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December, 2025. Upcoming talk
December, 2025. Upcoming talk
Delighted to be speaking at Advances in Motor Learning II (University of Birmingham, 11–12 December 2025). The meeting will bring together researchers working on motor learning, plasticity, and neurorehabilitation — we're looking forward to contributing.
More about the event: Advances in Motor Learning II.
Preprint out!
Preprint out!
Cutting a nerve of the hand alters the organisation of digit maps in primary somatosensory cortex. doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.26.24316490
Special thanks to our participants—it’s been a privilege working with you and seeing this project succeed.
October, 2024. WGSSS PhD Studentship
October, 2024. WGSSS PhD Studentship
Our lab member Elsie Pearce has been awarded a PhD studentship by the Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences for her project Putting a finger on peripheral nerve injury: Developing a core outcome set. Her studentship will commence in October 2024 and we look forward to continuing to work with her. Congratulations Elsie!
September, 2024. Seeing and Acting Workshop, Coimbra
September, 2024. Seeing and Acting Workshop, Coimbra
The Hand and Brain Lab had the pleasure of attending the Seeing and Acting Workshop: Functional and Neural Perspectives in Coimbra, Portugal. We were privileged to hear from several leading cognitive science/neuroscience researchers and also had the opportunity to present some of our own work during poster sessions. The workshop provided a valuable platform for discussion, collaboration, and expanding our network.
We also enjoyed sampling the local cuisine and getting to know each other a little better!
Some photos from our trip to Coimbra, featuring Elsie, Ronan, and Ben presenting their scientific posters.
July, 2024. Burgers and bocce ball...
July, 2024. Burgers and bocce ball...
It’s that time of year again! The Hand and Brain Lab gathered for our annual summer BBQ and bocce ball competition. The weather was perfect, and the food was great. We were also fortunate to have Martin, who was visiting Bangor for his graduation, join us for the occasion. Unfortunately, we couldn't persuade him to stay in Bangor!
A picture of intense focus: Martin in action.
April, 2024. Da iawn, Rebecca!
April, 2024. Da iawn, Rebecca!
Rebecca Huth, a psychology undergraduate student at Bangor University, was successful in her application for an internship position in the Hand and Brain Lab.
Rebecca will commence in the summer and we very much look forward to welcoming her to the lab.
March, 2024. Hidden Worlds of Science Festival, Bangor University
March, 2024. Hidden Worlds of Science Festival, Bangor University
The Hidden Worlds of Science Festival – an event organised by the university to encourage hands-on engagement with science – occurred on March 9th. The Hand and Brain Lab, part of the School of Psychology and Sports Science, prepared a display showcasing some of our current research interests. The turnout for the event exceeded our expectations, with over 1600 visitors on the day!
Note: A special ‘thank you’ to Lizzie Pegler, an undergraduate student currently finalising her project in the lab, for lending a hand. Great job, Lizzie!
December, 2023. Llongyfarchiadau, Dr Martin Weber!
December, 2023. Llongyfarchiadau, Dr Martin Weber!
Huge congratulations to Martin who, on Monday December 11th, passed his VIVA.
To celebrate, we headed to Bangor Pier for a much-deserved Italian meal and, later, Martin concluded the evening by having a decadent scone with butter in Blue Sky Café!
Special thanks to Martin’s external examiner, Nick Holmes, internal examiner George Houghton, and chair Mihela Erjavec.
October, 2023. New publication!
October, 2023. New publication!
Touch localization after nerve repair in the hand: insights from a new measurement tool, published in the Journal of Neurophysiology.
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jn.00271.2023
September, 2023. Tschüss, Martin
September, 2023. Tschüss, Martin
The Hand and Brain lab assembled for a minor feast at the China Hot Chili restaurant in Bangor to say ‘hwyl fawr’ - Welsh for ‘goodbye’ - to Martin and to thank him for his hard work during his time in the lab.
As a parting gift, Martin was presented with a book containing drawings by the pioneering neuroanatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Included in the book’s covers were personal messages authored by the many friends he made during his time as a PhD student at Bangor University.
Martin is not quite finished yet, though; he will return in December for his VIVA.
Lab members: Laura, Elsie, Ronan, Julia, Ben, Martin, Ken, and Harrison.
September, 2023. Elsie Pearce earns the Athena Swan: Inclusive Bangor Scholarship!
September, 2023. Elsie Pearce earns the Athena Swan: Inclusive Bangor Scholarship!
The aim of the scholarship is to highlight and celebrate diversity and inclusivity, ensure the student voice and experience is embedded in our Equality Diversity and Inclusion and Athena Swan agendas, and support the career development of students contributing to these important agendas.
