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Neuropsychoanalysis - Bridging psychoanalysis and the neurosciences

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Neuropsychoanalysis-related Labs Around the World

Home > Neuropsychoanalysis-related Labs Around the World

We want to help motivated students and post-docs to find exciting opportunities to engage in research, and to help principal investigators recruit enthusiastic new members for their labs. Here is a directory of labs that welcome volunteers, postdoctoral fellows and other collaborators on research that integrates neuroscience methods with psychoanalytic perspectives.  If your lab does research that integrates neuroscience and psychoanalysis in any way, we would like to include you in this list! Please send your information to Dr. Ross Balchin at rbalchin@npsa-association.org.

Labs by Location
Scroll down for description and links

The Turnbull Lab    
Location:  
Bangor, Wales

Université Libre de Bruxelles
Location:  
Brussels, Belgium

University of Cape Town 
Location:  
Cape Town, South Africa

Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Research Unit
Location:  Ottawa, Canada

Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Location:  Bochum, Germany

Social Neuroscience and Psychopathology (SNAP) Lab
Location:  New York, United States of America

The Cognitive and Social Neuroscience Lab
Location:  Santiago, Chile

Bulgarian Neuropsychoanalytic Lab
Location:  Sofia, Bulgaria

Please scroll down for further details about each specific institution.

The Turnbull Lab (Wales)

Professor Oliver Turnbull

Area/s of research

Anosognosia, confabulation, laterality, the neuroscience of psychotherapy, visuo-spatial cognition, emotion (including emotion-based learning and the experience of ‘intuition’), the role of emotion in delusional beliefs, the management and control of emotion (emotion regulation); and emotional memory (and its preservation even in profound amnesia).

Neuroanatomy is another area of interest and a residential Summer School is run on this particular topic. For further information, please click here.

Overview

The Turnbull Lab conducts research with Ph.D. students on various aspects of human neuropsychology. 

Paid positions

There are no paid positions at this point in time.

Relevant links

http://turnbull-lab.bangor.ac.uk

https://www.bangor.ac.uk/psychology/people/profiles/oliver_turnbull.php.en

https://www.bangor.ac.uk/psychology/publications.php?id=8937

Université Libre de Bruxelles (Brussels, Belgium)

Professor Ariane Bazan

Area/s of research 

Clinical, theoretical and empirical research is undertaken. Topics including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Primary and secondary process mentation: with the so-called GeoCat instrument (Brakel et al., 2000), both supra- and subliminal;
  • The signifier: research involving palindromes, rebuses, phonological associations etc., both supra- and subliminal;
  • Repression: research involving measures of inhibition, social desirability, and defensiveness;
  • Jouissance: research involving approach bias measures.

Studies are being conducted on both clinical and non-clinical populations. Research can also cover the epistemological and ethical implementation of neuropsychoanalysis.

Overview

Research opportunities are available to students at Ph.D. level.

Paid positions 

There are no systematic paid positions.

Privileged agreements do exist with several universities, and funding is available for Ph.D. students from specific countries (e.g. various African countries, and Brazil, etc.) who are supervised by academics at the University.

Relevant links

https://www.ulb.ac.be/rech/inventaire/unites/ULB101.html

University of Cape Town (Cape Town, South Africa)

Professor Mark Solms

Area/s of research

Sleep and dreams, affect, complex neuropsychiatric disorders, clinical assessment and rehabilitation, autism.

Overview

Enrollment is open to students at undergraduate, Honours, Masters and Ph.D. level. The Honours and Masters degrees involve research components, while the Ph.D. is entirely research based. The Honours degree is a BSocSc (Hons), while four different Masters degrees are on offer: MA in Clinical Psychology, MA in Psychological Research, MA in Neuropsychology, and an MSocSc in Psychology.

The University also has a new Clinical Neurosciences Institute, which includes the Department of Psychology, the Division of Neurosurgery, the Department of Neurology and the Division of Neuropsychiatry. This new initiative will be bringing exciting new research possibilities to the University.

The Department of Psychology also has an active autism research group (UCT Autism Research).

Paid positions

No direct funding is available, but funding applications from various sources can be facilitated.

Relevant links

http://www.psychology.uct.ac.za

http://uctautism.com

Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Research Unit
(Ottawa, Canada)

Professor Georg Northoff

Area/s of research

A broad array of topics of interest and expertise is covered at the Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Research Unit. The key research themes include: brain imaging, psychiatry, self, defense mechanisms, consciousness, Freud and neuropsychoanalysis, schizophrenia, depression, cultural neuroscience, and neuroethics.

