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Touch Cofund

@touch-cofund.bsky.social
22 followers 10 following 60 posts

Towards the next generation of excellent young doctoral researchers on mental health by developing an intersectoral & transdisciplinary approach.

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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
3. 🗣️ Social awareness: reframing UPF consumption not as a personal failure but as a structural issue shaped by price, time, and access. 4. 🏛️ Industry regulation: evidence like this can support stricter additive restriction policies, and marketing and labelling rules.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
1. What is the point of studying maternal UPF intake and infant brain development if it stays in a lab? 3 applications I keep coming back to: 2. 📚 Education: helping future parents and clinicians understand that nutrition during pregnancy is a neurodevelopmental factor, not just a metabolic one.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Ultimately, I study nutrition as part of the exposome: the environmental factors that shape our health across life. I hope this week gives you a glimpse into why connecting neuroscience, nutrition, and society is essential for building a healthier future. Thanks for following along! @uab.cat
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
My PhD focuses on how maternal nutrition influences neonatal neurodevelopment. Specifically, I investigate whether exposure to diets rich in ultra-processed foods during pregnancy may contribute to early brain development and later vulnerability to mental health disorders.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
We’re seeing rising rates of physical and mental health problems in younger generations, but these trends are not evenly distributed across society. Understanding nutrition means understanding health inequalities, and that’s one of the reasons this research matters so much to me.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
What drives my research is also a question of social justice. Ultra-processed foods are cheaper and more accessible than fresh, minimally processed foods. As a result, healthy nutrition is becoming a privilege rather than a right, with the health burden falling on lower socioeconomic communities.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Throughout my training in psychology and neuroscience research, I always felt something was missing: we often studied the brain as if it existed in isolation from the body. Discovering research on nutrition and the gut changed my perspective. It made me wonder if “we are what we eat” is biological.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Hi, I’m Saioa París Alberdi, a (nutrition psychiatry) PhD student with TOUCH-COFOUND, and this week I’ll be introducing you to my research world. 🧠 I study the connection between nutrition, gut, and development of the brain; why what we eat may shape mental health and vice versa from the beginning.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Some things about my #research: 1️⃣ Post-ICU cognitive difficulties can be invisible but deeply affect daily life. 2️⃣ Psychological trauma may emerge months later. 3️⃣ There's no pill for cognitive/emotional recovery. Perhaps that is also why follow-up and rehabilitation receive so little investment.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Hi I'm Marilena, a psychologist, and my PhD will look at why cognitive and emotional recovery after critical illness differs so much between people. I’ll explore the possible role of cognitive reserve, inflammation and genetic vulnerability in these differences. @uab.cat
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Parc de Recerca UAB @pruab.cat · 04/08/2026
Des del Parc de Recerca UAB participem en projectes europeus i internacionals que connecten recerca, talent i innovació per afrontar reptes socials, ambientals i econòmics! 🤩 Descobreix @express2project.eu, @touch-cofund.bsky.social, CONFETI, ReWoW, PHYNEST i ULALABS a www.pruab.cat/ca/projectes
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
🧠 On Tuesday, the @pruab.cat Comms team delivered a training session on scientific communication and social media as part of the 2nd Initial Workshop of the TOUCH programme. It covered various aspects of #scicom and the importance of being on #sm for research transfer and dissemination. @uab.cat
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
If I could ask something of society: to be slow and sincere in calling things beautiful. New things can be beautiful, popular things can be meaningful—but beauty shouldn't depend on trends. It should leave room for genuine response: does it move us? Perhaps beauty is something we should keep feeling
Bradley Stevens' oil on linen "Communion" is part of Zenith Gallery's exhibit of his paintings that depict museumgoers contemplating 19th-century artworks — in this case, paintings by Daniel Garber, Joeph DeCamp, Alfred Maurer and William Merritt Chase. (Photo courtesy of Zenith Gallery)
