Brainbox Initiative

Brainbox Initiative The Brainbox Initiative is a programme of activities and events aimed at supporting and nurturing early career researchers at every stage of their development.

The Brainbox Initiative is a programme of activities and events aimed at supporting and nurturing early and mid-career researchers at every stage of their development. It provides opportunities to:
> Get hands-on experience with neuroscience techniques
> Learn about the latest advances in the field
> Network with other researchers
> Gain recognition from the research community
> Share ideas and instigate new collaborations
> Raise your profile

The programme of activities include:
Research Challenge Prize
Young Investigator Award
Practical Workshops
Brainbox Initiative Conference

Details of all these activities can be found on the Brainbox Initiative website at https://brainbox-initiative.com

📣 Joining us at : Jemima Shickle💭 Jemima is a second-year PhD student at the University of Nottingham, looking at combi...
17/08/2026

📣 Joining us at : Jemima Shickle

💭 Jemima is a second-year PhD student at the University of Nottingham, looking at combining neuromodulation techniques to treat depression.

She will be joining us at BBI2026 to talk about her work researching Active Ingredients of Antidepressant Combined Stimulation.

➡️ Learn more about the Brainbox Initiative Conference at bbiconf.com

📣 Joining us at : Gabriel Mackie💭 Gabriel Mackie is a PhD student at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the U...
14/08/2026

📣 Joining us at : Gabriel Mackie

💭 Gabriel Mackie is a PhD student at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge, supervised by Prof. Camilla Nord and funded by the MRC and ESRC.

His research focuses on interoceptive processing in mental health, a transdiagnostic feature of psychopathology that is highly relevant to patient experience.

He will be joining us at BBI2026 to talk about his research into The Effects of Mid-Insula Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (TUS) on Bodily Attention.

➡️ Learn more about the Brainbox Initiative Conference at bbiconf.com

📣 Joining us at : Dr Benjamin Clennel💭 Dr Clennell is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Dr Ricci Hannah's lab at Kin...
12/08/2026

📣 Joining us at : Dr Benjamin Clennel

💭 Dr Clennell is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Dr Ricci Hannah's lab at King's College London. His research bridges non-invasive brain stimulation, neurophysiology, and plasticity, utilising cTMS to non-invasively study cortical neuron physiology and plasticity in the human brain in relation to learning and neuromodulation.

He will be joining us at BBI2026 to talk about his research into how Controllable-pulse TMS (cTMS) Reveals Intrinsic Plasticity in Human Motor Learning.

➡️ Learn more about the Brainbox Initiative Conference at bbiconf.com

📣 Joining us at : Haorun Huang💭 Haorun Huang is a PhD candidate in Neuroscience at KU Leuven and holds a Master’s degre...
05/08/2026

📣 Joining us at : Haorun Huang

💭 Haorun Huang is a PhD candidate in Neuroscience at KU Leuven and holds a Master’s degree in Neurosurgery. His research combines neuromodulation, neuroengineering, and systems neuroscience to understand how non-invasive brain stimulation interacts with neural circuits.

He will be joining us at BBI2026 to talk about his research on Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation in Cerebellar Circuits: Dissecting Central and Peripheral Contributions.

➡️ Learn more about the Brainbox Initiative Conference at bbiconf.com

📣 Joining us at : Dr Mark Turnbull💭 Dr Turnbull recently completed his PhD in Psychology at Northumbria University. His...
03/08/2026

📣 Joining us at : Dr Mark Turnbull

💭 Dr Turnbull recently completed his PhD in Psychology at Northumbria University. His research focuses on the interaction between sleep homeostasis and circadian timing and how these processes influence neural processes and cognitive performance across the sleep-wake cycle.

His work combines the use of TMS and EEG to investigate changes in corticospinal excitability and neural markers of sleepiness during the biological night.

