Prof. Michela Balconi, Ph.D.
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Metrics overview
Publications: >300 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
H-Index = 40
Michela Balconi, PhD, is Associate Professor of “Psychophysiology and Cognitive Neuroscience” at the Faculty of Psychology of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (UCSC), Brescia, and Coordinator of the Graduate Programme in “Psychology for well-being: empowerment, rehabilitation and positive technology”, of UCSC Milan.
She also leads the Research Unit in Affective and Social Neuroscience. She manages the research activities of the Laboratory for Cognitive Psychology and of many assistants and collaborators. She is Director of the National Permanent Observatory on Neuroscience of Widespread and Sustainable Wellbeing (OssNEBEDISO), UCSC.
Michela Balconi’s research interests mainly concern Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychophysiology. In agreement with the relevance of proper integration between the body and the mind, she has studied and introduced new methods to analyze and explore the relationship between affective, communication and cognitive processes and physiological markers – e.g. the application of fNIRS (functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy) technique and EEG frequency bands analysis to the investigation of social-affective processes and consciousness correlates, and the use of non-invasive brain stimulation (TMS, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, and tES, transcranial Electric Stimulation) in clinical and experimental contexts. Over the last decade, Michela Balconi and her research team have progressively extended the research activities they promote, starting from the development and validation of new theoretical models and methods of investigation in the field of neuroscience of language and communication, has led to the definition of innovative approaches to research and intervention in the field of affective and social neuroscience, up to the most recent developments in the field of applied neuroscience.
She has founded and is Editor-in-Chief of the international peer-reviewed online journal "Neuropsychological Trends" (indexed in PsycINFO, WoS, and SCOPUS). Moreover, she contributes to many neuropsychology and neuroscience journals as a Scientific Reviewer.
She is Scientific Director of the II-level Post-graduate Master Program in "Behavioural Neuroscience: Prevention, Neuroempowerment, and Neurorehabilitation", of the I-level Post-graduate Master Program in “Neuromanagement for organizations: neuroassessment, neuroempowerment and innovation”. She also regularly organizes lessons, courses, workshops and conferences on hot topics in clinical and experimental neurosciences, hosting national and international participants.
She is a member of the Faculty and of the Educational Committee of the PhD School in Psychology at the Catholic University of Milan. Besides supervising PhD students, she is actually involved in organizing and managing the course on Quantitative Research Methods.
She is Scientific Coordinator of the Neurocognitive Potentiation Group (NeuPot), Italian Association of Psychology (AIP).
She is a member of the Ministerial Committee for the drafting of the guidelines: "New treatments for rare diseases", Reviewer and evaluator of 11 national projects (MIUR: PRIN / FIRB) international (Grant Marie Curie, BandiCordis).
She is scientific representative of the DiLIBTechnology District (Lombard Biomedical Innovation District) for the Department of Psychology of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan.
She is Head of the Life Sciences Technology Cluster for the Department of Psychology of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.
She is Scientific Referent of the Questio/Eupolissystem (Quality Evaluation in Science and Technology for Innovation Opportunity) Lombardy Region for the Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan and Scientific Responsible of the Research and Innovation Center (CRTT) Lombardy Region for the Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan, since 2011.
Michela Balconi is Member of the Board of the “Agostino Gemelli” High School (ASAG) of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy, and was Member of the Board of the Italian Society of Psychophysiology (SIPF) and Member of the Ethics Committee for AIP. She is also member of many international and national scientific societies - among them: International Neuropsychological Society (INS), International Brain Research Organization (IBRO); Federation of European Societies of Neuropsychology (FESN); Italian Association of Psychology (AIP); Italian Society of Neuropsychology (SINP); Italian Society of Psychologists of the Neuropsychology Area (SPAN); Italian Society for Psychology of Aging (SIPI); Italian Society of Neuroethics and Philosophy of Neurosciences (SINe). She is an organizer and member of Scientific Committees for conventions, congresses, and national and international workshops, regularly starting in 2007: national conferences in collaboration with various scientific societies (SINP, SIPF, SIPI).