Prof. Fofi Constantinidou (0000-0002-7928-8363), Ph.D., CCC-SLP, CBIS, is Director of the Center for Applied Neuroscience (CAN) and Professor of Language Disorders and Clinical Neuropsychology. She is a certified and licensed Speech-Language pathologist in the USA (ASHA) and Cyprus, a Certified Brain Injury Specialist (BIAA) and an expert on the neuropsychological outcomes of acquired neurological disorders. Prior to her return to Cyprus, she was Professor of Speech Pathology and Audiology at Miami University, Ohio, USA. She publishes and presents her work extensively and has received several grants (> 9m euros; 3 m euros as Coordinator) from the National Institutes of Health (USA), the Cyprus Research & Innovation Foundation, the European Union and the industry. She partners in large EU networks and is the national sponsor for the clinical trials arm of the EU funded project, SENSE-Cog. A neurorehabilitation researcher, Fofi and her research team at the Neurocognitive Research Laboratory investigate acquired brain conditions (e.g., brain injury, aging, and stroke) and their effects on neuropsychological, in particular  memory, language, executive systems, and categorization. Her team is focuses on the neurophysiological underpinnings of brain-behavior mechanisms and the effectiveness of neuroscience based treatment protocols. Constantinidou holds various leadership positions in Cyprus, the US, and other European and International organizations and serves on several Advisory Boards. She is Chair of the International Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group and the first international member to be elected on the Board of Governors of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM). She is also the current president of the Cyprus Association of Registered Speech-Language Pathologists and the Deputy Chair of the European Speech Language and Therapy Association. Fofi has received several awards, including the 2013 Distinguished Researcher Award of the Cyprus Research & Innovation Foundation for her work on the Neurocognitive Study on Aging (NEUROAGE), the first longitudinal study on cognitive aging in Cyprus. Constantinidou is a Fellow of ACRM and Fellow of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association. She is the 2019 recipient of the Distinguished Member Award of ACRM.

Dr. Eva Pettemeridou (0000-0001-5081-0042) is a licensed clinical psychologist and a full-time Postdoctoral Researcher at the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence (CoE) and the Center for Applied Neuroscience (CAN), at the University of Cyprus. She has received a PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Cyprus, a MSc. in Research Methods in Psychology at the University of Surrey, and a BA in Psychology at the University of Cyprus. Her research interests lie within the general field of acquired brain injury, with a focus on neuropsychological performance, brain morphology via MRI, quality of life and patient monitoring. Currently, she conducts research at the KIOS CoE and the CAN with a focus on patient pattern recognition, assessment, monitoring and rehabilitation. She is also conducting research on long-COVID as part of the BRAINN project, at CAN. She has research experience with transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, as she has designed the protocol and trained CAN personnel on the use of the device, for CAN’s ACESO project (EXCELLENCE/0918/117). She is also the Communications Officer for the International Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group of the ACRM and a board member of the Cyprus Stroke Association.

Dr. Maria Constantinou (0000-0003-2082-5926) is Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Cyprus (2020-present). She obtained a BSc(Hons) in Neuroscience with Industrial/Professional Experience (2012) and a PhD in Neuroscience (2016) at The University of Manchester, UK. Before joining UCY, she was postdoctoral researcher in computational neuroscience and functional neuroimaging at the Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Rovereto, Italy (2017-2020). She has expertise in large data analysis (MRI, fMRI, electrophysiology, two-photon calcium imaging), statistics, digital signal processing, machine learning, neural network models, information theory and transfer entropy. Her research interests are to decipher the mechanisms underlying cognitive processes; identify biomarkers of brain pathology; and assist in developing interventions that will improve patients’ health outcomes.

Dr. Flora Nikolaou (0000-0003-4616-7861) is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Applied Neuroscience (CAN), at the University of Cyprus. She has received a PhD in Clinical Psychology, including more than 1500 hours of clinical practice, at the University of Cyprus, a MSc in Neuroscience with Distinction at the Cyprus School of Molecular Medicine of The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics and a BA in Psychology at University of Cyprus. Her research interests revolve around neurological disorders, particularly traumatic brain injury (TBI), with a specific emphasis on gender-related aspects, particularly in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV) and its associated brain injuries. Through her PhD, she pioneered the development of the program Bridging the Gap between IPV and Brain Injury: Assessment, Prevalence and Neuropsychological Insights, focusing on the intersection of IPV and brain injuries. Additionally, she actively participates in various research programs related to brain health.

