I am Full Professor of Biological Psychology, with a specialization in Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. I have spent several formative years abroad, and founded the SCAN-Unit when I moved back to Vienna in 2010. Apart from advancing our insights into the neural and psychological foundations of social cognition and behavior, my goal is to establish a thriving interdisciplinary research environment that will foster innovative and cutting-edge research in the domain of Social Cognitive Neuroscience. I have thus engaged in a number of initiatives, such as the establishment of a research-dedicated MRI Centre, the Cognitive Science Research Platform, as well as a Multimodal Neuroimaging cluster. 

My scientific interests focus on the neural underpinnings of empathy and prosocial behavior. I have made pioneering contributions in this domain, and never get bored in pursuing ever-more complex research approaches to unravel these multifaceted phenomena. This includes recent multi-modal investigations combining neuroimaging with psychopharmacology and psychoneuroendocrinology, as well as comparative approaches to test empathy and its precursors in ravens and dogs.

Download my full CV here.