VIVIANA BETTI

Lectures

In the first semester of the academic year 2024-25 (and 2025-2026)

• Neuroanatomia Funzionale (Laurea in Neuroscienze e Riabilitazione Psicologica, I anno - magistrale)

In the second semester of the academic year 2024-25 (and 2025-2026):

• Analisi sensoriale degli alimenti - Psicobiologia (Laurea triennale in Scienze, culture e politiche gastronomiche per il benessere, III year)

Student office hours

I receive by appointment on Tuesdays at 1.00 pm at my office (Department of Psychology - Second floor - Room 206) or online using the following google meet link 

VIVIANA BETTI - Curriculum Vitae
Current Position
● Associate Professor in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience (PSIC-01/B) - Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome
● Director of Cosynclab (https://www.cosynclab.it) at the Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, and Neuroscience and Applied Technology lab at IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia.

Education and Academic Positions
● 2017-2018 Assistant Professor, Sapienza University of Rome;
● 2009-2016 Postdoctoral Fellow, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti
● 2008 Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroplasticity and Rehabilitation, Sapienza University of Rome.
● 2008 Visiting Student University College of London (UCL), Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (U.K).
● 2005 Master of Science in Experimental Psychology (summa cum laude), Sapienza University of Rome.

Publication overview
In the last 14 years, the results of my studies in the field of social science and humanities have been published in high-impact factor journals, such as Neuron, Nature Methods, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), Journal of Neuroscience, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, The Neuroscientist, and Neuroimage.
Total Citations: 1968/1307 citations (google scholar/scopus) H-index: 19/18 (google scholar/scopus)

Award
● 2024 Sapienza University of Rome – Award for Excellence in Science - Horizon Europe framework
● 2014 Best publication in the Psychophysiology (Società Italiana di Psicofisiologia-SIPF) National and International grants

Grants
● 2024 Horizon European Research Council (ERC) - Proof of Concept - project title: THerapy with Extended Reality and Analytics (project acronym -THERA) - SEAL OF EXCELLENCE
● 2023 Horizon European Research Council (ERC) – Proof of Concept - project title: “Against prostheses abandonment: Immersive and low-cost platform for the rehabilitation of upper-limb amputees (project acronym - BRAINmade) GA n. 101138734 Role: Coordinator, €
150.000,00
● 2023 MUR- PRIN - Bando 2022 Prot. 202249C5XL – “COordination and iNtegration of motion in the TACTile and motor system” - (project acronym CONTACT - Role: Coordinator, € 216.640,00
● 2021 POR FESR LAZIO 2014-2020 – Bando Gruppi di Ricerca 2020 “Valutazione Strumentale ad alta tecnologia della stabilità posturale dinamica e del rischio caduta in persone fragili e disabili” (Grant numero A0375-2020-36724). Role: Coordinator, €148.070,99
● 2020 Ministero della Salute – Bando Ricerca Finalizzata “microRNAs-34 and cardiovascular implications of chronic life stress and depression: a potential biomarker and therapeutic target”, Role: Co-PI, € 410.500,00.
● 2017 H2020 European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant “How natural hand usage shapes behavior and intrinsic and task-evoked brain activity” (HANDmade), Role: Coordinator, € 1.494.662,00.
Other fundings
● 2022 Sapienza Università di Roma- "INnovative inkjet platform for ubiquitous PRINTng of next generation nanobiosensors" (Acronimo progetto: INPRINT-nano) bando Award Horizon Europe - Role: Coordinator, € 2.940,00 - 16.03.23-16.03.26
● 2021- Bandi di Ateneo Sapienza- “Rappresentazione di gesti della mano comuni e non comuni nell’attività spontanea del cervello: uno studio EEG ad alta densità” Role: Coordinator, € 10.000,00. 03.03.22-03.03.24
● 2020 – Bandi di Ateneo Sapienza- “Breaking the rules: how alterations of body statistics reorganize the functional connectivity in individuals with high and low cognitive flexibility” Role: Coordinator, € 10.000,00.
● 2019 – Bandi di Ateneo- Sapienza – “Identifying the prodromal, pre-clinical signs of neurodegenerative disorders in aging: a neuropsychological study”, Role: Collaborator, € 40.000,00.
● 2017 – Bandi di Ateneo- Sapienza – “To the heart of the matter: Brain-body pathways to perseverative cognition, Role: Collaborator, € 8.000,00.

Research Group and Student Supervision
I am the Director of Cosynclab (https://www.cosynclab.it) at the Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, and the Neuroscience and Applied Technology lab at IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia. I am leading a research group with 7 PostDocs and 5 PhD students. Since 2017, I have been an advisor of other 10 PostDocs, 1 visiting student, and 35 undergraduate students.

Teaching activities
● from 2022- Chair of Psicobiologia e Psicologia dell’alimentazione (3 CFU)
● from 2019-present Chair of Functional Neuronatomy (6 CFU)
● from 2019-2022 Chair of Cognitive Neuroimaging – Laboratory (3 CFU)
● 2018-2019 Co-Chair of Affective Neuroscience, for MSc students, Sapienza University (3 CFU
● 2017-2018 Chair of Social Neuroscience, for MSc students, Sapienza University (9 CFU)

Research Evaluation
from 2019-2023 Grant Evaluation Panel – Be-for-ERC (Panel SH) – Sapienza University of Rome

2017 Board of Professors of the Ph.D. program in Cognitive, Social, and Affective Neuroscience – CoSAN, Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome
Commissions of trust

● Expert Reviewer for International Peer Review JournalS: Neuroimage, Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, PloS One, European Journal of Neuroscience, Cerebral Cortex, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Psychological Science, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, Neuropsychologia, Scientific Reports, Biological Psychology, Experimental Brain Research, Neural Plasticity; Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience; Communications Biology, Proceedings of National Academy of Science (PNAS).

● Expert Reviewer for International Funding Agencies: The French National Research Agency (ANR).

IN BRIEF
Over the past 5–6 years, Prof. Viviana Betti secured and completed a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (1.5M EUR – project acronym HANDmade). Since 2018, she established a cutting-edge research laboratory at Sapienza University of Rome, which operates at the intersection of basic and applied neuroscience, as highlighted by several recent publications (Rosati et al., 2021; Sili et al., 2023; Maddaluno et al., 2024; El Rassi et al., 2024; Marucci & Maddaluno et al., 2024).
Prof. Betti’s research is driven by a commitment to pioneering and innovative science, extending beyond the ERC grant. She has also secured an ERC Proof-of-Concept (POC) grant for the BRAINmade project and earned the Seal of Excellence for another ERC-POC proposal (THERA). At the national level, her research has been funded by the Ministry of University and Research (PRIN 2022, project acronym CONTACT) and Regione Lazio (project acronym FAST). The Magnificent Rector of the Sapienza University of Rome awarded Prof. Betti for her contributions to groundbreaking science within the European context.
Overall, this achievement convincingly and unequivocally demonstrates that Prof. Betti has the appropriate background and managerial skills to lead the project, implement the proposed plan, and conduct a large project team.