DEMERTZI Athina

Professeur associé

Chercheuse qualifiée FNRS & Fonds assoc.

Faculté de Médecine
Département des sciences cliniques
GIGA Neurosciences - Physiology of Cognition

ULiège address: Bât. B30 GIGA Neurosciences - Physiology of Cognition
Quartier Agora
Allée du 6 Août 8
4000 Liège
Belgique

ULiège phone number: +32 4 3662360

Email: Captcha : Put the image in the right direction

u205869

Conseil sectoriel à la recherche et à la valorisation: Sciences humaines

See the full CV

Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/ADemertzi

University degrees: 2012: PhD Medical Sciences (Université de Liège, Belgium)
2007: MSc Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuropsychology and Psychopathology (Maastricht University, The Netherlands)
2005: "Ptychio" Psychology (4-year undergraduate studies) (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece)

Bibliography

List of publications

Open Access Publications

Biography

Dr. Demertzi is a tenured FNRS Research Associate (Chercheuse Qualifiée), directing the Physiology of Cognition Lab. Her expertise is in cognitive and clinical neuroscience. Her research contributes to the knowledge about the human mind, even when this cannot be communicated overtly. As from 2024, she serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief for Neuroscience of Consciousness (Oxford University Press).

Dr. Demertzi holds a PhD in Medical Sciences (ULiège). She had been trained as a psychologist (BS, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece), with specialization in cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology (MSc, Maastricht University, The Netherlands). In 2018 she was appointed as FNRS Chercheuse Qualifiée.

Her team investigates the human mind at rest, behaviorally, and in altered states, via brain-body interactions using high- and low-tech methodologies. She has previously conducted research in physiological, pathological, pharmacological conditions and in extreme environments, like space travel. Her work has been published in high-impact journals (e.g. Science Advances, PNAS, Brain, JNeurosci, Neurosci Consc). She has featured as a neuroscientist in the National Georgraphic's Special Issue "The Brain" (2022). In 2020, she received the Scientific Award in "Patient Care in the AI Era 2020" by the AstraZeneca Foundation and has delivered a TEDx talk (2019).

Dr. Demertzi has fully directed a PhD doctorate thesis (Mortaheb S, April 2023) and currently supervises a post-doctoral researcher (FNRS Chargé de Recherches), and two doctoral trainees (FNRS Aspirant, FRIA fellow). Her lab also hosts interns with Erasmus and Erasmus+ and Master's students.

Her team has received prestigious awards including the French Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers (Dr Koroma M, 2021) and the UMaastricht Student Prize for excellent MSc Thesis from the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (Mr Boulakis P, 2020) pointing to the high-quality standards of the lab.

Dr. Demertzi invests in personal mentoring training. She has participated in the ARD ULiège Professional Skills for Research Leaders program (2018-2019) and other trainings offered by the ULiege Research Office. She has also been trained as a Gestalt psychotherapist.

Find her publications on ORBi and on the lab's website.

Research field

Neurosciences cognitives
Sciences cognitives
Imagerie médicale, radiologie, tomographie
Phénoménologie
Émotion et cognition
Neurologie
Physiologie générale

Duties or mandates

F.R.S.- FNRS Research Associate (Principal Investigator)

Scientific distinctions

FNRS Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique, Project: Evidencing sentience in low arousal states by probing brain-body interactions (2021)
Scientific Award 'Patient Care in the AI Era 2020' (AstraZeneca Foundation) (2020)