Dr Alexander Shaw
Senior Lecturer
Psychology
University of Exeter
Washington Singer Laboratories
Perry Road - Prince of Wales Road
Exeter EX4 4QG
I’m a neuroscientist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter, working at the intersection of neuroscience, psychiatry, mathematics, and AI. My research group integrates experimental and computational approaches to understand—and ultimately treat—psychiatric disorders.
On the experimental side, we use multimodal neuroimaging (M/EEG, MRI, PET) in combination with pharmacological interventions, including psychedelics and anaesthetics, to study brain function in clinical populations.
On the computational side, we develop neurophysiologically grounded generative models of brain activity and implement variational inference algorithms to estimate hidden synaptic and circuit parameters from neuroimaging data. This work draws on principles from dynamical systems, Bayesian inference, and machine learning, with growing relevance to theoretical AI and AGI.
Our current research explores how core principles of brain computation—such as predictive coding, active inference, and free energy minimisation—can inform the development of more adaptive, grounded, and interpretable AI systems. We believe the brain offers a blueprint for building intelligent systems that learn continuously, reason under uncertainty, and generalise across tasks.
www.cpnslab.com
I also serve as Director of Business Engagement and Innovation for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, MRI liaison for Psychology, and personal tutor to undergraduate and postgraduate students. I supervise UG, PGT, and PGR researchers within my group.
Links to my research and academic profiles: https://linktr.ee/alexandershaw
I welcome job and collaboration opportunities at the intersection of theoretical neuroscience, AI, and applied mathematics. Please feel free to reach out.
We currently have several job/PhD opportunities in the group! See below.
🚨 Funded PhD Opportunity: Neurophysiology of GABAergic Modulation.
University of Exeter | In collaboration with GABA Labs & Prof. David Nutt
EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Funded PhD: "Computational Modelling of the Pharmacodynamics of Psychedelics"
Supervised by Dr Alexander Shaw and Prof Marc Goodfellow
More info: here
Apply: here
1 - GW4 PhD Project (starting 2025): "Computing and translating mechanisms of neural network dysfunction associated with psychiatric risk" supervised by Prof Matt Jones (Bristol) and co-supervised Profs Jeremy Hall, Marianne van den Bree (Cardiff) & Me! (Exeter). Join our collaborative team of Sleep Detectives! https://gw4biomed.ac.uk/computing-and-translating-mechanisms-of-neural-network-dysfunction-associated-with-psychiatric-risk/
2 - GW4 PhD Project (starting 2025): "Neuroimaging brain reward systems to stratify patients across the psychosis spectrum" supervised by Dr Tom Lancaster (Bath), Prof Neil Harrison (Cardiff CUBRIC) and Me! (Exeter). More info:
https://gw4biomed.ac.uk/neuroimaging-brain-reward-systems-to-stratify-patients-across-the-psychosis-spectrum/
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1) We are currently advertising for a postdoc (Research Associate) in computational neuroscience (Nov 2023):
https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DEJ381/graduate-research-assistant-postdoctoral-research-associate
There are currently TWO fully funded PhD studentship available in the group (2023):
2) As part of the MRC programme grant, CONVERGE in collaboration with Cardiff, Bristol and UCL:
3) And one in collaboration with Caroyln McNabb in Cardiff, using advanced neuroimaging, MEG and modelling to look at the pathophysiology of Schizophrenia (2023):
https://gw4biomed.ac.uk/a-multimodal-investigation-of-brain-structure-and-function-in-schizophrenia/
