Announcing BEST-VS!

Hello there!

I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining very soon the Center for Mind/Brain sciences (CIMeC) in the beautiful Rovereto (part of the University of Trento).

My project BEST-VS has been granted funding of about 300k euros by the italian Ministry of University (MUR), Investment line 1.2 “Funding projects presented by young researchers”. CUP: E73C25000210001. This was a call backed by the European Union - NextGenerationEU,National Recovery and Resilience plan (PNRR).

The goal of BEST-VS is to characterize the behavioral, autonomic, and electrophysiological signatures associated with Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS). Previous research suggests that GVS can modulate cognition, motivation, and decision-making, possibly by altering an individual’s interoceptive state. For example, see my series of registered reports conducted in Lyon (Blini et al., 2018; Blini et al., 2020). To explore this, the project combines non-invasive vestibular stimulation, eye-tracking, pupillometry, and electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the corresponding changes in arousal and autonomic tone. A particular focus is placed on applying dimensionality reduction techniques to pupillometry data to uncover latent physiological processes, contributing to the emerging concept of “pupillary manifold”.

At its core, thus, BEST-VS seek to shed light onto the continuous interplay between bodily signals and decision-making. The results will enrich our understanding of how and why this dialogue occurs.

In light of this goal, the project will also fit nicely with my most recent research interests. It wasn’t obvious. To be honest, this funding scheme has been characterized by a number of administrative failures that would be enough to inspire Kafka to write a follow-up for “the trial”. I can hardly be proud of being awarded something this badly conceived. For example (really just one, though I could write a book), we have been given basically no time to sign a new contract and, for many of us, move to a new institution and city. It all feels unfair - and I particularly feel very late already with the schedule of the project - but I guess this is the Italian reality nowadays.

Don’t get me wrong: I truly am excited about starting a new, independent line of research in a new, extremely international and competitive environment. I just wish I could have said a proper goodbye to the beautiful Florence and the florentine colleagues who have supported me in these last few years.

Anyway… Rant aside, exciting news are ahead, expect many updates soon!