About Me

I am a behavioural neuroscientist currently based at the University of Glasgow in the school of Psychology & Neuroscience. Formerly I was at University College London (UCL) in the Division of Psychology & Language Sciences. For most of my career I have been researching how the brain makes an internal map of space. This map, the so-called “cognitive map”, is used to support spatial perception, navigation and memory. My research focuses on how the brain represents complex navigable space (space that can be moved through), and I do this by recording single neurons in the brains of rodents as they explore structured spaces of various types. I am particularly interested in how 3D space is mapped, and also in the sense of direction and the environmental factors that support or confuse it. At UCL I founded and directed the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience in the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, and in 2021-22 was also Vice Dean (Research) for the Faculty of Brain Sciences. I am also co-director of the electrophysiology company Axona Ltd, which makes high-density recording systems for behavioural neuroscientists, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation. I have in recent years become interested in linking neuroscientific spatial perception research to architecture and wayfinding design, and has frequently talked and written on the subject.