Yr Athro Chris Chambers

Undergraduate education

• Bachelor of Science (Behavioural) with Honours (1st class), Monash University, 1998.

Postgraduate education

• PhD in Experimental Psychology, Monash University, 2002
• Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol), British Psychological Society, 2011.

Anrhydeddau a Dyfarniadau

• British Psychological Society, 2007 Spearman Medal Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Aelodaethau proffesiynol

• Chartered Member, British Psychological Society
• Society for Neuroscience
• Association of British Science Writers (ABSW).

Safleoedd academaidd blaenorol

• Senior Research Fellow, Head of the CUBRIC Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Group, Cardiff University (2008-2014)
• BBSRC David Phillips Fellow, School of Psychology, Cardiff University (2008-2011)
• BBSRC David Phillips Fellow, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London (2006-2008)
• NHMRC Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Melbourne, Australia (2004-2006)
• NHMRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Melbourne, Australia (2002-2004).

Journal editorships

• Section Editor, European Journal of Neuroscience 2016-
• Section Editor, Royal Society Open Science 2015-
• Section Editor, AIMS Neuroscience 2013-
• Section Editor, Cortex 2012-
• Section Editor, Collabra 2015-
  Academic Editor, PLOS ONE 2012-2015.

Awards/external committees

• Chair of the Registered Reports Committee, Centre for Open Science 2014-
• Advisory Committee, Science Media Centre 2014-
• Fellow of the British Psychological Society (FBPsS), 2011
• Spearman Medal, British Psychological Society, 2007
• BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship, 2006-2011
• Australian Academy of Science, European Travelling Fellowship, 2004.

Manuscript reviewing

• Addiction
• Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
• Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers
• Biological Psychiatry
• BMJ
• Brain and Cognition
• Brain Research
• Brain Stimulation
• Brain Structure and Function
• Cerebral Cortex
• Cognition
• Cognitive Brain Research
• Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications
• Cortex
• Current Biology
• Drug and Alcohol Dependence
• eLife
• European Journal of Neurology
• Experimental Brain Research
• Experimental Psychology
• F1000Research
• Human Brain Mapping
• JMIR Serious Games
• Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
• Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
• Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
• Journal of Media Psychology
• Journal of Neurophysiology
• Journal of Neuroscience
• Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society
• Journal of Psychopharmacology
• Nature
• Neuroimage
• Neuropsychologia
• Neuropsychology
• Neuroscience
• Neuroscience Letters
• Open Biology
• Perception & Psychophysics
• PLOS Biology
• PLOS ONE
• Psychiatry Research
• Psychological Research
• Psychological Science
• Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
• Royal Society Open Science
• Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

Grant reviewing activities

• Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
• Leverhulme Trust
• Medical Research Council (MRC)
• National Science Foundation
• Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NOW)
• Neurological Foundation of New Zealand
• Wellcome Trust.

Ymrwymiadau siarad cyhoeddus

I work regularly with various branches of the print and broadcast media, both in the UK and internationally. I have been interviewed by BBC online, BBC radio, Newstalk Ireland, New Scientist, Guardian, Independent, Telegraph, the Daily Mail, and several European newspapers (e.g. Volkskrant, Netherlands) and science magazines (e.g. Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Germany).

I also write regularly in the media on science-related issues of public interest. Key issues have included challenges in science journalism, proposals to reform media policy, the importance of replication in science, and academic publishing reform. I have also entered a submission to the Leveson Inquiry and served as a consultant for a Channel Four documentary about addiction.

In March 2012, I participated in a debate at the Royal Institution that focused on ways scientists and journalists can cooperate to ensure more effective communication of science. I have since participated in related panel discussions at the CASE Europe conference (Aug 2012), Guardian LiveChat (Aug 2012) and the Spot On science communication conference (Nov 2012). Together with Petroc Sumner, Jacky Boivin and Andy Williams (JOMEC), I jointly manage the Insciout project, which aims to determine the role of press releases issued by universities and journals in shaping science news. The medium-term aim of the Insciout project is to develop evidence-based guidelines for best practice in the preparation of science-related press releases.

In August 2013, I jointly established the Guardian blog HeadQuarters together with Pete Etchells (Bath Spa University), Molly Crockett (University of Oxford) and Thalia Gjersoe (Open University). The aim of our blog is to raise awareness about exciting new research in psychology and related issues of public interest. I have written articles on topics such as psychological solutions to trolling, the neuroscience of near death experiences, traffic psychology, the effects of government mass surveillance on mental health, and the psychological challenges of the Mars One program.

