Alumni
Details are given below of former NARU staff and students:
Suliman Belal
Suliman has been a Research Associate at the Neuroscience and Psychology of Sleep (NAPS) laboratory. He has been investigating the automatic detection of memory reactivation during sleep via the use of pattern classifiers. Since May 2016, he has started working on a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project at Cardiff University for the spontaneous detection of memory replay during sleep.
Dr Isabel Hutchison
Isabel completed a PhD at the Neuroscience And Psychology of Sleep (NAPS) laboratory under the supervision of Drs. Penny Lewis, Gorana Pobric and Johan Hulleman between 2012 and 2016. During this time she investigated the role of different sleep stages in the processing of emotional memories. Since August 2016, she has taken up a postdoctoral fellowship with Professor Jay Gottfried at Northwestern University.
Clifford Workman
Clifford completed his PhD jointly in NARU and in the Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit between 2012 and 2015 under the supervision of Dr. Roland Zahn, Dr. Karen Lythe, and Prof. Rebecca Elliott. His research investigated the relationship of moral cognition and emotions to the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder. In March 2016, Clifford started a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago with Prof. Jean Decety.
Karen Lythe
Karen worked in NARU between 2011 and 2015 as a postdoctoral research associate with Dr. Roland Zahn. The project investigated the role of self-blaming biases in major depressive disorder and their role in recurrence of depression. Karen left NARU in November 2015 to take up a role as Research Support Manager within the Faculty of Life Sciences.
Briony Banks
Briony completed a 4-year BBSRC-funded PhD in September 2015 in speech perception, supervised by Dr Patti Adank, Dr Emma Gowen and Prof Kevin Munro. She then completed a 1-year post doc with Dr Bo Yao and Prof Sonja Kotz investigating covert speech during reading. She is now working at Lancaster University with Dr Louise Connell examining the role of language in complex cognition.
Jennifer Gethin
Jen was a PhD student in NARU from 2011 to 2015, working with Dr. Roland Zahn, Prof. Wael El-Deredy and Dr. Karen Lythe. The project was on electrophysiological correlates of self-blame and associated vulnerability to major depressive disorder. Jen left NARU to train as an NHS clinical scientist, specialising in neurophysiology.
Richard Binney
Richard completed his PhD in NARU under the supervision of Professor Matt Lambon Ralph, Dr Beth Jefferies and Professor Geoff Parker. His research focused on the role of the anterior temporal lobe in semantic cognition and utilised functional MRI, diffusion-weighted MRI tractography and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Since January 2012, Richard has been a post-doctoral fellow at the Memory and Aging Center at University of California, San Francisco. As of the summer 2014, Richard is a post-doctoral fellow at Temple University, Philadelphia.
Emily Mayberry
Emily obtained a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) in 2007 where she worked on a project related to the role of sleep in acquiring new semantic information with Dr Tim Rogers. Following her undergraduate degree, she moved to Manchester to work with Professor Matthew Lambon Ralph and Dr Karen Sage on projects related to conceptual knowledge loss and relearning in people with semantic dementia. Emily completed her PhD in 2010.
Maya Soni
Maya completed a BA in Linguistics (1st Class) at the University of Manchester, combining a long interest in both language and human biology. A class with Prof. Matt Lambon Ralph led to a deepening interest in the neuropsychology of language, after which she was offered the opportunity to do an MRes and PhD with NARU. Her research there looked at the semantic input to naming in stroke patients and healthy participants. She graduated from NARU in July 2011.
Stephen Carter
After completing his PhD which investigated the neuropsychology and neuroimaging of Alzheimer's disease within NARU, Stephen worked at the Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre for 1 year as a Research Assistant. After this, he left Manchester to accept a post-doc position at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden where he continues to pursue a course of research aimed at understanding the relationship between the different features of Alzheimer's disease.
Maya Visser
Maya completed her PhD under the supervision of Prof Lambon Ralph and Dr Elizabeth Jefferies, on the topic of semantic memory and the role of the anterior temporal lobes in 2010. Maya is currently undertaking Postdoctoral work at the University of Barcelona.
Daniel Roberts
Daniel obtained a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Manchester in 2005, after which he worked with Prof. Matthew Lambon Ralph and was awarded an MRes in Psychology in 2006. Having been fascinated and inspired by the research during this time he registered for a full-time PhD and worked on a related project under the supervision of Prof. Matthew Lambon Ralph and Dr Diana Caine until Summer 2010. Daniel now has a role as Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Bangor.
Jessica Zakrzewski
Jessica has been working as a Research Assistant at the University of California, San Francisco since leaving NARU in 2009.
Krist Noonan
Krist left NARU in December 2009 having been a PhD student conducting research into control impairments in semantic memory. His PhD was under the supervision of Prof Matt Lambon Ralph and Dr Beth Jefferies. His research was funded by the Medical Research Council. Krist is now working as a Neuropsychology Research Fellow at the RICE Centre in the Royal United Hospital, Bath. His research explores the nature of cognitive impairments in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimers disease.