Kalia Lofitou (0009-0003-5140-8399) is a registered psychologist and serves as a Special Scientist at the Center for Applied Neuroscience (CAN) at the University of Cyprus. Concurrently, she is pursuing her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the same institution. She earned her BSc in Psychology from Université de Bordeaux and her MSc in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Development from Université Libre de Bruxelles. Her research spans several areas, primarily focusing on paediatric mild Traumatic Brain Injury and its interrelation with sleep-wake disturbances. She is also interested in neuropsychological and cognitive assessment as well as intervention and rehabilitation procedures. In addition to her primary research interests, Kalia is also exploring the applications of machine learning algorithms in neuropsychology, aiming to leverage computational methods for more precise diagnostics and treatment outcomes.

Maria Loizidou (0009-0003-9436-6360) is currently completing her PhD in Clinical Psychology, at the University of Cyprus and serves as a Special Scientist at the Center for Applied Neuroscience. She has received a MSc in Clinical Neuroscience from University College London and a BSc Hons in Psychology from the University of Surrey. Her research interests mainly focus on the psychosocial consequences of neurodegenerative disorders for patients and families, as well as intervention and rehabilitation procedures.


Dr. Georgios Nikolopoulos (0000-0002-3307-0246) is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus. He earned his PhD (2008) in Epidemiology at the Medical School of the University of Athens, Greece and has served the Greek Public Health Agency for more than a decade contributing to national strategic plans on public health, to establishing and coordinating surveillance systems, and representing Greece to the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. He has extensively investigated the dynamic characteristics of infectious diseases, including the molecular parameters of transmission, and a recent, big HIV outbreak among people who inject drugs in Athens. Dr G. Nikolopoulos, following an international competition (2012), received a 18-month postdoctoral research fellowship that was funded (75,000 $US) by the International AIDS Society (IAS) and the United States (US) National Institute of Health and has been the site (Athens, Greece) principal investigator of a multicenter prevention study entitled “Transmission Reduction Intervention Project – TRIP” that was funded by the National Institute on Health (NIH-NIDA DP1 DA034989 grant) with approximately 500,000 $US managed by the Athenian site. Dr G. Nikolopoulos has expertise in the conduct of systematic reviews and meta-analyses with useful contributions to the etiology of noncommunicable diseases and to the evolving domain of genetic epidemiology. He has published 95 peer-reviewed papers in journals and has received around 1700 citations (per Google Scholar) on his work (h-index: 23).

Dr. Artemios Artemiadis (0000-0001-9435-9644) is a visiting Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Medical School of University of Cyprus since October 2018. He graduated from the Medical School of National Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2005 and was board-certified as clinical neurologist in 2016. He achieved his Master of Science degree with distinction, on “The Science of Stress and Health Promotion” from the Medical School of National Kapodistrian University of Athens, in 2011. In 2018, he obtained his PhD degree with distinction by the same University, for his study on the cognition in multiple sclerosis. He has also been certified as clinical investigator by the European Society of Clinical Investigation. His clinical and research interests include multiple sclerosis, cognition, volumetric brain imaging analysis, clinical neurophysiology, psychoneuroendocrinology of stress and a large spectrum of neurological diseases including dementias, epilepsy and stroke. So far, his main scientific contributions include scientific research on cognition in multiple sclerosis and on the role of stress management in neurological and non-neurological diseases. He has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications in the field of clinical neurology and stress and has coached and mentored over 50 post-graduate students. He has a long teaching experience in clinical neurology, methodology of stress and stress psychoneuroendocrinology in the affiliated Universities. He is also a reviewer in several reputable peer-reviewed neurological journals.0000-0001-9435-9644


