Jacqueline Scholl (PI) studied Natural Sciences (Psychology and Physiology) at the University of Cambridge (2007-2010) before moving to Oxford for an MSc (2010-2011) and a DPhil (2011-2016). In her DPhil, she investigated the neural and pharmacological mechanisms of learning and decision-making using functional MRI, MRI spectroscopy and drug manipulations, in the PERL lab, supervised by Catherine Harmer . Since then she has held an MRC Skills Development Fellowship (2016-2022, sponsor: Matthew Rushworth ) in which she has examined the neural mechanisms of attributional styles in depression. She has also held a BBSRC Discovery Fellowship (2021-2022) to understand how the brain uses emotions to prioritize behaviours. In April 2022, she moved to the Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre (France) to take up a staff scientist position funded by the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm, National Institute of Health and Medical Research). Her work is currently funded by an ERC Starting Grant, the Group Hospitalier Universitaire Paris and the Vinatier Hospital. 

Clémence Alméras (Postdoc). Clemence did her PhD at the ENS-PSL in Paris, under the supervision of Valentin Wyart. In her PhD work, she used carefully controlled decision-making tasks to characterize sampling behaviour in situations of free exploration – i.e. how do we look for information when we don’t yet know how we are going to use it. In her postdoc, she uses gamified tasks to probe how affective states are integrated into decision making processes – i.e. how the way we feel affects the way we decide, and how our decisions feedback into the way we feel.

Anastasios Dadiotis (PhD student, main supervisor: Guillaume Sescousse, CRNL, Lyon).  Anastasios is a PhD student in Neuroscience at University Lyon 1, focusing on gambling addiction and emotions using fMRI, structural MRI, and Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). He holds a Master's in Stress Science and a Bachelor's in Psychology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where he investigated problematic use of social media using behavioral modelling and psychometrics.

Tristan White (PhD student, co-supervisor: Nils Kolling, SBRI, Lyon). After studying biology, political sciences, and the psychology of public opinion regarding climate change, I worked in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, studying primate behaviour in the wild. I then completed my Masters in Neuroscience in Marseille, studying molecular and cellular neurobiology, electrophysiology, and specialising in behavioural, cognitive and computational neuroscience. My 1st year thesis was on spatio-temporal representation and cognition, working on rodent hippocampal place cells and macaque superior colliculus electrophysiology. For my 1st placement I worked for 2 months in A. Meguerditchian’s lab on Olive Baboon MRI data, investigating the ties between behavioural and neuroanatomical asymmetries. Then as part of my 2nd placement, and later as a research assistant, I worked in E. Fouragnan’s Lab, investigating the functional and neurochemical effects of transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) in humans. During this time, I also completed a short form degree in Data Science in Marseille, using the acquired machine learning data analysis techniques for the TUS project.

As part of my PhD, supervised by N. Kolling and J. Scholl, I am looking into the effects of interindividual differences and emotions on sequential decision making, via behavioural modelling, webcam-based emotion recognition, fMRI, and TUS.

Noémie Goeuriot (PhD student, main supervisor: Nils Kolling, SBRI, Lyon.

Youcef Kessi (PhD student). My name is Youcef Kessi and I am currently a PHD student, passionate about understanding the mechanisms that shape our behaviors, decisions, and perceptions. My background is decidedly multidisciplinary, at the intersection of computer science, mathematics, statistics, artificial intelligence (machine learning and deep learning), bioinformatics, and public health fields such as epidemiology and pharmacology.

In particular, I completed a medical research internship, during which I developed an AI solution integrating machine learning to automate the sorting and interpretation of genetic variants in the context of somatic diagnosis at HCL—an experience that confirmed the impact of AI in healthcare.

I then had the opportunity to work with Jacqueline Scholl on the neural circuits that enable humans to learn, decide, and adapt—and how these mechanisms are altered in people suffering from psychological disorders such as depression or schizophrenia. I am particularly interested in how individuals perceive their environment and themselves, and how these perceptions can become biased.

In my PhD, I am taking an integrative approach combining behavioral studies and advanced computational modeling to better understand cognitive and emotional processes. My first year of PHD is dedicated to studying the neural and computational mechanisms that enable flexible shifting of attention from threat to reward, and how emotions and individual differences influence this adaptive decision-making.

Anaël GUYOUX (PhD student, co-supervisor : Guillaume Sescousse, CRNL, Lyon). I am working on a project that aims to better understand gambling addiction. My project focuses on understanding the dynamics of craving and its correlation with different stimuli (Winning / Pass a wheel / ...) during a reward task. To achieve this, I use fMRI data and Brain signature modeling.

Ibrîze Bonneville (research assistant). Ibrîze works on several ongoing project, including development of a software for facial expression recognition, creation of a new cognitive task on social decision-making and setting up facial expression recognition during FMRI.

Hailey Trier (PhD 2019-2023, co-supervised with Matthew Rushworth, Oxford University). In her PhD, Hailey investigated the neural and computational mechanisms of flexibly switching attention between threat and reward, and the impact of emotions and individual differences on this adaptive decision-making process. Hailey has now moved to an industry position.

Lisa Spiering  (PhD 2020-2025, co-supervised with Matthew Rushworth, Oxford ). Lisa's research focussed on the neural circuits that allow humans to learn and make decisions, and how these mechanisms go awry when people suffer from psychological illness.  In particular, she studied how humans attribute credit for outcomes (performance feedback) to themselves or another collaborator and how this is affected by depression.

Camille Fakche (Postdoctoral researcher, 2025-2026). Camille's work in the team examined temporal dynamics with magnetoencephalography (MEG) during foraging under threat.

Tim Palmer  (PhD student 2021-2025; postdoctoral researcher 2025-2026). Tim did his PhD at the University Of Plymouth. Tim's  postdoctoral work in the team contrasted the effects of two meditation interventions (with high vs low body focus) on interoception (heart beat perception) and  emotional introspection (knowing what you feel).