Media activities

2013

• Trust in science would be improved by study pre-registration - The Guardian
• Susan Greenfield and the rise of the Facebook zombies - The Guardian
• Pseudoscience and stereotyping won't solve gender inequality in science - The Guardian
• Should scientists be more involved in government? - The Geek Manifesto, BBC Radio Wales
• Those who publish research behind paywalls are victims not perpetrators -The Guardian.

2012

• Fixing the fraud: how do we safeguard science from misconduct? - Spot on London 2012, YouTube
• Tackling the F word - SciLogs guest post
• Replication is the only solution to scientific fraud - The Guardian
• Science journalism through the looking glass - The Guardian
• Scientists and journalists need different things from science - Ri Channel
• Nine ways scientists can help improve science journalism - The Guardian
• How can we ensure a future of quality science reporting in the UK? - Submission to the Leveson Inquiry: Culture, Ethics and Practice of the Press.

2011

• Cerveau et maintien de l’ordre, comment améliorer l’information scientifique du grand public? - LeMonde.fr
• Scientists should be allowed to check stories on their work before publication - The Guardian
• Riot control: How can we stop newspapers distorting science? - The Guardian
• 'Thinking caps' are pseudoscience masquerading as neuroscience - The Guardian
• Politics and the Brain - New York Times.

Invited talks (2006 onwards)

• F-ESN Summer School, Freie Universität Berlin, 2016
• SGSSS Summer School, University of Edinburgh, 2016
• Royal Society, London, BPS event: Replication and Reproducibility in Psychology, 2016
• Bellwether Lecture, University of Oxford, 2016
• Academy of Medical Sciences meeting on Reproducibility, London, 2015
• University College London, #IsScienceBroken event, 2015
• NC3Rs workshop on publication bias in preclinical research, London, 2015
• Café Scientifique, Evidence Information Service event, Bristol, 2015
• Royal Society, London, 2014
• Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco, USA, 2014
• Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, 2014
• Amsterdam Medical Centre, Netherlands, 2014
• Science Media Centre, London, 2014
• School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University, Australia, 2013
• Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Monash University, Australia, 2013
• School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, 2013
• University of California San Diego, USA, 2013
• School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, 2013
• Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2013
• School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol 2013
• Japan Neuroscience Society Meeting, Kyoto 2013
• School of Psychology, University of Sussex 2013
• Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford 2013
• Division of Psychology, University of Abertay Dundee 2013
• National Assembly for Wales, Cross-party Group on Science and Technology, Cardiff 2013
• Royal Institution, London 2012
• School of Psychology, University of Exeter 2012
• CASE Europe Conference, Birmingham 2012
• Department of Psychiatry, CHU Brugmann, Brussels, Belgium, 2011
• Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Australia, 2011
• MARCS Auditory Labs, University of Western Sydney, Australia, 2011
• Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, 2010
• Centre for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Italy, 2009
• Welsh Branch of the British Psychological Society, Cardiff, 2009
• Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Australia, 2009
• Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Australia, 2009
• Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Australia, 2009
• Themed speaker, Young Neuroscientist Day, Cardiff University, 2008
• Spearman Medal Lecture, BPS Annual Conference, Dublin, 2008
• Department of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, 2008
• FMRIB Centre, University of Oxford, 2007
• Psychology Department, University of California San Diego, 2007
• School of Psychology, Cardiff University, 2007
• School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia, 2007
• Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Philadelphia, 2006
• Chaucer Club Presentation, MRC CBU, University of Cambridge, 2006
• Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, University of Durham, 2006
• Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 2006
• School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, 2006
• Department of Psychology, University College London, 2006.

• Date
• Type
• Selected

Academic teaching

• Level 1 Psychology: ‘Magnetic stimulation of the human brain in psychology and neuroscience’ (2009-2014).
• Level 3 Psychology: ‘Methods and applications of transcranial magnetic stimulation’ (2010-2013).
• MSc in Neuroimaging Methods and Applications (2011-).

Professional workshops

• ARC Centre for Excellence, Macquarie University, Australia –  ‘Workshop on basic research with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)’ (2011).
• MARCS Auditory Laboratories, University of Western Sydney, Australia – ‘Introduction to transcranial magnetic stimulation’ (2011).
• Marie Curie FP7 Advanced Training Course, U.K., ‘Applications of transcranial magnetic stimulation in cognitive neuroscience’ (2010).
• CUBRIC, Wales Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (WICN) Summer School – ‘Introduction to TMS’ and two-day practical workshop (2009).
• Psychology Department, University of California San Diego – ‘Introduction to theory and practice of TMS’  (2007).
• Magstim TMS Summer School – ‘Practical Introduction to TMS’ (2007).
• Dartmouth Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience – ‘Introduction to TMS’ (2006).