Prof. Christos Panayiotou (0000-0002-6476-9025) is the Deputy Director of the KIOS Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence, and Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Cyprus. Prof. Panayiotou has received a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in 1994 and 1999 respectively. He also received an MBA from the Isenberg School of Management, at the aforementioned university in 1999. His research expertise is in wireless, ad hoc and sensor networks, fault diagnosis, computer communication networks, quality of service (QoS) provisioning, optimization and control of discrete-event systems, distributed control systems, resource allocation, simulation, transportation networks and manufacturing systems. He was involved in various projects funded by the European Commission and the Research Promotion Foundation of Cyprus that involve path planning algorithms, collaboration be-tween mobile and stationary sensor nodes, localisation techniques in the context of wireless networks, environmental monitoring using wireless sensor networks, critical infrastructure protection, interdependencies between critical infrastructures, etc. In 2003, his team was awarded the first prize in the Cyprus Entrepreneurial Competition CyEC 2003 for the Business Plan of a start-up “Meta-imaging Centre” and he was founder and served on the board of two startup companies. Currently, he leads a research team of 4 post-doctoral researchers, 4 Ph.D. students, and several M.S. and undergraduate students. He has co-authored more than 180 articles and book chapters in refereed international journals, conferences and research books, and has participated in more than 30 research projects. He is an Associate Editor for the Conference Editorial Board of the IEEE Control Systems Society, the European Journal of Control, and the Journal of Discrete Event Dynamical Systems. He served as the General Co-Chair of the International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks (ICANN 2009) and as the Program Chair of the International Conference of the Critical Information Infrastructures Security (CRI-TIS2014). He is a senior member of the IEEE. Prof. Christos Panayiotou, as an expert in optimization and distributed collaboration schemes, will assist in sensor deployment, sensor communication and data fusion schemes.

 


Prof. Chris Baeken (0000-0001-9885-3041) Chris Baeken, MD, PhD is a qualified psychiatrist and Associate Professor in Psychiatry (100%) at the Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent University, UZGent, Belgium and at the Department of Psychiatry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), UZBrussel, Belgium. He is also senior research associate with the Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, the Netherlands. As Principal Investigator of the Ghent Experimental Psychiatry lab (GHEP) his main research goals are to gain more insight into the underlying mechanisms of emotional brain processes in both the ‘healthy’ and the ‘mentally affected’ brain. To investigate the neurobiological basis of emotion processing, he uses multimodal neuroimaging techniques (MRI, fMRI, MR spectroscopy, (S)PET, etc.) in combination or not with neurostimulation techniques, such as rTMS, tES, and (t)VNS. In recent years, his research has focused on the development of new stimulation parameters for stress-related mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and autism, but also for neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and dementia.

Stefanie De Smet (0000-0002-3764-3734) is an experimental psychologist and PhD candidate at Ghent University’s Department of Head and Skin. As a member of the Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) lab, she is dedicated to exploring the underlying mechanisms of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), and transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS). Her primary research objective is to deepen our understanding of how these techniques modulate the excitability of the (prefrontal) cortex and their impact on cognitive and affective processes related to prefrontal functioning, such as working memory and emotion regulation. In 2020, Stefanie was awarded a prestigious PhD Fellowship in fundamental research by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). Her fellowship focuses on investigating the combined effects of brain stimulation techniques using a multimodal approach that integrates neuroimaging, psychophysiological assessments, and behavioral measurements. Through her comprehensive research endeavors, Stefanie aims to advance our knowledge of these stimulation techniques and their potential applications in the field of psychiatry.

 

Prof. Alexander Sack (0000-0002-1471-0885) is Professor of Brain Stimulation and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience at the Faculty of Psychology & Neuroscience, Maastricht University and one of the world’s foremost pioneers and influential leaders in brain stimulation research, aiming to uncover the neurobiological and psychological principles underlying human cognition. He is considered to be the world expert in combining brain stimulation with brain imaging techniques, regularly invited as keynote speaker on these topics, with theoretical and methodological scientific breakthroughs (>160 articles in highest ranking journals e.g. Science, Nature Communications, Neuron). In 2012, Dr. Sack was appointed as member of DJA within the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), and in 2013 member of The Young Academy of Europe (YAE). In 2015, Sack founded and is currently still chairman of the Dutch-Flemish Brain Stimulation Foundation, aiming to promote scientific research and collaboration in the field of non-invasive brain stimulation and its translation to clinical practice. Sack is also board member of the European Society of Brain Stimulation, thanks to which TMS is now being considered a first-line treatment for depression according to recent European guidelines. Since 2017, Sack is also director of the interfaculty Center for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), at which all activities about neuroscience, research, innovation and patientcare are framed within an interdisciplinary cooperation. In 2019, Sack was appointed director of the TMS Clinic at the Maastricht University Medical Center, coordinating all experimental and clinical research using NIBS. Sack is also Principal Investigator (PI) of the research section “Brain Stimulation and Cognition” at the Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre. Prof. Dr. Sack has received several international prices, grants, and awards, including, e.g., NWO VENI (2004), NWO VIDI (2006), NWO VICI (2016), and ERC Consolidator grant (2011).