Overview

Based at the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR), the Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Research Unit conducts research in a number of key areas related to the brain and mind. The central focus is exploring the link between mental and neural states, along with how the brain constitutes the experience of a self. The Unit’s research integrates neuroscientific, neuropsychiatric and neurophilosophical approaches.

Paid positions

Paid positions are available at either Doctoral- or Postdoctoral level for those who wish to work as part of the Unit’s group. Application details are available through the website (see below).

Relevant links

http://www.georgnorthoff.com

Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Bochum, Germany)

Professor Nikolai Axmacher

Area/s of research

A number of research topics related to cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and cognitive science are addressed through research at this lab. The key interests include: how experiences are represented in the brain and transformed into memory traces; how these experiences shape personality; and how memory is compromised by trauma, innerpsychic conflicts and Alzheimer’s dementia. Another particular interest is the processing of specific contents by the brain and how the resulting stimulus-specific representations can be decoded using pattern classification algorithms. 

Overview

Based in Bochum, Germany, at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Professor Axmacher’s research group has a particular focus on memory and the neural foundations of its functions and dysfunctions. A range of cognitive neuroscience methods are utilized at this lab, namely EEG, fMRI, simultaneous EEG/fMRI, fMRI at 7T, and intracranial EEG. The group investigates a wide range of memory processes (working memory, long-term memory, memory consolidation during resting state and sleep, autobiographical memory, social memory, repression). 

Paid positions

There are no paid positions available. Volunteers from all levels can apply for internships.

Relevant links

http://www.rd.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/neuro/wiss/pi/axmacher/index.html.en

Social Neuroscience and Psychopathology (SNAP) Lab
(New York, United States of America)

Associate Professor Eric Fertuck

Area/s of research

A major area of interest is borderline personality disorder (BPD).

Overview

As part of the Psychology Department at the City College of New York, the Social Neuroscience and Psychopathology (SNAP) Lab conducts research related to psychopathology, social cognition, psychotherapy, and social neuroscience. The focus is on the mechanisms of psychological disturbance and on treatment. A multifaceted approach is adopted that integrates the social, emotional, cognitive, neurobiological and genetic factors that underly psychological disturbance. 

Paid positions

There are currently no paid positions, but opportunities may be available for volunteers. 

Relevant links

https://sites.google.com/site/snaplabatccny/home

The Cognitive and Social Neuroscience Lab (Santiago, Chile)

Professor Christian Salas

Area/s of research

Brain injury and social isolation, emotion and brain injury, neuropsychology of emotion regulation strategies, psychotherapy in patients with acquired brain damage, psychoanalysis and neuropsychological rehabilitation, Bangor Gambling Task, identity and brain injury, return to work after brain injury, emotion and amnesia, case studies in neuropsychoanalysis.

Overview

The Cognitive and Social Neuroscience Lab belongs to the Faculty of Psychology (Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago Chile). Three more researchers (Prof Francisco Parada, Prof Alejandra Rossi and Prof Daniel Rojas) are part of this lab allowing a diverse range of collaborations on basic and clinical neuroscience/neuropsychology research. The Lab houses the Clinical Neuropsychology Unit, which offers diagnostic and rehabilitation services to brain injured individuals from the community. We have two PhD students and there there is a Masters program in Social Neuroscience that belongs to the Lab as well as a Diploma in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. 

Paid positions

There are research opportunities at PhD and postdoctoral level that require applying for Chilean funds via CONICYT (http://www.conicyt.cl)

Relevant links

http://neurociencia.udp.cl

http://neurociencia.udp.cl/unidad-de-neuropsicologia-clinica/

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christian_Salas

Bulgarian Neuropsychoanalytic Lab (Sofia, Bulgaria)

Dr Martin Kolev and Mrs Antonia Borisova-Radoslavova

Area/s of research

Clinical assessment and diagnostics, case studies in neuropsychoanalysis, neuropsychology of emotional processing and regulation, brain imaging, psychopathology, trauma, mentalization.

Overview

Based at the Institute of Mental Health and Development and in close collaboration with three units at different universities and their respective hospitals (Sofia University, Sofia Medical University and Plovdiv Medical University), the Bulgarian Neuropsychoanalytic Lab focuses on research, clinical diagnostics and assessment of personality and self disorders, childhood development and trauma, mood disorders and their brain correlates, attachment, clinical ethics. The lab is inclusive approach-wise with main focus on psychoanalytic psychotherapy and mentalization-based treatment.

Paid positions

There are no paid positions available. Volunteers from all levels can apply for internships.

Relevant links

www.ipzr.info/bg-neuropsychoanalytic-group

https://www.psychoanalysis.bg/?page_id=1464

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