Nils is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Psychology, Communication and Human Neuroscience Division at the University of Manchester. He previously held postdoctoral positions at the UCL Institute of Neurology and as a Wellcome Trust and Welsh Government Health Research Fellow at CUBRIC, Cardiff University. His research uses brain network approaches to study how stress, multiple sclerosis, and other neurological conditions affect cognition. He has received awards from the ABN and BNPA, serves on editorial boards including Neurology and Scientific Reports, chaired OHBM Open Science and Communication committees, and has been funded by the BBSRC, MRC, Royal Society, and U.S. Department of Defense.

Katie is currently a final year Cognitive Neuroscience PhD student and the recipient of Graduate Teaching Assistant Studentship award. Her research focuses on the relationship between cerebrovascular health and cognitive function, using MRI metrics and statistical modelling techniques to determine the mechanisms underpinning this relationship. Her work uses large-scale datasets, such as the UK Biobank. Katie has is an active member of the outreach community, having previously held a widening participation fellowship and is the outgoing Career Development & Mentoring Manager for OHBM SP-SIG.

Meg graduated with a first-class honours degree in Psychology in 2020 and a Distinction in MSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Human Neuroimaging 2022, receiving academic awards from both. She is now pursuing a PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Manchester, exploring longitudinal models of noradrenergic changes linked to early life stress. Meg also works as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and PGR Representative, earning multiple awards, including ‘Outstanding GTA of the Year’ (2024) and the Special Recognition Award (2025).

Jess graduated from the University of Manchester with a first-class degree in Psychology and a Distinction in MSc Neuroimaging for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience. Jess is now a first-year part-time PhD student in Cognitive Neuroscience at the same university, focusing on machine learning approaches to cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis. Additionally, she works as a part-time research assistant at the Cerebral Function Unit, Salford Royal Hospital, supporting the diagnosis of rare dementias and contributing to research on conditions like progressive supranuclear palsy.

Vanesa holds an MSc in Biological Sciences and a BSc in Biomedical Sciences. She has gained extensive research experience in biomedical science and neuroscience. Her MSc project explored visual search performance in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, while her BSc project examined how norepinephrine and protocatechuic acid affect nitric oxide production in mouse adipose tissue. Currently, her research focuses on behavioural and neurobiological distinctions between fear, anxiety, and stress, and the interaction between psychosocial and physiological stress

Ryan’s PhD research focuses on the relationship between dimensions of early childhood adversity, trajectories of brain development, and the emergence of mental health problems in adolescence. Specifically, the developmental underpinnings of anhedonia - a transdiagnostic symptom characterised by a loss of ability to respond to, learn about, and value rewards. To address these questions, he uses large longitudinal neuroimaging datasets to map trajectories of structural and functional brain development in relation to early adversity and reward-processing deficits.

Yuping earned a Distinction Master’s degree in Computer Science from South China Normal University in June 2022 and began her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Manchester in October 2022, and finished in September 2025. Her research focuses on brain network mechanisms and cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis, utilising multimodal MRI and advanced network analysis. Additionally, she is developing deep learning models for medical imaging segmentation as part of a visiting research project at University College London (UCL).

Czime has an undergraduate background in Psychology, where she developed interests in executive function, language, perception, and well-being. She pursued an MSc in Neuroimaging for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, investigating EEG correlates of motion processing, followed by a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, exploring how structural and functional brain connectivity relates to cognition. She currently works in the SPiN lab, modelling functional connectivity during working memory tasks in neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and controls, and examining links with neurotransmitter mechanisms and non-invasive brain stimulation.

Liz's research explores the impact of stress on the brain and our cognitive abilities. This ranges from assessing the impact of everyday mild to moderate stressful experiences, such as job interviews, on cognitive abilities like memory, to exploring the long-term impact of highly stressful life events (such as bereavement or experiences of abuse) on the grey and white matter structure in the brain.

Her PhD work, carried out between 2017 and 2021, looked at cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) using multimodal MRI. Through a series of research studies and one systematic review, she was able to confirm the importance of brain network changes as a correlate of cognitive impairment in MS, and identify important avenues for further research.

Zhenhong He is an Assistant Professor at Shenzhen University’s School of Psychology and a doctoral supervisor at the Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Science. He earned his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Manchester in 2020. His research spans cognitive and clinical psychology, using fMRI, EEG, TMS, tDCS, eye tracking, and big data to study neuromodulation, emotional regulation, and social cognition. He has published in top journals and holds an h-index of 11.

Rose-Marie has recently graduated from an MSc in the Netherlands, with a focus on cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging. She performed her final 6-month internship with the MISC team in Manchester. In this project, Rose-Marie was investigating the widespread effects of white matter lesions in Multiple Sclerosis patients on a broader network level. By using the Disconnectome approach, she analysed the disrupted white matter connections and the distant grey matter regions involved. Rose-Marie hopes this will give us a better understanding of the differences and similarities in cognitive outcomes between patients.