Claerwen Snell
Claerwen was a postgraduate research student within NARU from 2006 to 2009 looking into therapy for word finding difficulties post stroke. Claerwen is now working as a Speech and Language Therapist.
Jennifer Read
Jennifer started as a Research Assistant at the University of Manchester in July 2006 and then proceeded to complete her PhD under the supervision of Prof Matthew Lambon Ralph and Dr Stephen Welbourne on investigating the recovery of language and reading function following a stroke. Upon leaving NARU in 2009 Jennifer was a locum lecturer at Newcastle University, and since October 2010 a senior lecturer at MMU.
Gaston Madrid
Gaston was a Research Associate working with Anna Woollams at NARU from September 2008 to August 2009. He conducted the behavioural and rTMS studies involved in the "Building a neuroanatomical model of word reading" (Leverhulme Trust) project.
Diana Caine
Diana was a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Neuroscience, conducting research into visual and perceptual disorders, including face recognition, acquired dyslexia and psychiatric phenomenology in neurological disease. Diana left NARU in June 2008.
Victoria Scott
Victoria was a Research Assistant at NARU, conducting research into the effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) upon semantic memory in anterior temporal lobes and the effectiveness of errorless and errorful learning therapy to aid memory in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Victoria left NARU in January 2008.
Helen Adams
Helen has worked as a Speech and Language Therapist in Stockport since leaving NARU in 2008.
Kath Mumby
Kath left NARU in 2008 to take a fixed term post at the University of Newcastle. Kath is now a clinical Speech and Language Therapist in Northumberland.
Lynne Hemingway
Lynne was a Postgraduate Research Student at NARU, her research was on phonological processes during speech production. Lynne left NARU in September 2008.
Gill Pearl
Gill left NARU in 2007 and is now the Director of Speakeasy Charity.
Rachel Byrne
Rachel was a part-time MPhil student and Specialist Speech and Language Therapist at NARU, conducting research into Jargon Aphasia and the self-monitoring of language. She collaborated with Prof Matt Lambon Ralph and Drs Karen Sage and Catherine Hogdson. Rachel is now a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist at Wythenshawe Hospital.
Catherine Hodgson
Catherine was a Lecturer at NARU, her teaching included: Neuropsychology - Language Processing, Tutorial practicals and MRes - Case vs group studies. Catherine left NARU in 2007.
Rachel Holland
Rachel was a Postgraduate Research Student at NARU, her research involved investigating the contribution of phonology and semantic memory to the processing of the English past tense. She collaborated with Karalyn Patterson and Anna Woollams. Rachel left NARU in October 2007 to take up a position at the Cambridge Brain Unit with Karalyn Patterson as a Postdoctoral Research Associate.
Beth Jefferies
Beth was a Senior Research Fellow at NARU, conducting research into the neural basis of language processes and semantic memory. She continues to collaborate with Prof Matt Lambon Ralph, Clive Frankish (University of Bristol) and Karalyn Patterson (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit) on semantic studies. Beth left NARU in August 2007 to be a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of York.
Stephen Baker
Stephen was a Research Associate at NARU from June 2005 to December 2006. He is now working in IT services in London.
Carolyn West
Carolyn was an MPhil student within NARU until 2006, and is now working as a Occupational Therapist, part-time in an NHS community post in Salford.
John Lancaster
After leaving NARU in 2005 John began work as a Speech and Language Therapist at North Manchester General Hospital.
Joanne Fillingham
Joanne works as a Speech and Language Therapist in North Staffs after leaving NARU in 2005.
David Gillespie
Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist (Lothian Stroke MCN) Astley Ainslie Hospital, has dedicated research time and still collaborates on research projects and national clinical stroke guidelines since leaving NARU in 2004.
Gemma Evans
Completed a three year project funded by an open-award Economic and Social Research Council studentship.
Rebecca Butler
Becky left NARU in September 2013 having been a PhD student conducting research combining behavioural assessments and diffusion weighted imaging in the study of chronic stroke aphasia. Her PhD was supervised by Dr Anna Woollams, Prof Matt Lambon Ralph and Prof Geoff Parker. Her research was funded by a studentship from the Medical Research Council and the University Biomedical Imaging Institute. Becky is now training to be a Clinical Psychologist at the University of Manchester.
Ya-Ning Chang
Ya-Ning completed her PhD under the supervision of Dr Stephen Welbourne and Prof Steve Furber in 2011, after which she worked as a research associate with Dr Stephen Welbourne, Dr Anna Woollams and Prof Matthew Lambon Ralph on developing large-scale computational models of reading and lexical processing. Ya-Ning left NARU in September 2013 and is now working as a postdoc at the Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.