My research addresses questions across a range of fields. Within cognitive neuroscience, I am primarily interested in understanding attention and impulse control, and translational applications in clinical fields such as addiction.

In 2012 I jointly established the Insciout research group together with Petroc Sumner, Jacky Boivin and Andy Williams. Insciout is a collaborative project between the School of Psychology and the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. Our aim is to identify causes of error in the translation of science to the news, and to develop evidence-based guidelines for best practice in science/media interactions.

I am also the co-founder of the UK Evidence Information Service, a research-led initiative that aims to facilitate interaction between academia and politicians in the service of evidence-based policy.

Funding

Current major grants:

• Chambers, C.D. European Research Council Consolidator Grant, ‘The psychology and neurobiology of cognitive control training in humans’, 2015-2020 (€1,998,305).
• Chambers, C.D., Verbruggen, F.L.J., Boy, F., Dymond, S. & Lawrence, N. Wellcome Trust ISSF Seedcorn Grant (U.K.), ‘Can GABAergic brain stimulation promote risk aversion in gambling?’, 2013-2015 (£33,572).
• Chambers, C.D. & Verbruggen, F.L.J. BBSRC Project Grant (U.K.), ‘Neural dynamics of response inhibition and gambling across the lifespan’, 2013-2016 (£882,321).

Previous major grants:

• Verbruggen F.L.J, Chambers, C.D., Lavric, A. & McLaren, I. Economic and Social Research Council (U.K.) ‘Do executive motor-control mechanisms regulate monetary choice and gambling?’, 2012-2015 (£546,626).
• Bellgrove, M.A., Hester, R., Chambers, C.D., Garavan, H. & Hawi, Z. National Health and Medical Research Council project grant (Australia) ‘Genetic and physiological mechanisms of executive control’, 2011-2014 ($541,048).
• Chambers, C.D., Singh, K., Wise, R., Jones, D., Jiles, D, & Bestmann, S. Academic Expertise For Business grant (Welsh Assembly) ‘The integrated brain imaging and stimulation project (IBIS)’, 2010-2013 (£349,885).
• Chambers, C.D. BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship (U.K.), ‘Investigating the neural basis of selective attention in the human brain: A combined neurodisruption and neuroimaging study, 2006-2011 (£421,754).
• Chambers, C.D. & Driver, J. BBSRC Project Grant (U.K.), ‘Multisensory dynamics of selective attention in the human brain: A combined neurodisruption and neuroimaging project’, 2007-2011 (£403,884).
• Bellgrove, M.A. & Chambers, C.D. ARC Project Grant (Australia), 'The cognitive neuroscience of executive control: behavioural, physiological and genetic mechanisms’, 2007-2010 ($319,000).

Research topics and related papers

Cognitive control

Current team members: Rachel Adams, Chris Allen, Leah Maizey, Jemma Sedgmond, Loukia Tzavella.

Neural mechanisms of cognitive control enable us to coordinate, execute, and update behaviour. The prefrontal cortex has long been associated with cognitive control but the architecture of the prefrontal system is one of the great unsolved mysteries in cognitive neuroscience. Within the broad field of cognitive control (or ‘executive functions’), our research focuses on understanding the neural basis of response inhibition, response selection, and the link between inhibition and risk-taking (including gambling and eating behaviour), principally through the application of training methods, TMS and TES.

Current collaborations in cognitive control:

• Dr Mark Bellgrove (University of Queensland)
• Dr Pete Etchells (Bath Spa University and The Guardian)
• Dr John Evans
• Prof. Derek Jones
• Dr Natalia Lawrence (University of Exeter)
• Prof Tony Manstead
• Dr James Randerson (The Guardian)
• Prof Petroc Sumner
• Prof Frederick Verbruggen (University of Exeter).

Attention and awareness

Current team members: Chris Allen, Rory Cutler, Jemma Sedgmond.

Our sensory environment contains a vast quantity of information, only a fraction of which can guide behaviour. Brain mechanisms of attention are crucial for enhancing the processing of stimuli that are relevant to current goals. Within the field of attention, our research focuses on the use of TMS and fMRI to understand the cognitive neuroscience of attentional control and spatial representations. We are also interested in the neurophysiology and neurochemistry that supports consciousness in the occipital and frontal cortex.

