CV

Curriculum Vitae

 

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-8920-5509
RESEARCHER ID: U-9166-2018
GOOGLE SCHOLAR: Link

 

Short Biography

Dr Pascal Vrticka studied biochemistry and neurobiology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich (Switzerland) to earn a combined BA & MA in Science – Biology (1999-2005). In his MA dissertation project, he investigated “Doxycycline as an anti-apoptotic substance in two in vitro models of Alzheimer’s disease” under the joint supervision of Prof. Martin Schwab (University of Zurich, Switzerland) and Prof. Yoo-Hun Suh (Seoul National University, South Korea). Dr Vrticka then moved to the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences hosted by the University of Geneva (Switzerland) where he obtained a PhD in (social) neuroscience under the supervision of Prof. Patrik Vuilleumier (2006-2009). His PhD dissertation had the title: “Social neuroscience of emotion perception and regulation: the influence of context and individual differences“.

After two years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences in association with the Faculty of Psychology, University of Geneva (Switzerland) and Prof. David Sander (2010-2011), Dr Vrticka moved to Stanford School of Medicine (California, USA). Thanks to a fellowship for advanced researchers from the Swiss National Science Foundation, he was able to secure a position as postdoctoral scholar with Prof. Allan Reiss at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (2012-2014). Moving back to Europe, Dr Vrticka further advanced his research programme at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig (Germany), where he held several positions as a Research Scientist, Group Leader, and Senior Scientist. During this time, he actively collaborated with the University of Leipzig (Faculty of Life Sciences, University Clinic, and Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development) in both teaching and student supervision, and obtained extensive funding for several large multidisciplinary research projects by the Max Planck Society (2014-2020).

Dr Vrticka is currently a Lecturer / Assistant Professor at the Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of Essex (Colchester, UK) where he is the PI of the Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment Lab (SoNeAt Lab). He furthermore acts as Coordinating Board President of the Special Interest Research Group “Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment” (SIRG SoNeAt) situated within the Society for Emotion and Attachment Studies (SEAS) where he is an Associate Member of the Executive Board (2020-2023).

 

Academic Career & Education

  • March 2020 – present

    Lecturer/Assistant Professor
    Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, Colchester, United Kingdom

    PI of the Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment Lab (SoNeAt Lab)

  • 2019 – 2020

    Senior Researcher
    Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Research Group “Social Stress and Family Health”, Leipzig, Germany.

  • 2015 – 2018

    Group Leader
    Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Social Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany.

  • 2014 – 2015

    Research Scientist
    Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Social Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany.

  • 2012-2014

    Postdoctoral Scholar
    Stanford University, CA, USA: Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research (CIBSR). Sponsored by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

  • 2010-2011

    Postdoctoral Researcher
    University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland: Laboratory for the Study of Emotion Perception and Elicitation (E3 lab) & Swiss Center for Affective Sciences.

  • 2006-2009

    PhD Thesis & Graduate School of Affective Sciences
    Thesis title: “Social neuroscience of emotion perception and regulation: the influence of context and individual differences”. University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland: Laboratory for Neurology and Imaging of Cognition & Swiss Center for Affective Sciences .

  • 2005

    Three months practical course
    Neuropsychology of alzheimer’s disease patients & neuroimaging (fMRI) of memory in healthy subjects; University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland: Division of Psychiatry Research, Neuropsychology and Imaging.

  • 2003-2004

    Three months practical course & Diploma thesis (MSc thesis)
    Thesis title: “Doxycycline as an anti-apoptotic substance in two in vitro models of alzheimer’s disease”; Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea: Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, ”National Creative Research Initiative Centre for Alzheimer’s Dementia”.

  • 1999-2005

    Double Major in Neuroscience
    (Development & Regeneration of the Nervous System; Behavioral Neuroscience); Minors in Biochemistry, Immunology and Pharmacology; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland: Diploma as natural scientist / MSc (Dipl. Natw. ETH).

  • 1992-1999

    Matura (general qualification for university entrance)
    Kantonsschule Alpenquai, Luzern, Switzerland.