Dr. Teresa Schuhmann (0000-0003-2916-8141) is Associate Professor in Neuromodulation. She obtained her master’s degree in Neuropsychology from Maastricht University, where she also completed her Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience. Since then, she has conducted extensive research in various areas of brain function and behaviour, with a specific focus on non-invasive brain stimulation and its cognitive effects. She has published in high-impact journals on topics such as the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation in smoking cessation, the functional relevance of right DLPFC and VMPFC in risk-taking behaviour, and the effects of non-invasive brain stimulation on cognitive control in healthy adults. Currently, she is an Associate Professor of Applied Neuromodulation and the Principal Investigator of Clinical Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation at the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. She leads a research group that is currently running various nation-wide projects involving neglect patients, including developing and implementing non-invasive brain stimulation techniques and digitised training programs. Dr. Schuhmann is a board member of the Dutch-Flemish Brain Stimulation Foundation, which aims to promote scientific research and collaboration in the field of non-invasive brain stimulation and its translation to clinical practice.

Dr. Jelena Trajkovic (0000-0002-1215-2410) is a postdoc at the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Maastricht, where she is conducting research as part of the Brain Stimulation and Cognition group led by Prof. Alexander Sack. She finished her PhD at the University of Bologna, and also previously worked at the University of Glasgow. Her main research topics are the oscillatory mechanism of conscious perception. Specifically, by using neuroimaging and neurostimulation techniques (EEG and rhythmic-TMS), she studies how the processing of the visual information and its subjective interpretation are distinguishable in terms of distinct oscillatory mechanisms, and if they can be selectively manipulated via non-invasive brain stimulation. Likewise, her studies also look at how the efficiency of our conscious experience can be maximized through the interaction of these two mechanisms. Finally, she is also interested in the individual differences in how we build our conscious experience, especially pronounced in some neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism or schizophrenia. Some of her leading works on the topic have been published in high impact factor journals such as Current Biology, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews and Journal of Neuroscience.

 

Prof. Steven Williams (0000-0003-4299-1941) is the founder and Head of Department of Neuroimaging at the Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, based at the IoPPN and Maudsley Hospital, King’s College London. Steven has co-authored over 500 papers and chapters in leading neuroscience journals and has already achieved an h-index of >110 and more than 50,000 citations for his work. He graduated from Loughborough University in 1985 and spent a formative year working for   Beecham Pharmaceuticals in Harlow before seeking the first ever PhD in Magnetic Resonance Imaging from the University of Cambridge.  He went on to set up a University of London Intercollegiate Imaging facility which focused on the development and application of magnetic resonance techniques in a wide range of pre-clinical models of disease. In the mid ‘90s he then moved to the Institute of Psychiatry to champion the application of neuroimaging in a broad range of neurological and psychiatric disorders and, in 2014 he was elected a Fellow to the Academy of Medical Sciences in recognition of his scientific achievements. For the past decade Steven has aimed to make brain imaging an essential clinical tool in neuropsychiatry. He is extremely grateful for the wide range of funding which supports him and his department. These include the Wellcome Trust, NIHR, Medical Research Council, EPSRC and European Union as well as numerous industrial partners including GSK, GE Healthcare, Pfizer, Lilly, Roche, Eisai, Takeda and Janssen. He is a member of CAN Advisory Board.

Dr. Fernando Zelaya (0000-0002-9525-1560) is a physicist with more than 20 years of experience in Magnetic Resonance Imaging. He initially participated in the implementation of several MRI techniques for Diffusion Weighted imaging and image guided MR spectroscopy. In the last decade he has devoted his time to the development and application of MRI methods to derive whole brain, quantitative, high-resolution images of regional Cerebral Blood Flow using Arterial Spin Labelling (ASL). In this capacity, he was an active member of an EU funded Cost Action for the application of ASL in dementia. In the last few years, he has contributed to the establishment of non-invasive techniques to determine regional Oxygen Extraction fraction at his institution, in both healthy subjects and in patients. His expertise was recently deployed in a large, United Kingdom-wide study of neurological sequelae in Covid-19 patients, contributing to the harmonization of MRI protocols across several scanner manufacturers. Dr Zelaya has published 125 peer-reviewed articles in the field of MRI (h-index 49).