Clara Pretus

Principal Investigator

Clara is a Serra Húnter Assistant Professor in Methods in Behavioral Sciences at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a research affiliate at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute. She is also a fellow at the Center of Conflict Studies and Field Research (ARTIS Research) and a consultant and trainer at the UN International Hub on Behavioral Insights to Counter Terrorism.

Clara obtained her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 2016, her Masters in Cognitive Neuroscience at King’s College London in 2012, and her BSc in Biology at the Universitat de Barcelona. She has been a visiting scholar at the Social Identity and Morality Lab at New York University from 2021 to 2023.

Giovanni Dalmasso

Post-doctoral researcher

Giovanni Dalmasso is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Social Brain Lab, Hospital del Mar Research Institute in Barcelona. He combines mathematical and computational modeling with psychology and neuroscience to study human moral decision-making. His work also includes tissue biology and disease modeling, focusing on organogenesis and vascular formation. Giovanni earned his PhD in Natural Sciences from the University of Heidelberg, researching at DKFZ and BioQuant. He holds a Master’s and Bachelor’s in Mathematical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy. Currently, as part of the VALAWAI project Giovanni is developing an AI model inspired by moral psychology and contractualism, aiming to create AI systems that respect human autonomy.

Luis Marcos-Vidal

Post-doctoral researcher

Luis obtained his Bachelor’s in Psychology in 2015, his Master’s degree in Research Methodology in Social and Health Sciences in 2017, and his PhD in Biomedical Science and Technology at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in 2022. His research interests include methodology and statistics of Structural and Functional MRI. He is currently investigating how to simulate features of human moral cognition in AI systems.

Anna Soler

PhD student

Anna is a third-year PhD student in Psychiatry at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She received her Bachelor’s in psychology at the University of Barcelona in 2013 and her master’s degree in applied neuroscience in educational and child studies at the University of Leiden (2015). Her research focuses on the effects of sex steroids on women’s mental health over the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and the postpartum period.

Camila Servin-Barthet

PhD student

Camila is a second-year PhD student in Psychiatry at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She received her Bachelor’s in Biology at the University of Barcelona (UB) in 2019 and her Master’s degree in Research in Behavior and Cognition also at the UB. Her research focuses on the neuropsychological and brain adaptations in social cognition as a function of sex steroids during pregnancy and the postpartum period.

Daniela Lizarazo-Villarreal

PhD student

Daniela is a PhD student in Neuroscience at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She received her Bachelor’s in Psychology and Language and Sociocultural Studies at Universidad de los Andes in 2019 and her Master’s degree in Cognitive Neuroscience at Sapienza University of Rome in 2023. Her research focuses on social neuroscience, misinformation and politics.

Helena Gil-Buitrago

PhD student

Helena is a PhD student in Neuroscience at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She received her Bachelor’s in Psychology in 2022 and her Master’s degree in Neuroscience in 2023, also at the UAB. Her research interests include assessing the neural effects of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and how it influences cognitive and emotional processes. She is currently investigating the neural and psychological responses to social robots in Human-Robot Interactions (HRI).

Lorena García

PhD student

Lorena is a second-year PhD student in Psychiatry at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She received her Bachelor’s in Psychology at the National University of Colombia in 2010 and her Master’s degree in Neuropsychology and behavioral neurology at the UAB. Her research focuses on the adaptation, normalization and adaptation of neuropsychological evaluation instruments in Colombian population.

Rosamunde C. Hendricks

PhD student

Rosamunde is a PhD student in Neuroscience at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She finalised her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) in 2021. Furthermore, she finished her first Master’s degree in Research in Behavior and Cognition from the University of Barcelona (UB) in 2022, while finalising a second Master’s degree from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in 2024. Her research is focused on the intersection between social media and neuroscience. Specifically, as part of the project VALAWAI she looks into the moral aspect of AI and social media.