Inauguration event showcased the Centre’s mission to advance research in clinical and neurodevelopmental, social, mathematical, and cognitive neuroscience through interdisciplinary collaboration
By Mr George Wigmore (Senior Communications Officer), Published
City, University of London launched its new Centre for Clinical, Social & Cognitive Neuroscience (CSCN) at an event in June that featured talks on cutting-edge neuroscience from resident academics and partners.
The inauguration event, hosted by Centre Co-Directors Professor Tina Forster and Dr Anne-Kathrin Fett, showcased the Centre’s mission to advance research in clinical and neurodevelopmental, social, mathematical, and cognitive neuroscience through interdisciplinary collaboration.
Professor Leanne Aitken, Vice-President for Research & Enterprise, opened the event with a warm welcome, emphasising the Centre’s role in driving innovation and fostering collaborations across various domains of neuroscience and psychology. She highlighted the Centre’s commitment to addressing the complex challenges of mental health disorders by integrating clinical, social, and cognitive neuroscience.
The symposium featured several prominent speakers from the new Centre, and they discussed their latest findings and advancements in the field.
Professor Danai Dima spoke about the intricate relationship between genetics, brain function, and mental health. She stressed the potential of polygenic risk scores in the prediction of mental health disorders, such as schizophrenia, and spoke about the need to bridge the gap between brain anatomy and genetics through worldwide collaborations and big data.
Dr Dimitris Pinotsis then gave a talk on the use of computational psychiatry and neuromarketing to study patient and consumer behaviour. He highlighted the integration of diverse neuroscience data sets to identify common patterns and trends, emphasising the need for understanding underlying biophysics and behaviour for accurate predictions.
Dr Andreas Kappes presented his research about confirmation biases and the brain’s reaction to disagreement and strategies for improving communication in challenging conversations. He explained how people process conflicting information and why this is important with respect to conversations around health-related behaviours.
Finally, Professor Beatriz Calvo Merino gave a presentation on the neural mechanisms of aesthetic perception, such as observing dance or musical performance. Her research reveals that expertise modulates body perception and brain activity, suggesting that training supports cognitive and neural plasticity.
The event also featured talks from partners, including Hana Villar, Clinical Director of Mind CHWF in East London and a PhD student at City, who talked about the psychological and psychophysiological change mechanisms modulated by mindfulness training and showed that mindfulness training as opposed to being on a waitlist has beneficial effects on stress, anxiety and depression.
Waltteri Nybom from Autistica then spoke about their Neurodiversity Employers Index (NDEI) and insights from big data. Waltteri centred the conversation around the employment challenges faced by neurodivergent individuals, including those with autism, ADHD and dyslexia. He emphasised the need for companies to improve interview processes and work environments to better support these individuals.
In his concluding remarks, Professor Steve Gillard, Professor of Mental Health Research and Associate Dean for Research & Enterprise, praised the Centre’s broad and deep exploration of genetics, computational approaches, mindfulness, and creativity. He emphasised the importance of partnership and interdisciplinary collaboration in achieving research impact.
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