Elsie was selected for the award for her ongoing contributions to EDI at Bangor and excellent academic performance at BSc level, including achieving the highest dissertation grade of her cohort.
Congratulations, Elsie!
June, 2023. Hand and Brain Lab summer BBQ
June, 2023. Hand and Brain Lab summer BBQ
The lab met at Ken’s garden for a sunny afternoon of delicious food, refreshing drinks, and lively games. The atmosphere was warm and friendly, though things did get a little intense during the bocce ball showdown. Apparently, we have a very competitive lab!
June 23, 2023. Getting in touch: A workshop bringing together neuroscience and hand clinicians to improve patient recovery.
June 23, 2023. Getting in touch workshop
June 23, 2023. Getting in touch workshop
Hand surgeons and hand therapists, patient representatives, stroke consultants and therapists, and us—basic scientists—got together and talked science, clinical challenges, and how we could help. It was a wonderful interactive exchange!
Hand surgeons and hand therapists, patient representatives, stroke consultants and therapists, and us—basic scientists—got together and talked science, clinical challenges, and how we could help. It was a wonderful interactive exchange!
Thanks all attendees, and to all of the amazing people who are part of our lab— Martin, Ben, Ronan, Elsie, Julia, Laura, Harrison, Hafsa.
Thanks all attendees, and to all of the amazing people who are part of our lab— Martin, Ben, Ronan, Elsie, Julia, Laura, Harrison, Hafsa.
May, 2023. Welcome Milena Gölz, visiting scholar
May, 2023. Welcome Milena Gölz, visiting scholar
Milena is visiting for 6 weeks, to experience lab life at Bangor. Welcome to the group!
Milena is visiting for 6 weeks, to experience lab life at Bangor. Welcome to the group!
Here is hoping we have a nice stretch of blue sky.
Here is hoping we have a nice stretch of blue sky.
Milena's trip is supported by MEiN—Mentoring with Experts and international Networking—and the University of Konstanz.
Milena's trip is supported by MEiN—Mentoring with Experts and international Networking—and the University of Konstanz.
January, 2023. Welcome to the lab!
January, 2023. Welcome to the lab!
Ben Govier joins the lab as new PhD candidate. Ben will be extending our work on better understanding hand-nerve injuries. Welcome Ben!
Ben Govier joins the lab as new PhD candidate. Ben will be extending our work on better understanding hand-nerve injuries. Welcome Ben!
December, 2022. Funding success!
December, 2022. Funding success!
We've been given support for a new PhD student, thanks to the ESRC Wales DTP collaborative studentship competition. The student and project will begin in Oct. 2023.
We've been given support for a new PhD student, thanks to the ESRC Wales DTP collaborative studentship competition. The student and project will begin in Oct. 2023.
Project title: Basic science inspired Virtual Reality gaming for upper-limb rehabilitation.
Project title: Basic science inspired Virtual Reality gaming for upper-limb rehabilitation.
Company partner: Rescape Innovation (www.rescape.health).
Company partner: Rescape Innovation (www.rescape.health).
Sept. 2022: Two new papers accepted!
Sept. 2022: Two new papers accepted!
Fitzpatrick AM, Dundon N, and Valyear KF (2022). Hand choice is unaffected by high frequency continuous theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation to the posterior parietal cortex. PLOS ONE.
*Valyear KF, *Philip B, Cirstea CM, Baune NA, Kaufman C, and Frey SH (2022). Changes in Primary Somatosensory Cortex Following Allogeneic Hand Transplantation or Autogenic Hand Replantation. Frontiers in Neuroimaging. *shared first-authorship
May 2020: Press Article
May 2020: Press Article
Advances Wales, Issue 92, Spring 2020.
Advances Wales Web: https://businesswales.gov.wales/innovation/advances-wales
December 2019: Aoife earns PhD!
December 2019: Aoife earns PhD!
Congratulations to Dr. Aoife Fitzpatrick, who passed her Viva with flying colours - no revisions necessary!
What a force. We are so very proud (including your best mate, Barlow).
Post-viva celebrations, December 2, 2019.
October 2019: New publication!
October 2019: New publication!
Valyear KF, Philip B, Cirstea CN, Chen B, Baune N, Marchal N, and Frey SH (2019). Interhemispheric transfer of post-amputation cortical plasticity within the human somatosensory cortex. NeuroImage. DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116291
For the first time, we measure brain responses to passive cutaneous stimulation of the intact digits of chronic traumatic upper-limb amputees and discover robust functional reorganisation within the former hand territory. The findings mark a heretofore missing link with existing animal models showing qualitatively similar reorganisational changes following deafferenting forelimb injuries.
April 2019: Aoife wins prestigious award!
