Andrea Luppi

Doctoral Researcher at the University of Cambridge, working at the intersection of network science, complex systems and computational neuroscience to understand human consciousness.

Coming from a background in philosophy and cognitive science, I am interested in the relation between mind and (grey) matter. Specifically, my PhD work aims to characterise how the capacity for cognition and consciousness arises from the complex interactions between brain systems, viewed as a dynamic network. To this end, I combine tools from information theory, network science and whole-brain computational modelling to study the cortical dynamics and connectivity of the brain across multiple scales and modalities (functional MRI, DTI) throughout a variety of states of altered consciousness – such as anaesthesia and disorders of consciousness, but also sleep and psychedelics. Ultimately, I aim to develop a landscape of altered states of consciousness, and a unified theoretical understanding of how consciousness is lost, and how we can promote its recovery in patients.