About Dr. Romy Lorenz

Research group leader

Dr. Romy Lorenz has a multi-disciplinary background in psychology (BSc at Leuphana University Lüneburg in 2009) and human-machine interaction (MSc at Technical University Berlin in 2012). During her Master’s she focused on EEG-based brain-computer interfaces (BCI) gaining research experience in labs at the Technical University Berlin, the Tsinghua University in Beijing and UCSD in San Diego. In 2017, she completed her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience & Neurotechnology at Imperial College London for which she developed Neuroadaptive Bayesian Optimization – a BCI combining real-time fMRI and machine learning. She has applied this novel framework to address research questions in the field that have been historically challenging to tackle using conventional methods; more specifically to (1) better understand the functional role of frontoparietal networks in healthy individuals, (2) map cognitive dysfunction in frontoparietal brain networks in aphasic stroke patients, and (3) tailor non-invasive brain stimulation parameters to individuals. She won numerous awards for her doctoral work. For her postdoctoral research (2018-2023) she focused on investigating frontoparietal network function layer-specifically using fMRI at ultrahigh-field strength. For this she was awarded the prestigious Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship and the Klaus-Tschira Boost Fund and split her time between the University of Cambridge, Stanford University and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive & Brain Sciences in Leipzig.