Hello, Evidence for Democracy community! It’s been amazing joining the team as a summer intern, and I am excited to introduce myself. 

I originally went off to university to study physiology, with some interest in medicine. Along the way, I found myself far more fascinated by all the unknowns and open questions in science. I became especially interested in the brain and nervous system, both as a potential gateway to understanding the nature of our human experiences and motivated by some more tangible impacts in medicine, haunted by that old joke about clinical neurology: “diagnose and adios.” If only we could better understand how the brain works, maybe we could develop better treatments or even cures for conditions like dementia, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, depression, schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and so many others. 

That led to my Ph.D. research in neurosciences, where I studied the basics of human vision and behaviour. This work involved behavioural experiments using eye-tracking technologies, creating gamified eye-movement tasks, where we analyzed our data using mathematical/computational models to simulate and test our understanding of how we see the world and coordinate our movements. I was surprised to discover just how much our basic and seemingly reflexive behaviours (like looking around) depend on prediction, memory, and decision-making. Beyond my work, some of this basic research is now being extended to investigating eye-tracking-based techniques for informing the diagnosis of brain-related conditions and developing rehabilitation methods for people with certain types of vision problems.

During my graduate studies, I also began developing a deeper interest in how research actually translates into societal impacts. Inspired by many role models at the intersection of research and society, including Evidence for Democracy, I started to cultivate an interest in policy and the role of researchers in promoting evidence-based policymaking. I began organizing professional development events for researchers interested in policy and co-organized an interdisciplinary conference about the ethical, legal, and social considerations of emerging neurotechnology.

This ultimately led to my current postdoctoral fellowship studying neurotechnology ethics and policy, funded by the Connected Minds Canada First Research Excellence Fund. In this role, I conduct consultation research with Canadians about priorities and values for responsible neurotech innovation, co-developed a micro-credential course on neurotechnology ethics, and produce short knowledge mobilization films about the legal, ethical, and social considerations of neurotech applications. 

Since June, I have been an intern working on policy research with Evidence for Democracy. I have been particularly interested in Canada’s AI strategy and its focus on AI literacy, education, and public trust. I am looking forward to sharing my work with the community over the course of the summer!