April 2019: Aoife wins prestigious award!
Congratulations to Aoife Fitzpatrick, who received a prestigious Draper’s Company medal for excellence at the postgraduate level.
Way to go, Aoife -- well deserved!
Aoife Fitzpatrick is recognized for academic excellence, Tuesday April 2, 2019.
Grant success!
Grant success!
Mapping the consequences of peripheral nerve transection and repair on brain organisation and hand function.
Mapping the consequences of peripheral nerve transection and repair on brain organisation and hand function.
Wellcome Trust Seed Award in Science (215186/Z/19/Z)
Principal Investigator: Ken Valyear
November 2019 – 2021
£94,063
New publication!
New publication!
Seminara L, Gastaldo P, Watt SJ, Valyear KF, Zuher F, Mastrogiovanni F (2019). Active haptic perception in robots. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 13. DOI: 10.3389/fnbot.2019.00053
New PhD studentships!
New PhD studentships!
We have two new fully-funded PhD studentships available for October 2019:
Project 1: Mapping the consequences of peripheral nerve transection and repair on brain organisation and hand function.
Link to full advert: https://www.bangor.ac.uk/psychology/mapping-phd.php.en
Project 2: Movement-science inspired development of upper-limb prostheses for young children. Co-supervised by Dr. Simon Watt of Bangor University, and Ben Ryan of Ambionics (www.ambionics.co.uk).
Link to full advert: https://www.bangor.ac.uk/psychology/movement-science-phd.php.en
Please feel free to contact me directly: k.valyear@bangor.ac.uk
New publications!
New publications!
Fitzpatrick AM, Dundon N, and Valyear KF (2019). The neural basis of hand choice: An fMRI investigation of the Posterior Parietal Interhemispheric Competition model. NeuroImage, 185, 208-221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.10.039 | PDF
Valyear KF, Fitzpatrick AM, and Dundon NM (2018). Now and then: Hand choice is influenced by recent action history. Psychonomic bulletin & review. DOI: 10.3758/s13423-018-1510-1| Available here
March 2019
March 2019
Not new, but a new share link (until 24-05): Our fMRI and kinematics of grasping work with a man who received a new left hand after 13 years without one, and has recovered remarkable function.
Congrats to Michela, for her recent poster presentation at the Prosthetics EPS Workshop at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Paroli, M., Jesudason, E., Watt, S., Valyear, K.F. (March 2019). Carpal Tunnel Syndrome results in an increased reliance on vision to control grasping. Poster presented at The Psychology of Upper-limb Prosthetic use, Manchester, UK
January 2019
January 2019
Lab is back in action following our Christmas break!
Wishing all students the best of luck in their examinations, especially our newest lab members.
October 2018
October 2018
Delighted to share our new work in press! The neural basis of hand choice: An fMRI investigation of the Posterior Parietal Interhemispheric Competition model, Neuroimage. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.10.039
Well done to Aoife, who attended the British Federation of Women Graduates Regional Meeting to give her first academic talk!
September 2018
September 2018
Congratulations to lab members Hannah Clegg (pictured) and Gemma Davies for presenting their projects at the Masters Conference!
We are so proud of Hannah and Gemma on the recent submission of their Masters theses - very bright futures ahead!
August 2018
August 2018
Big thank you to Tsvetoslav Ivanov for his hard work over the course of his Summer internship!
July 2018
July 2018
Aoife presents a poster at the Progress in Clinical Motor Control: Neurorehabilitation conference at Penn State, USA!
June 2018
June 2018
Huge congratulations to Lamuel Cheung, Michaella Cronje, Benjamin Govier, Shawn Siu Ping Hiew, Benjamin Maier, Sonja Milano, Sophie Monahan, and Melvyn Ramsamy for finishing their undergraduate projects! Good luck to all in your future endeavours!
Congrats to Michela and Aoife on passing their June review assessments.
Well done to lab members Hannah and Aoife for representing the Hand and Brain Lab at the Step out for Stroke event in Chester.
The lab attends the Liverpool Neuroscience day - Ken gives a talk (pictured), Michela and Aoife present posters.
In the Media
In the Media
One hand and two hemispheres: How both sides of the brain get involved post-amputation, Bangor University News
The curious case of a blind woman who sees motion, Medical News Today
Imaging Action Choices, Psychology Software Tools newsletter
The Restructuring of Brain Function to Cope With Amputation and Subsequent Re-Transplantation, GenScript News
Links between brain and lost limbs, Columbia Missourian
Paralyzed man drinks a beer on his own, The Conversation UK
Hand Transplant, Daily Mail
Transplantation Research Holds Promise, Western Alumni Newsletter
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