He will be joining us in London to talk about his work on ‘Sleep-Wake Regulation of Corticospinal Excitability’

➡️ Learn more about the Brainbox Initiative Conference at bbiconf.com

📣 Joining us at : Dr Alekhya Mandali💭 Dr Mandali is a lecturer at the School of Psychology, University of Sheffield, an...
31/07/2026

📣 Joining us at : Dr Alekhya Mandali

💭 Dr Mandali is a lecturer at the School of Psychology, University of Sheffield, and heads the Cognitive Computational Neuropsychiatry lab.

Her current research focuses on two themes: understanding how electrical stimulation protocols affect cortical hyperexcitability and its reduction, and developing neuromodulatory interventions for impulsive-compulsive disorders, particularly alcohol use disorder.
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She will be joining us in London to talk about her research ‘Exploring effects of multiple tES paradigms on motor cortex excitability: a double-blind sham controlled study.’

➡️ Learn more about the Brainbox Initiative Conference at bbiconf.com

📣 Joining us at : Dr Liyi Chen💭 Dr Liyi Chen is a neuroscientist and postdoctoral researcher at the Leuven Brain Instit...
29/07/2026

📣 Joining us at : Dr Liyi Chen

💭 Dr Liyi Chen is a neuroscientist and postdoctoral researcher at the Leuven Brain Institute at KU Leuven in Belgium.

With a clinical background in neurology, his research focuses on the mechanisms and translational potential of non-invasive neuromodulation. By combining in vivo multichannel electrophysiology, human EEG and intracranial EEG recordings, and cross-species experimental approaches, he investigates how neuromodulation influences neuronal excitability, hippocampal–cortical circuits, memory processing, and cognition.

His talk at the BBI2026 conference will cover his research on ‘A Cross-Species Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation Approach to Non-Invasive Modulation of Hippocampal Memory Circuits’

➡️ Learn more about the Brainbox Initiative Conference at bbiconf.com

📣 Joining us at : Associate Professor Melanie Fleming 💭 Dr Fleming leads the NeuroRehabilitation Research group in the ...
27/07/2026

📣 Joining us at : Associate Professor Melanie Fleming

💭 Dr Fleming leads the NeuroRehabilitation Research group in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford. The aim of the group is to better understand the role of sleep in learning and recovery after brain injury, and to test novel techniques to boost sleep and rehabilitation processes.

She will be joining us in London to talk about her work in understanding perceptions and barriers to translation of non-invasive brain stimulation for neurological conditions.

➡️ Learn more about the Brainbox Initiative Conference at bbiconf.com

📣 Joining us at : Sjoerd Meijer💭 Sjoerd Meijer is a PhD student at the Verhagen Lab at the Donders Centre for Cognition...
24/07/2026

📣 Joining us at : Sjoerd Meijer

💭 Sjoerd Meijer is a PhD student at the Verhagen Lab at the Donders Centre for Cognition.

Passionate about circuit-level neuroimaging and neuromodulation, he aims to discover how brain stimulation can alleviate anxiety in humans by using a combination of state-of-the-art brain stimulation techniques, behavioural tasks, and functional neuroimaging to map causal brain-behaviour relationships.

His talk at the 2026 Brainbox Initiative Conference will cover his work: ‘Ultrasonic neuromodulation shows the human amygdala learns threats fast, and forgets slow.’

➡️ Learn more about the Brainbox Initiative Conference at bbiconf.com

📣 Joining us at : Dr Polytimi Frangou💭 Dr Polytimi Frangou is a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre fo...
22/07/2026

📣 Joining us at : Dr Polytimi Frangou

💭 Dr Polytimi Frangou is a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (OxCIN) and the Brain Network Dynamics Unit (BNDU) at the University of Oxford.

Dr Frangou is interested in the neurophysiological mechanisms through which brain chemicals GABA and acetylcholine facilitate human cognitive function and brain plasticity. To address these questions, she combines ultra-high field MRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy with pharmacology and non-invasive brain stimulation, in healthy individuals and clinical populations.

Her talk at the 2026 Brainbox Initiative Conference will delve into her research in ‘Enhancing cholinergic signalling non-invasively in the human brain: evidence from pharmaco-TMS, pharmaco-MRI and TUS studies.’

➡️ Learn more about the Brainbox Initiative Conference at bbiconf.com

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Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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