Dr. Karen Chan Barrett is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Institute for Health & Aging, with a joint appointment in the Department of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. She is a cognitive neuroscientist and accomplished musician whose interdisciplinary research bridges the fields of auditory neuroscience, music cognition, aging, and creativity.

Dr. Barrett’s program of research focuses on complex sound perception in cochlear implant users, the impact of music on aging and dementia, and the neural correlates of artistic improvisation. Using neural imaging, behavioral outcome measures, and mixed methods, her work explores how music and creativity engage the brain across the lifespan and in both clinical and neurotypical populations. A classically trained pianist, Dr. Barrett earned a master’s degree in piano performance from the Peabody Institute of Music at Johns Hopkins University. In parallel, she pursued neuroscience studies at Wellesley College and later completed her Ph.D. in Music Theory and Cognition at Northwestern University, where she conducted pioneering research on musical training, attention, and neural plasticity.

Dr. Barrett is Co-Principal Investigator of a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab grant that investigates the cognitive and neural mechanisms of improvisation across disciplines spanning music, the visual arts, and comedy. Their work includes in-depth case studies of eminent artists, including NEA Jazz Masters, who serve as models of exceptional creativity. Her recent work examines improvisation in children, revealing activation in neural reward networks even in the absence of formal training—findings that offer novel insights into early developmental pathways of creativity.

Dr. Christian Rominger is a post doc at the Health Psychology Unit at the University of Graz, Austria. He has published approximately 90 peer-reviewed articles. 

Christian's research interests revolve around the cognitive aspects of creative idea generation, integrating neurophysiological and behavioral methods with ecologically valid approaches. His focus is on developing and implementing assessments for creative idea generation in real-world settings, including the use of ecological momentary assessment protocols to monitor creative ideation performance outside the laboratory. He has explored the relationship between physical activity and creative cognition in everyday life settings and is keen on further investigating dose-response relationships between physical activity and creativity in real-world contexts, aiming for a deeper understanding of this link. Additionally, Christian plans to combine field-based assessments of creativity and physical activity with neurophysiological measures to gain insights into brain activation associated with task performance and behavior in real-world contexts.

Théophile Bieth is a neurologist specialized in neurodegenerative diseases. He is currently working at the Institute of Memory and Alzheimer's disease located at the Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital (Paris, France). Alongside his clinical activity, he recently defended his PhD in cognitive and psychological neuroscience at the Paris Brain Institute, where he is associate researcher. His work aims to investigate cognitive and brain mechanisms involved in high-order cognitive functions such as creativity, analogical reasoning or problem-solving, and identify the factors modulating such functions. Specifically, he uses network science methodology to offer new insight into the role of restructuring in creative problem-solving and shows the powerful role of sleep in facilitating the recombination of memories. Thanks to his dual scientific and medical background, he is also attuned to the valuable contribution of patients in unraveling the neuro-cognitive mechanisms underpinning high-level cognitive functions. Conversely, understanding these mechanisms enables to propose refined assessment tools for patients with illnesses affecting their cognition. As a researcher and neurologist, he is committed to maintaining a robust bridge between these two fields, with the aim to enhance our understanding of creative thinking and apply this newfound knowledge to deal with cognitive difficulties in patients.

Dr. Hannah Merseal is a postdoctoral researcher at the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics at the University of Pennsylvania, working with Dr. Anjan Chatterjee. She earned her B.A. in Music and Psychology from Wheaton College (MA) and completed her M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychology at Pennsylvania State University under the mentorship of Dr. Roger Beaty. Hannah has been recognized for her work in the field with the Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity's inaugural Sarah A. Burgess Award (2023) and the Outstanding Young Scientists in Creativity Award from the Sonophilia Foundation (2021). She currently serves as Director of Communications for the Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity and Director of Digital Outreach and Strategy on the editorial board of Creativity Research Journal.

Hannah’s research investigates the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying creativity across knowledge-specific domains such as arts engagement, music improvisation, STEM, and bilingualism. Employing neuroimaging, network science, and large-scale behavioral data collection, her work examines interactions between associative thinking, expert knowledge structure, and executive control during creative thinking. Hannah aims to enhance science equity through open, reproducible methods and by conducting population-representative and ecologically valid studies. 

Amy is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London, specialising in artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and computational creativity. With a background as a professional tattoo artist, Amy integrates creative practice and computational research. Their thesis investigates user interaction patterns with text-to-image generative models, such as Midjourney, to categorise prompting strategies and analyse creative behaviours.

Their interdisciplinary research contributes to personalised user experiences in AI-supported creativity. Beyond academia, Amy has developed an innovative app allowing tattoo artists to fine-tune generative models like Stable Diffusion using their own artwork, empowering artists to collaboratively ideate tattoo designs with clients. Amy's journey from the arts into computational creativity highlights resilience and a commitment to bridging practical creativity with scientific rigor.

Young Investigator Award: Denis Dumas, PhD (University of Georgia)

Sarah A. Burgess Award: Lucas Bellaiche (Duke University)

Dissertation Award: Tanushree Agrawal, PhD (UC San Diego)

Dissertation Award: Rachit Dubey, PhD (MIT)