Nadine Spychala | Doctoral researcher at Sussex University. Working on formal measures of complexity and emergence. Information Theory Machine Learning Research Software Open, Reproducible & Ethical Science. She/her.

I am a doctoral researcher in computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex where I validate information-theoretic measures of complexity and emergence in both simulated and empirical data. In this context, I also work on a Python library to easily apply and compare different measures on different data, in an understandable and comprehensive way including documentation & tutorials. This work has also been part of my mentorship within the Open Life Science mentoring & training program for Open Science ambassadors where I have been a mentor myself. I value open & reproducible research that is aligned with ethical research culture & incentives, and do my best to comply to best practices.

Since 2023, I am a Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) Fellow aiming to send a strong signal for SSI’s slogan “better software, better research” by providing software development workshops to research communities I’m involved in myself.

I like Brainhacks, and I like teaching & supervision (currently in machine learning).

My academic work so far has been strongly interdisciplinary, intersecting mathematics, machine learning, neuroscience, as well as philosophy. Before starting my doctoral work, I have been investigating information integration in variational inference (still doing so), and looking at embodiment processes in an EEG-based BCI study.

I have been the main organizer of a symposium on computational approaches to the mind: Rethinking Computational Approaches to the Mind - Fundamental Challenges & Future Perspectives. Recorded talks and panel discussion can be viewed on YouTube.

Besides science, I have also been working as a data analyst in medical education research, teaching assistant for German for refugees, and psychologist for unaccompanied refugee minors. I like volunteering (and have done that most recently at GrowNYC, an environmental sustainability organization in New York).