Dr Matt Parker is a Director of REVEAL and REVEAL’s main expert in Neuroscience. His research focusses on how we respond to stress, how our personalities influence our stress responses, and how immersive technology can be harnessed to explore and utilise stress and emotions. Neuroscience is highly relevant when designing immersive technology, and conversely, immersive technology is a powerful tool for neuroscience research on stress and emotions. Matt is well versed in both basic and translational neuroscience and psychopharmacology, and applies it in both clinical and pre-clinical settings.
He was educated (BSc, MSc, PhD) at the University of Southampton. Following post doctoral fellowships at the Royal Veterinary College and Queen Mary University of London, he worked as Lecturer in Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics at Queen Mary University of London and Nanchang Medical School (China). He then worked at the University of Portsmouth 2015-2022, where he established the Brain and Behaviour Lab and the Portsmouth zebrafish facility. He left Portsmouth in 2022 to join the School of Biosciences at Surrey as a Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience.
As well as his academic work, Dr Parker sits of external panels and committees, including the BBSRC panel of experts (committee A), the NC3Rs Skills and Knowledge Transfer Partnership panel, and the European Commission (Horizon Europe (HORIZON) – Evaluation). He previously sat as a member of the UK Home Office Animals in Science Committee (2013-2016).
