Jean-René Duhamel initially trained in human neuropsychology at McGill University and at the University of Marseille, studying brain/behavior relations through the effects of focal brain lesions on cognitive function. After obtaining his PhD, he moved to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, where he investigated the functional organization of the posterior parietal cortex, eye movements and visual mechanisms, focusing on the analysis of single neuron activity in monkeys. As a tenured researcher of the CNRS since 1992, he has pursued his interest in non-human primate cognition, addressing various topics such as multisensory integration, attention, space representation and, more recently, social and communication behavior. Dr Duhamel’s work is supported by the CNRS, Université de Lyon, Labex Cortex, Fondation pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau.

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Sylvia Wirth earned a PhD in Neuroscience from Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, France, dedicated to the understanding of olfactory memory in rodents. She went on a post-doctoral training at New York University characterizing the neural activity underlying memory formation in the medial temporal lobe in the non-human primates. She joined the Institute of Cognitive Sciences in 2009. Her current research focuses on characterizing the nature of neural codes in primates during spatial learning and time processing. She also studies the representation of social stimuli in the brain during picture presentation or during live social interactions in monkeys. Dr Wirth’s research program is supported by the ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche), University Lyon 1, Labex-Cortex.

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Eloise obtained her Master's Degree in Neuroscience from Aix-Marseille University in 2019. After working with baboons in Rousset’s primatology station in the team of Comparative Cognition, she pursued her interests in non-human primates  at the ISC working as an engineer of research. She is now starting a PhD under the supervision of Jean-René Duhamel that focuses on the function of brain oxytocin in non-human primates' social interaction behaviour in a recently acquired an Etho-cage. Her work is supported by the European Research Council, ERC.

Lucas graduated from CPE Lyon-La Doua in 2018 with a diploma in Digital Science Engineering. He then proceeded to join Jean-René Duhamel's team as an engineer. Lucas' work focuses on the development of 3D tracking systems. He uses many tools such as motion tracking, a 3D printer and neural networks to understand the postures and movements of non-human primates.

Thomas obtained his Engineering diploma from Grenoble INP-Phelma in 2013. During this time, he developed an interest in imaging techniques and worked with anatomical MRI. He then started to work with fMRI in INRIA before transitioning under the supervision of Jean-René Duhamel as an engineer. Thomas’s work supports the team’s projects from developing, recording and analysing behavioural and electrophysiological data.

Inès graduated in Psychology (Bsc) from the University of Bath in 2021, during which time her work focused on multisensory integration. She subsequently joined the Neuroprime team as a research engineer where she is currently assisting Jean-René Duhamel's PhD students in their ongoing projects on spatial and social representations in non-human primates.  

Marie obtained a Master degree in Neurosciences at the University of Lyon 1 in 2019, during which time she first joined the team for an internship. Thereafter, she started her PhD project under the supervision of Sylvia Wirth. Marie explores the neural correlates underlying spatial navigation by recording single-unit brain activities of monkeys while they perform orientation tasks in virtual reality. Her work centers on the hippocampus, as well as other structures to which it is connected, such as the posterior parietal, retrosplenial, and posterior cingulate cortices. Marie's research is supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche.

Yidong graduated from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (Nanjing, China) in 2017 with a bachelor's degree in computer security. In that time, he was fascinated by the cognitive and human emotion research and decided to pursue his interest towards cognitive science. He received his master's degree in psychology from South China Normal University (Guangzhou, China) in 2020. While completing his master's degree, he was an exchange student at the Cognitive Sciences Institute for one year. He retained excellent memories of Lyon and decided to come back as a PhD student. His current thesis project investigates following, joint attention and theory of mind in non-human primates, funded by an ERC advanced grant SocialEyes from Dr. Jean-René Duhamel.