Renée is a postdoctoral researcher working with Hanneke den Ouden at the Donders Centre for Cognition since 2022. She is investigating the neural mechanisms underlying optimal decision-making in situations that require different strategies: in some situations it is optimal to make quick, impulsive decisions, while at other times a well thought-out and slower approach is more beneficial. How does the brain switch between these different approaches? To address this question, Renée will apply pharmacological interventions in combination with neuroimaging and computational modelling.

Renée completed her UKRI-funded DPhil research in cognitive computational neuroscience at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, supervised by Dr. Helen Barron and Prof. Jill O’Reilly. During her DPhil, she investigated the neural mechanisms underlying learning and memory, focussing specifically on the role that neurochemicals play in these processes. To this end, she applied functional MRI and MR Spectroscopy, in combination with non-invasive brain stimulation and pharmacological manipulations. 

Prior to her DPhil, Renée completed an MSc in biomedical engineering at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Subsequently she worked as medical engineer for two years before moving to Oxford where she worked as a research assistant under Prof. Tim Behrens and Dr. Helen Barron at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging.

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