Current collaborations in attention/awareness:

• Dr Elena Rusconi (Abertay University).

Concurrent TMS and MRI

Current team members: Chris Allen, Leah Maizey, Jemma Sedgmond.

The combination of TMS and neuroimaging (MRI, EEG) provides a unique window on human brain function, with broad applications and implications across the cognitive and clinical neurosciences. By applying TMS within the MRI scanner, we can directly observe the physiological consequences of stimulation both locally (at the site of stimulation) and in remote interconnected brain regions. The integration of TMS and different imaging techniques also holds great promise for revealing the mechanism by which TMS influences neurophysiology and neurovascular coupling.

We recently established concurrent TMS-MRI at CUBRIC via the Academic Expertise for Business (A4B) grant programme, an initiative of the Welsh Assembly Government that funds links between academia and industry in Wales. Our industrial partners on this project were Welsh neuromedical companies Magstim and Dymed. Together we have developed passive shim technology that nearly eliminates one major source of interference between TMS and MRI.

Current collaborations in TMS-MRI:

• Dr John Evans (Cardiff University)
• Industry: Robin Davies (Magstim) and Mike Polson (Dymed).

TMS methods

The application of TMS in cognitive neuroscience carries a variety of technical and interpretative challenges. As a neurostimulation method, one critical issue is the control of TMS intensity. What strength of TMS is sufficient to yield effective (but not excessive) stimulation of cortical tissue? We have found that the extent of cortical activity during TMS is steeply related to the distance between the scalp and cortex. Even a difference of 1mm in the scalp-cortex distance between different sites can have a measurable and reliable effect on TMS-evoked behaviour. We have therefore developed a scaling method for calibrating the intensity of TMS according to scalp-cortex distance, thus enabling more precise and comparable stimulation of different regions.

Current collaborations in TMS methods:

• Dr Mark Stokes (University of Oxford).

The relationship between science and the media - the Insciout project

Current team members: Rachel Adams, Solveiga Stonkute, Louise White.

We are interested in how press releases issued by universities and academic journals influence the reporting of science news in the media. By understanding both positive and negative effects we aim to formulate an evidence-based policy for maximizing the impact and accuracy of science-related public relations. This project is supported by an ESRC transformative grant, the Wellcome Trust, and the British Psychological Society. It also benefits from our close relationship with the Science Media Centre.

Learn more about InSciOut.

Current collaborations in science and the media:

• Prof Jacky Boivin
• Dr Lewis Bott
• Prof Jenny Kitzinger
• Prof Petroc Sumner
• Dr Andy Williams.

The Evidence Information Service

We are developing a new service to facilitate communication between academic researchers and UK politicians and civil servants. The aim of the Evidence Information Service (EIS) will be to act as a rapid matchmaking and advisory service, connecting politicians with experts in academia and industry. The EIS will host a database of scientists who are willing to commit their time voluntarily to help policy makers obtain and interpret the most reliable evidence on specific issues. Such activities will include the provision and explanation of peer-reviewed literature, statistical consulting, and the critical assessment of data or conclusions.

Read the summary of our 2015 national consultation exercise with UK parliamentarians.

Current collaborations on the Evidence Information Service:

• Dr Natalia Lawrence
• Dr Sven Bestmann
• Dr Andrew Kythreotis
• Dr Gerard O’Grady.

Open Science

Psychology and cognitive neuroscience are in the midst of a reproducibility crisis that can be solved through the adoption of practices that boost the transparency of the research process. Since 2014 I have served as chair of the Registered Reports Committee of the Center for Open Science (COS). Registered Reports are a new form of empirical article that tackles publication bias and questionable research practices (such as p-hacking and post hoc hypothesizing) by conducting peer review before data collection and analysis. I am also a member of the COS Transparency and Openness (TOP) Guidelines committee, which proposes a series of guidelines for academic journals to improve the credibility of published work. In 2015 we published the TOP guidelines in the journal Science, led by COS Executive Director Brian Nosek.

Learn more about Transparency and Openness (TOP).

I am happy to discuss projects that fall within the scope of:

• Human cognitive control, including response inhibition, decision-making, and eating behaviour.
• Psychological and neural mechanisms of selective attention and conscious awareness.
• Concurrent brain stimulation and neuroimaging.
• Methodological advances in TMS.
• Evidence-based public policy.
• The relationship between science and the media.
• Scientific publishing reform.

Current students

• Rory Cutler, PhD
• Leah Maizey, PhD
• Solveiga Stonkute, PhD
• Loukia Tzavella, PhD.