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Hi! I'm Yuhan Zhang, a TOUCH candidate at @uab.cat. 🧠My research focuses on psychosis risk prediction through language and Formal Thought Disorder assessments with the assistance of #ai. At the center of my work is curiosity. I believe science is about staying open to things that may be difficult.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I found my way to what feels like the perfect fit: a funded PhD in Clinical and Health Psychology, researching nature based therapies and the role of nature in human wellbeing. I’m grateful to the TOUCH programme, @uab.cat, AGORA, BCNUEJ and BITAL for welcoming me into their research communities.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Spent a year studying Chinese language and society at Zhejiang University. Seeing the prolific health impacts of pollution in China gave me a broader perspective on climate issues and anthropogenic contributions. After returning to Europe and completing a Master’s in Sustainability in @uantwerpen.be
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
From there, opportunities opened: a summer school at Pukyong National University in Busan; an Erasmus at @radboudpol.bsky.social in the Netherlands; and two years teaching in Japan through the #JETProgramme. Returning to Europe, I studied a MA in European Studies at @io-pgi-kuleuven.bsky.social
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
The most special places my studies have taken me: I never expected my life to unfold this way. I hadn’t even planned to go to university until a tutor insisted I would regret not trying. That changed everything. My academic path began in North Wales, where I studied Psychology and Neuropsychology.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
GreenME studies Greencare across two continents, offering richer and more nuanced insights. Still, science would benefit from including more voices from the Global South and other underrepresented regions. More info: greenme-project.eu
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
As part of the TOUCH programme, I’m connected to GreenME, a Horizon Europe project across 7 countries. Working internationally shows how science is shaped by each institution’s academic and cultural norms. #TOUCHProgramme #GreenME
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Hi! I’m Zachary, a TOUCH PhD candidate in Psychology 🌿 I study how nature can support mental health and complement healthcare systems. My advice: seek environments where people uplift you, recognise your potential and help you grow. #TOUCHProgramme #PhDLife @uab.cat
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
A key concept in my research is representational similarity analysis (RSA) in neuroscience. It focuses on patterns of brain activity rather than overall activation, allowing us to compare how information is represented. This is useful for making findings comparable and improving how they translate
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
My biggest surprise during my PhD? 🤯 How difficult it is to make research transferable. Studying patterns of brain activity has shown me that even when data look comparable, they don’t mean the same. Making findings translate across contexts is one of the challenges and motivations of my work ✨
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Parc de Recerca UAB @pruab.cat · 23/04/2026
Bon #SantJordi i #SantaJordina! 🌹🐲📚 Aquest any el volem celebrar amb una tria dels nostres llibres preferits, que barregen transferència, innovació, patents i emprenedoria amb un argument trepidant... els coneixes tots?? 😜
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
What has been Giorgia's main learning? ⬇️ Trying to keep my PhD genuinely translational—connecting methods, models, and perspectives that don’t always fit neatly together. Messy, but necessary.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Hi! I’m Giorgia, a PhD candidate in Neuroscience 🧠 My research focuses on bridging the gap between human fMRI and Calcium Imaging mouse data. In my PhD project, I use representational similarity analysis to study how information is encoded in patterns of brain activity; how these patterns relate.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Hi! I’m Liubovi, a PhD candidate in Neuroscience 🧠, and I'm sharing a common misconception: mental health is only about psychological state. Neuron integrity, cerebral microvessels, and neural network connectivity shape cognition — and their breakdown contributes to age-related cognitive decline.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
How does one stay motivated? Here's Philipp Sittinger's habit to mantain his motivation ✊: I never “do big tasks.” I break everything down until the next step is just a few minutes away. Then another. If I don’t look up, the “big task” gets done. Just through accumulation of non-overwhelming steps.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Today, Philipp Sittinger shares with ys the best advice he got during his PhD: “Progress isn’t linear. Judge your work by the trend, not the day.” Some weeks are messy and slow, but the average over months is what counts.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
If I could ask something of society: to normalize #audits. 🤔 We audit bridges, planes, and medicines... why not AI systems that shape what we see, what we’re told, or how we’re categorized?
