Kalliopi Ioumpa is a neuroscientist, visual artist, and mental health counselor based in Amsterdam. Her research lies in individual differences in empathy and prosocial behavior, and in how encounters with culture influence social cognition. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam within the META-MUSEUM project, investigating how art influences neural, postural, and physiological responses. Her art practice, ranging from installations to sculptures and VR, explores themes like memory, the affective atmospheres of spaces, collective grief, and otherness. Through her artworks, she aims to make visible what words cannot through embodied knowledge. Educated in both science and fine arts, she is invested in cross-disciplinary collaborations, artistic research, and alternative ways of acquiring knowledge. (kalliopiioumpa.com)

Paloma is a biochemist (University of Chile) with a Master’s and Doctorate in Neurosciences from Paris Descartes University. Alongside her academic pursuits, she trained as a classical percussionist, performing in orchestras, chamber music groups, and contemporary ensembles in Chile, France, and the UK. She’s focused her research on postnatal brain development and, in particular, trying to understand how cellular and neuronal network mechanisms are affected by the relationships between caregivers and infants. Passionate about bridging the gap between academic research and the needs of children and adolescents, Paloma is dedicated to promoting knowledge-sharing and raising awareness among policymakers, social stakeholders, and families.

Yulong is a PhD researcher at Ghent University, Belgium. Her academic journey is shaped by a blend of art and science. Before pursuing her career in neuroscience, she studied journalism and documentary filmmaking in South China, where she developed a deep interest in understanding society through individual narratives. Her current research focuses on how we perceive social dominance information and how environmental cues influence decision-making, together to uncover the underlying neural processes that guide our perceptions of hierarchy, power, and influence in everyday life. By bridging her experiences in both art and science, Yulong is enthusiastic about integrating narrativization via her camera with scientific inquiry, bringing together two sides of the human mind to better understand ourselves and the way we navigate our social world (https://yulong-huang.com/).