Professor Gina Rippon

Professor Gina Rippon is Professor of Cognitive Neuroimaging at Aston University. She uses brain imaging techniques such as Magnetoencephalography (MEG), Electroencephalography (EEG) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to explore the relationship between brain and behaviour. She has a particular interest in developmental disorders such as dyslexia and autism and has recently been involved in the development of the new Aston Brain Centre, a brain imaging centre which will focus on typical and atypical development.

She has a long-standing interest in the potential misuse of advances in cognitive neuroscience and brain imaging techniques, and feels it is important to communicate what they can and, perhaps more importantly, what they cannot say about the relationship between brain and behaviour.

She has served on 2 Government Advisory bodies on the use of the polygraph for ‘lie detection’ and has recently published a paper in the American Journal of BioEthics; “Why there is no place for Neuroscience in National Security”.

She has also written on the misapplication of psychobiological explanations to support stereotypes. She gave a public lecture “Sexing the Brain: how NeuroNonsense joined PsychoBabble to ‘Keep Women in Their Place’” at the British Science Festival in September 2010. A member of WISE and of the UKRC’s GetSET group, she is keen to address the issues associated with the underrepresentation of girls and women in science and engineering.