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
🧠 Philip Sittinger: "I treat AI like cars: benchmarks are horsepower—impressive, but not safety. In sensitive contexts (including mental health), I crash-test models with different techniques to see where bias shows up and who gets harmed." #AI #Fairness
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Today, Johan Sittinger is sharing one of his biggest learnings about #academia: Good research is mostly iteration, not “genius moments.” It’s debugging, rethinking assumptions, failing, narrowing scope, and trying again. @uab.cat @pruab.cat @psicologiauab.bsky.social
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Meet Philipp Sittinger, our next PhD candidate featured in TOUCH! With a BSc & MSc in Psychology, he’s now doing a PhD in Computer Science at the CVC, building explainable AI to evaluate large language datasets and audit bias in mental-health related user detection. @psicologiauab.bsky.social
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
🤝Let's meet Francesca Railneau, our next PhD student at TOUCH! 🧠Hi, I’m a psychotherapist and researcher whose work focuses on participatory research: involving MH service users as collaborators. 🎓For my PhD, I explore how co-creating research can make science meaningful, ethical, and impactful.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
My research is driven by lived experience. ⏳ I believe research should evolve with life, shaping how we grow—not just what we know. 📚 At the heart of my research on older adults is a simple idea: fulfillment isn’t limited to youth. Flourishing is possible at every stage of life. 🌻
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
❎ Myth: Aging is something to fear, resist, or reverse. ✅ What my research shows: Aging is a meaningful, developmental life process—not just a medical one. Healthy aging isn’t something we start at retirement; it’s shaped by how we live across the entire lifespan.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Did you know? 🤔 Helping older adults revisit and share meaningful life memories can boost their life satisfaction and overall well-being. 🧠 Reminiscence therapy is emerging as a simple, drug-free way to promote healthy psychological aging in communities.  @uab.cat
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
🚀 Today we're introducing Sneha Ouseph, a TOUCH PhD candidate: a psychologist from India exploring flourishing and self-compassion, now focused on healthy aging. Her PhD compares older adults’ lived experiences in India and Spain, plus experts’ views on modifiable psychosocial risks to QoL. @uab.cat
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Why #decolonial research? 🤔 Because it asks who defines knowledge and whose realities are silenced, making colonial power relations visible instead of neutral. It shifts us from studying people as objects to working with them, valuing situated and community knowledges. @uab.cat @uchile.bsky.social
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Meet Pamela Merrill, PhD candidate in TOUCH. Psychologist from Chile with an Erasmus Mundus joint MA in literature & gender studies. 🤩 Her research explores fiction, monstrous and self narratives to rethink mental health, desire & subjectivity in higher education. @uab.cat
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Whats's an unexpected difficulty Firaol has encountered? Let's hear it! ⬇️ As an Ethiopian studying in Spain, an unexpected difficulty: learning Catalan and Castellano at the same time. People switch between them in a single conversation and sometimes I have no idea which is which😂 @uab.cat
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
It's neither a moral failure nor a permanent condition. There are DOZENS of effective next-step treatments: tDCS, TMS, ketamine/esketamine, ECT, augmentation strategies, etc. Many of them go into full remission after being labeled “treatment resistant.”👏 #TreatmentResistantDepression #MentalHealth
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
🤔 The most common misconception about treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is that it is an untreatable condition. 🧠 TRD is a failure to respond to at least two adequate antidepressant trials regardless of optimal dosing and adherence. This occurs in approximately 20% to 50% of individuals... ⬇️
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
🐍 A core tool in my PhD: #Python. With Python, we can do almost everything. From programming experiments and running statistical analyses to creating beautiful visualisations and implementing AI models. Learning it in advance was a real game changer for my PhD journey.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Discovering #MultimodalIntegration: In mental health research, data comes from neural signals, physiological responses, behaviour,... Tomás' goal is to combine them using ML models that capture how these interact. 🤯 It’s like building a map of the mind that connects biology, experience, and emotion.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
✨Meet Tomás D’Amelio, a PhD candidate in the TOUCH Programme! He’s building predictive models that integrate multimodal data to understand cognitive & affective dynamics. His work connects neuroscience, emotions, and AI. He explores how machine learning can reveal patterns behind health & behaviour.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Today, Agenese asks us something she'd love to know: I'd love to ask to society is "what would our world look like if #inclusion were not a policy, but a feeling that every person, regardless of origin 🌍, could carry within themselves"? ❤️ webs.uab.cat/touch/
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
My biggest surprise in academia? 🤯 How much it changes across countries 🌍. Moving from one place to another and building many international relationships 🤝, I realised that “academia” can carry very different meanings depending on where you experience it ✨.
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
👩‍🎓 Meet Agnese Capurri, featured in TOUCH! She’s an Italian sociologist doing her PhD at @uab.cat (GRAFO), exploring migrants’ mental health. Her research focuses on the wellbeing of Pakistani mothers and daughters in Barcelona. 🌍💬
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Touch Cofund @touch-cofund.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
@florbathory.bsky.social: The best advice I've ever received came from a friend who told me to be as generous with others as I would have liked others to be with me. That's the way to do science. If we care about knowledge, being generous and collaborative with our colleagues is the path to follow 🫂
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