Anna is a developmental researcher interested in the neurobiological mechanisms underlying individual differences in infant’s behaviour. She works with large scale genetic datasets (Genetics of Early Milestones and Skills, or GEMS project) and lab-based individualised neuroimaging approaches (Behavioural and Online Neuroimaging to study the Development of Socialisation, or BONDS project) to identify early signs of atypical developmental trajectories and help device evidence-based personalised support for families of neurodiverse children.
Ellie is a post-doctoral researcher interested in how early experiences relate to young children’s neurocognitive development. She is passionate about increasing the diversity of participants and researchers in development cognitive neuroscience research and has experience with methods which may facilitate more diverse participation.
Rianne Haartsen is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London working with Emily Jones. Rianne is interested in individual variability in developmental trajectories in neurodiverse populations. Her work focuses on brain responses and networks from infancy to adulthood measured with the use of electrophysiology (EEG). She further develops robust, scalable, and personalised measures of brain activity across development for implementation in clinical settings and global health settings.
Personal statement:
I was excited to join the network because of their broad focus on neurodevelopment rather than autism only. I was also motivated to engage in multidisciplinary collaborations as I believe these will lead to new innovative neurotechnology with a wider use so we can move towards more inclusive research and practise.
Chiara Bulgarelli is a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellow at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London. She is currently using cutting edge technologies, like immersive virtual-reality and wearable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), to investigate the development of empathy in toddlers. In the next future she hopes to validate this set-up for the study of atypical social skills development.
Personal Statement
I was interested in being part of the R4N network as I strongly believe that to understand neurodevelopment we need reliable neuroimaging tools. It is mandatory that moving forwards scientists in the developmental neuroscience field work on dropping attrition rate of their studies in order to being able to assess as many and as diverse participants as possible. For this goal, experts in the field need to join forces and inform neurotechnologies companies of our needs, and this network uniquely provides the opportunity to do so. I am also delighted to serve the Early Career Network as it is worth leveraging the chance of a network of scientists from different institutions and different levels of seniority to contribute to the most junior’s career development and to form across-institution collaborations.