitting, brain imaging, and genotyping to study different developmental pathways to persistent antisocial behaviour and mental health problems more generally.

Other research interests include

Serious Mental Illness |Trauma | Psychological Interventions | Digital Health  

Baihan Wang

PhD Student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Serious Mental Illness


Zuyu Wang    

PhD student, Division of Psychiatry    

Other research interests include
Dementia | Epidemiology | Health and Social Care | Psychological Interventions

Lucy Webster

Research Associate, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dementia | Older Adult Mental Health | Psychological Interventions | Epidemiology

Jennifer Wenborn

Senior Clinical Research Associate - Occupational Therapist, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dementia | Psychosocial | Older Adult Mental Health | Wellbeing

Emily West

Research Fellow, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dementia | Older Adult Mental Health | Psychosocial

Sarah J White

Senior Research Fellow and Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Children and Young People's Mental Health | Developmental Disorders (Autism)


Marco Wittmann

Independent Senior Research Fellow, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Children and Young People's Mental Health | Mood Disorders | Psychosocial

Ruihan Wu

PhD Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Psychosocial | Neuroscience | Autism

Sedigheh Zabihi

Research Assistant, Division of Psychiatry

I studies my MSc in Clinical Mental Health Sciences at UCL, Division of Psychiatry and I received my BSc in Clinical Psychology from University of Tehran

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Global Mental Health | Psychosocial | Dementia


Kristina Zhelcheska 

PhD student, Queen Square Institute of Neurology    

Other research interests include

Dementia | Cognition | Children and Young People's Mental Health | Neuroscience | Older Adult Mental Health | Trauma | Mood Disorders