CV

Education

• Ph.D in Computational Psychiatry
  • 2020 - 2023 (expected)
  • University College London (UK), International Max Planck Research Schools (DE)
• Dual Masters in Brain and Mind Sciences
  • 2018 - 2020
  • University College London (UK), Ecole Normale Supérieure (FR), Sorbonne University (FR)
• BSc in Psychology
  • 2015 - 2018
  • University Clermont Auvergne (FR), Erasmus year: University of Kent (UK)

Research Experience

• Bachlab, Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry
  • Oct 2020 – Present, London (UK)
  • PhD Project “The cognitive and computational characteristics of threat avoidance”
• Computational Unit of Motivation, Brain, Behaviour Lab, at Paris Brain and Spine Institute
  • Sept 2019 – Sept 2020, Paris (FR)
  • MSc Project “The effect of motivation on the regulation of emotional attention”
• Metalab, UCL Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging
  • Oct 2018 – Aug 2019, London (UK)
  • MSc Project “The effect of mood on confidence and metacognition”
• Samandouras Lab, National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery
  • Aug 2018 – Sept 2019, London (UK)
  • Graduate Research Assistant
• Javadi Lab, Cognitive Enhancement Lab
  • Jan 2018 – Aug 2018, Canterbury (UK)
  • Undergraduate Research Assistant

Publications

1. Sporrer, J.K., Brookes, J., Hall , S., Zabbah, S., Serratos Hernandez, U.D., Bach, D.R. (2022). Computational characteristics of human escape decisions. doi: 10.31234/osf.io/z52tq
2. Bach, D.R., Sporrer, J.K., Abend, R., Beckers, T., Dunsmoor, J.E., Fullana, M.A., Gamer, M., Gee, D.G., Hamm, A., et al. (2022). Consensus design of a calibration experiment for human fear conditioning. doi:10.31234/osf.io/2j9c7
3. Sefcikova, V., Sporrer, J.K., Juvekar, P., Golby, A., Samandouras, G. (2022). Converting sounds to meaning with ventral semantic language networks; integration of interdisciplinary outputs on brain connectivity, direct electrical stimulation, and clinical disconnection syndromes. Brain Structure and Function, 1-20.
4. Sefcikova, V., Sporrer, J.K., Ekert, J.O., Kirkman, M.A., Samandouras, G. (2020). High interrater variability in intraoperative language testing and interpretation in awake brain mapping among neurosurgeons and neuropsychologists: An emerging need for standardization. World Neurosurgery, 141, e651–e660.

For links, see “Publications” tab or my [Google Scholar] (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J5c7EoUAAAAJ&hl=en)

Conferences

• 5th Symposium and Advanced Course on Computational Psychiatry
  • Aug 2022, Öhningen (DE)
  • Participated in workshops on “Reproducible research in R” and “Neural replay and cognitive maps”
• European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
  • Jun 2021, Budapest (HU)
  • Taught a workshop on psychophysiological modelling of skin conductance responses using MATLAB
• Max Planck Institute Deep Learning Course
  • Dec 2020, Berlin (DE)
  • Participated in workshop on perceptron, neural networks, and backpropagation using Python
• Zurich Computational Psychiatry Course
  • Sept 2020, Zurich (CH)
  • Participated in workshops on “Bayesian learning using the hierarchical gaussian filter”
• Congress of Neurological Surgeons Conference
  • Oct 2019, San Francisco (US)
  • Awarded travel grant ($1,000) to present a poster on intraoperative testing in awake craniotomies
• CogX, The Festival of AI and Emerging Technology
  • Jul 2019, London (UK)
  • Attended and volunteered as a speaker chaperone at the AI Ethics stage
• World Course in Brain Tumor Surgery
  • Jun 2019, London (UK)
  • Managed logistics to set up the daily workshops as a member of the organising committee
• Hands-on Course in White Matter Surgery and Brain Network
  • Mar 2019, London (UK)
  • Participated in brain dissection and was part of the organising committee

Public Engagement

• UCL Neuroscience Careers Network, Communications Officer
  • Nov 2020 – Present
  • Seeking to promote the professional development of UCL neuroscientists outside of academia
• Entrepreneur First, Student Partner
  • Dec 2020 – Jun 2021
  • Organised events to bridge the gap between academia and entrepreneurship
• In2ScienceUK, Speaker
  • Aug 2019
  • Encouraged A-level students to join STEM and research

Skills

• Programming Languages: R, R shiny, MATLAB, Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, PHP, SQL
• Mathematics: Linear Algebra, Advanced Statistics, Machine Learning, Reinforcement Learning
• Languages: French (Native), German (Native), English (Fluent)