University of Strathclyde team
Professor Louise Brown Nicholls, Principal Investigator
Professor Mario Parra Rodriguez, Co-investigator
Dr Gerard Campbell, Research Associate
Gerard obtained his PhD in Psychology from the University of Strathclyde in 2022, where he investigated the cognitive and neural basis of creativity in product design engineering. He joined the STREAM project as a Research Associate in April 2024, and has played a leading role in running the behavioural experiments at Strathclyde University. This includes designing the experiments, running sessions with participants, as well as analysing and disseminating research findings. He also plays a key role in facilitating collaborations with the project’s stakeholder panel, as well as in the general day-to-day management of the project. Gerard’s main research interests are focused on improving memory and thinking skills throughout the lifespan
University of Leeds team
Professor Melanie Burke, Co-investigator
Professor Melanie Burke did a PhD in Visual Neurophysiology at the University of Manchester, investigating neural mechanisms of visual processing. Postdoctoral work with Dr Niall McLoughlin strengthened her expertise in vision science and optical imaging before she joined Professor Graham Barnes’ Sensorimotor Neuroscience Laboratory, expanding into fMRI, eye‑movement control, multisensory integration, and sensorimotor learning. In 2007, Professor Burke joined the University of Leeds, where she established the Brain and Behaviour Laboratory, a facility combining fNIRS, TMS, and precise eye‑ and hand movement tracking. Under her leadership, it has become a resource for interdisciplinary work on ageing, neuroplasticity, cognition and behaviour interactions. Professor Burke’s career reflects a commitment to understanding how the ageing brain changes and how neuroscience can inform practical interventions. Her work continues to bridge fundamental science with clinical impact, fostering collaborations across physiology, engineering, psychology, and health sciences. Prof Burke’s role in this grant is to support Dr Nannetti in translating the behavioural tasks created in Strathclyde into an eye-tracking and fNIRS based approach for investigating the neural correlates of strategy use in younger and older adults. She will also assist Dr Nannetti in optimising analysis to extract meaningful data to understand how the prefrontal cortex adapts during explicitly instructed strategies versus implicit strategy use.
University of Sheffield team
Eleanor Hyde, Research Assistant
Eleanor Hyde is a PhD candidate and Research Assistant at the University of Sheffield, where she has been a member of Professor von Bastian’s Cognitive Ability & Plasticity Lab since 2019. Eleanor’s doctoral research investigates how complex cognitive tasks, such as playing video games, relates to cognitive performance and expertise. To explore this, she uses a combination of behavioural lab-based experiments, computational modelling, neuroimaging (EEG) and eye-tracking methods. Beyond her doctoral work, Eleanor has a keen interest in healthy cognitive ageing. She has worked as a Research Assistant on large national and international projects, gaining extensive experience working with participants across the lifespan to understand how training interventions and strategy use varies among individuals.
