Top Researchers
Top Neuroscience Researchers at University of St Andrews for 2026
The University of St Andrews has a wide-ranging Neuroscience profile, with recent work spanning brain health, development, sensory systems, and motor control. Across the last year, researchers have explored topics from cognitive aging and digital biomarkers to child cognition, visual impairment, and neural circuits in model organisms.
Below, you’ll find a snapshot of the institution’s recent activity in the field, showing how neuroscience at St Andrews connects clinical questions, experimental methods, and comparative approaches.
Featured Researchers
Craig Ritchie
Craig Ritchie’s recent University of St Andrews work brings together Psychiatry and Mental health, Physiology, and Cognitive Neuroscience, with papers on sleep, APOE genotype, digital biomarkers, and cortical thinning.
Activity over the last year: 7 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Hypothalamic volume, sleep, and APOE genotype in cognitively healthy adults (May 2025)
- Exploring the potential of digital biomarkers as a measure of brain health ‘capital’ (Jun 2025)
- Cortical thickness subtypes in cognitively unimpaired individuals: Differential network and transcriptomic vulnerability to cortical thinning (Oct 2025)
Aurélien Frick
Aurélien Frick focuses on Developmental and Educational Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, and Cognitive Neuroscience, with recent studies on control processes in children and voluntary task switching.
Activity over the last year: 3 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- The effects of an unfamiliar experimenter on proactive and reactive control in children (Feb 2025)
- Neural Oscillatory Markers of Voluntary Task Switching: Proactive Engagement of Self‐Directed Control in Children and Adults (Sep 2025)
- Chimpanzees’ working memory is not affected by the presence and activity of zoo visitors (Dec 2025)
Amanda M. Seed
Amanda M. Seed’s work spans Developmental and Educational Psychology, Social Psychology, and Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, including studies of sequence memory, surprise, and information seeking across species.
Activity over the last year: 4 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Humans may not have a uniquely enhanced sequence memory: sequence discrimination is facilitated by causal–logical framing in humans and chimpanzees (Jul 2025)
- Physio-behavioural manifestations of ‘surprise’ in two parrot species: kea ( Nestor notabilis ) and Goffin’s cockatoos ( Cacatua goffiniana ) (Dec 2025)
- Peek a boo! Information seeking about food and functionality in capuchin monkeys (Oct 2025)
Gareth B. Miles
Gareth B. Miles connects Endocrine and Autonomic Systems, Cell Biology, and Neurology through recent research on breathing control, developing spinal networks, and synaptopathy in an ALS mouse model.
Activity over the last year: 4 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
Patrick Kaczmarek
Patrick Kaczmarek’s recent publications sit mainly in Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations, and Economics and Econometrics, with work on moral uncertainty and choice-dependent moral theories.
Activity over the last year: 2 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
Helen St Clair Tracy
Helen St Clair Tracy’s recent work links Epidemiology, Ophthalmology, and Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging, especially around cerebral visual impairment and awareness in schools.
Activity over the last year: 2 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Emulation of the subjective experience of visual dorsal stream dysfunction: a description of three in depth case studies (Jan 2025)
- The CLASS (Cerebral visual impairment Learning and Awareness for School Staff) Pilot Study: An evaluation of the awareness of CVI amongst teachers and comparative evaluation of two different educational resources on understanding (Jun 2025)
Andrew Blaikie
Andrew Blaikie’s recent output also centers on Epidemiology, Ophthalmology, and History, including case studies of visual dorsal stream dysfunction and the CLASS pilot study on CVI awareness.
Activity over the last year: 2 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Emulation of the subjective experience of visual dorsal stream dysfunction: a description of three in depth case studies (Jan 2025)
- The CLASS (Cerebral visual impairment Learning and Awareness for School Staff) Pilot Study: An evaluation of the awareness of CVI amongst teachers and comparative evaluation of two different educational resources on understanding (Jun 2025)
Stefan R. Pulver
Stefan R. Pulver works across Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Genetics, and Ecology, with recent studies on movement coordination and inhibitory circuit motifs in larval insects.
Activity over the last year: 2 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
What University of St Andrews's Neuroscience Community Is Working On
The most common subfields in this slice of St Andrews neuroscience are Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Epidemiology, Ophthalmology, and Psychiatry and Mental health. That mix points to a community working across brain health, child development, and sensory function, while also using comparative and mechanistic approaches to understand how neural systems support behavior. The overlap between clinical, educational, and experimental perspectives suggests a field that is as interested in real-world impact as it is in underlying biology.- Cognitive Neuroscience - seen across 2 of the featured researchers
- Developmental and Educational Psychology - seen across 2 of the featured researchers
- Epidemiology - seen across 2 of the featured researchers
- Ophthalmology - seen across 2 of the featured researchers
- Psychiatry and Mental health - seen across 1 of the featured researchers
Taken together, these studies show a community moving between human brain health, developmental questions, and mechanistic neuroscience in ways that complement one another. If you want to keep track of research activity like this more efficiently, Resub can help streamline citation discovery and manuscript preparation for your own workflow.
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