Ivana Konvalinka
ivako [at] dtu.dk
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I am an Associate Professor in the Section for Cognitive Systems at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Compute) where I lead the SINe Lab. I hold a BASc in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto and an MSc in Bioengineering from Imperial College London. I obtained my PhD in neuroscience from Aarhus University under the supervision of Andreas Roepstorff and Chris Frith, investigating intra- and interpersonal mechanisms underlying social coordination. Following my PhD, I joined CogSys at DTU as a postdoc, working with Lars Kai Hansen on applying machine learning to two-brain data. From 2013-2014, I was a postdoc at the Department of Cognitive Science at the Central European University working with Natalie Sebanz and Guenther Knoblich on physiological coupling.

During my PhD years, I became interested in understanding the neural and behavioural mechanisms that enable people to engage in successful social interaction. To accomplish this, I develop experimental and computational tools for quantifying two-person processes, and employ behavioural, physiological (HRV, respiration), and neuroimaging (EEG, fMRI) methods. In particular, my interests lie in i) how people coordinate their actions and bodily signals in real time, ii) what neurophysiological mechanisms underlie joint action, particularly how simultaneous brain recordings (hyperscanning) can better elucidate the neural basis of social cognition, and iii) how interaction dynamics are modulated by social properties such as prior relationship and social standing (i.e. in social networks). My work has been funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research and Villum Fonden (by the Villum Experiment and Villum Young Investigator grants), and widely covered by media including National Geographic and The New York Times.

Qianliang Li
glia [at] dtu.dk

I hold a BSc. and MSc. in Molecular Biomedicine from the University of Copenhagen, during which I specialised in neuroscience and investigated sleep, the glymphatic system, and Alzheimer’s disease. In 2022, I obtained my PhD in machine learning from DTU Compute under the supervision of Tobias Andersen and Ivana Konvalinka, investigating potential EEG biomarkers for post-traumatic stress disorder and autism spectrum disorder.

Currently, as a postdoctoral researcher in SINe Lab, I am developing novel inter-brain methods, and investigating the neural mechanisms underlying social group interactions, and their association to social networks. Specifically, by employing hyperscanning EEG to experimental paradigms of group coordination, I am interested in characterising neural and behavioural group dynamics and their relation to group diversity.

Rui Liu
ruil [at] dtu.dk

Rui Liu (刘睿) holds a great interest in social cognition and interpersonal coordination. She obtained her MS degree at Chinese Academy of Sciences, under the supervision of Prof. Yi Jiang and Prof. Zhi Yang. There, she investigated perception of biological motion and multi-sensory integration with psychophysics and fMRI tools. She then moved from Beijing to Nijmegen for her PhD training at Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging. With the help of a group of great scientists, including her supervisor Prof. Ivan Toni, she studied human communication with motion tracking, EEG and MEG. Since 2022, she joined the SINe Lab as a postdoctoral researcher. She’s combining complex network and hyperscaning techniques to investigate the relation between social network and real-time dyadic interaction. She does watercolor and badminton in her spare time, and also likes cooking, art and history. Recently, she’s looking into Scandinavian design.

Arianna Schiano Lomoriello
arilom [at] dtu.dk

I hold a PhD in Psychological Science from the University of Padova. I also hold an MSc in Neuroscience, during which I used transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) and perceptual learning tasks in healthy and clinical populations (i.e. patients affected by optic neuropathy), in order to enhance visual acuity and movement perception by facilitating neural plasticity mechanisms.

In my current research, I employ neuroimaging techniques (EEG/ERP) and shared attention paradigms to investigate the neural underpinnings of empathy and embodied simulation processes. Specifically, I am interested in understanding how social cues conveyed by human faces, such as emotional expressions and contextual variability, might shape empathy towards others’ emotional states.

In 2018, I was a visiting PhD student in the SINe Lab, investigating the effect of social context on the perception and neural processing of emotional images using dual-EEG. I joined SINe Lab as a postdoc in April 2019.

Kathrine Schultz-Nielsen
s183929 [at] student.dtu.dk

I recently finished my bachelor degree in Artificial Intelligence and Data from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). I am very interested in using signal processing and data science to better understand the brain and its cognitive mechanisms, in particular social cognitive mechanisms. I first joined SINe Lab as a bachelor thesis student, where I investigated inter-brain connectivity methods for hyperscanning data under supervision of Ivana Konvalinka, Marius Zimmermann and Arianna Schiano Lomoriello. Currently, I am continuing on the MSc. in Human-Centered AI at DTU and working as a research assistant in the lab. My work includes standardising computational EEG-hyperscanning methods, and helping with the set-up of cognitive science experiments in the lab.

When I am not studying or working in the lab, I enjoy being outdoors whether it be running or hiking. I also have a passion for classical music (as I play the flute) and I am a knitting enthusiast.