Aikaterini Fotopoulou

Aikaterini Fotopoulou (sometimes Katerina Fotopoulou) is a psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist who is a professor at the University College London Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology. She is the co-founder and Treasurer of the International Association for the Study of Affective Touch and the President-Elect of the European Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Society. She is also a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and past co-chair of its International Convention, and the past President of the Psychology Section of the British Science Association. Fotopoulou was the past Director of the London Neuropsychoanalysis Centre, Secretary of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society and coordinator of the London Neuropsychoanalysis Group.

Early life and education
Fotopoulou was born in Greece. As a child she wanted to become a journalist. She first studied psychology at Panteio University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens. She moved to University College London for her graduate degrees. At UCL, she completed Master's degrees in cognitive neuropsychology and theoretical psychoanalysis. She became particularly inspired by Sigmund Freud and Oliver Sacks. She moved to Durham University for doctoral research, where she studied neurological confabulation. Neurological confabulation is a type of honest, false remembering occurring after damage to the brain, which means that by studying confabulation, Fotopoulou gained insight into the fundamental mechanisms that underpin human memory. Her research indicated that when confabulation occurred after damage to orbital and medial prefrontal cortex (OMPFC), these false memories may have emotional and motivational significance for the patient. Fotopoulou later completed a clinical doctorate in existential psychotherapy with the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, leading to her registration with the British Psychological Society, the UK Council for Psychotherapy and the UK’s Health Professions Council as a chartered psychologist. She is currently in private practice in North West London.

Research and career
Fotopoulou investigates the relationship between mental and somatic health. For example, she is interested in how people’s sense of self, whether it is their feelings about their own body and its abilities, or their own autobiography, is influenced by either neurological disorders (e.g. stroke or dementia) or psychiatric disease (e.g. eating, somatic and functional disorders). Fotopoulou has published more than 150 papers on these disorders, aiming to understand the psychological and neural mechanisms that cause them as well as the psychophysical interventions that may treat them.

Fotopoulou has also been interested in the mechanisms by which people sooth and support each other’s emotions (termed, social effective regulation). She has explored how the brain responds to pain when family and friends are present. Fotopoulou showed that human touch could be used to soothe social exclusion. In particular, she showed that there was a relationship between gentle touch and social bonding. These findings hinted that there was a physiological system that connected the skin to the brain. She regularly lectures on these topics internationally.

Katerina is also the founder and current Director of the Centre of Equality Research in Brain Sciences (the ERB Centre), the first centre of this kind in the world with international recognition and appeal as evidenced by the resulting coverage, activities and impact of the centre such as coverage by Nature Magazine, “Intention is not Action: Brain-research centre steps up quest for equality” and impactful and interdisciplinary publications in peer-reviewed journals, including the ones led by Fotopoulou herself (Palser, E.R., Lazerwitz, M. & Fotopoulou, A. Gender and geographical disparity in editorial boards of journals in psychology and neuroscience. Nat Neurosci 25, 272–279 (2022). The vision of the center is to foster a world-leading tradition of outstanding equality research in brain and mind sciences and a recognisable brand of equality research expertise that establishes new global standards of knowledge generation, culture and practice.

Awards and honours

 * 2006 Clifford Yorke Prize
 * 2010 Hellenic Medical Society of the UK Papanikolaou Prize
 * 2011 British Neuropsychological Society Elizabeth Warrington Prize
 * 2013 European Research Council Starting Investigator Grant (The Bodily Self)
 * 2014 World Economic Forum Distinguished Young Scientist Award
 * 2015 UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology Dr Tony Pullen Lecturer of the Year Award
 * 2018 European Research Council Consolidator Grant