Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
I head Computational Neuroscience Laboratory at Monash.
Lab's research vision is to develop next-generation generative models of how brain functions through a multidisciplinary approach combining engineering, physics, and machine-learning approaches that are motivated by questions grounded in neurobiology.
We will achieve this vision through three integrated research themes, namely:
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We develop multi-modal (e.g., functional MRI, diffusion MRI, EEG) and multi-scale Bayesian methods – i.e., dynamic causal modelling (DCM) – to characterise brain network dynamics and how these dynamics reorganise with different brain pathologies;
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We exploit the understanding of how biological neural networks process and compute information to inform the design of novel artificial neural networks using the framework of active inference;
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We use classical psychedelics (e.g. LSD and Psilocybin) in combination with computational modelling to understand neural mechanisms underlying altered states of consciousness and explore therapeutic benefits of these compounds to treat various psychiatric diseases like depression and anxiety.
Biography
Adeel Razi is Professor of Computational Neuroscience at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, at the Monash University, Australia where he is the Director of the Computational Neuroscience Laboratory. He is a computational neuroscientist who uses both mathematical and experimental methods for his investigations. He leads a highly cross-disciplinary laboratory doing research combining engineering, physics, and machine-learning approaches to answer questions that are motivated by and grounded in neurobiology. This endeavour will enable him to go beyond the traditional boundaries in order to understand how the brain works. His research has implications for building new neuroscience-inspired artificial intelligence systems, treatment of brain diseases and development of new neuro-technologies. His work has been published in journals such as Neuron, Nature Communications, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and has been featured in BBC, CNN, Nature, The Economist, The Guardians, The New Yorker, and The Age. He joined Monash after finishing his postdoctoral studies (2012-2018) at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL, UK. He received the B.E. degree in Electrical Engineering (with a Gold Medal) from the N.E.D. University of Engineering & Technology in Pakistan, the M.Sc. degree in Communications Engineering from the University of Technology Aachen (RWTH), Germany, and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Australia in 2012.
Supervision interests
Our lab is highly interdisciplinary so we welcome applications from students with quantitative background in Engineering, Computer Science or Physics and also students with background in Psychology, Neuroscience or Medicine.
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Expressions of interest are sought for PhD scholarships, both domestic (PhD stipend) and international students (Tuition fee + PhD stipend). There are two scholarship rounds each year, with deadlines in March and August. August is the main round with larger number of scholarships available. See this link for more details.
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There is one PhD stipend available immediately (at 2023-2024 rate of ~ $32k per annum) for the duration of 3.5 years. Suitable for domestic students as only PhD stipend is covered.
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For outstanding students, additional top-up scholarships are available (AUD 5,000 - 10,000 per annum).
The successful applicant(s) will work under the mentorship of Prof. Adeel Razi (primary advisor) and will also have an opportunity to spend time in lab(s) of our international collaborators. There is generous funding available to attend/present at international and local conferences every year.
Expressions of interest should include:
- a curriculum vitae including academic transcript(s) and any published works; and
- names and contact details of 2 academic referees
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Research area keywords
- Neuroscience
- functional MRI
- Signal Processing
- Machine Learning
- Dementia
- Huntington's Disease
- Alzheimer's Disease
- resting state fMRI
- Neuroimaging
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Causal discovery using a foundation model for functional MRI
Razi, A. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)) & Dyer, E. (Chief Investigator (CI))
31/07/24 → 30/07/26
Project: Research
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Neural computers: Towards synthetic biological intelligence
Razi, A. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), French, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)) & Kagan, B. (Partner Investigator (PI))
Office of National Intelligence (ONI) (Australia)
31/12/23 → 30/12/26
Project: Research
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Can psychedelics treat anorexia nervosa? Insights into the therapeutic effects of psilocybin in an animal model
Foldi, C. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Oldfield, B. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Andrews, Z. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Liknaitzky, P. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Hohwy, J. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Razi, A. (Associate Investigator (AI)) & Kaye, W. H. (Associate Investigator (AI))
1/01/22 → 31/12/25
Project: Research
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Neuropharmacology of decision-making: causal brain network modelling across species
Bellgrove, M. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Thiele, A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Chong, T. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Coxon, J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Deco, G. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Lyra Gollo, L. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Arnatkeviciute, A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), O’Connell, R. G. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Fornito, A. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Breakspear, M. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Davey, C. G. (Associate Investigator (AI)) & Razi, A. (Associate Investigator (AI))
NHMRC - National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia)
1/01/22 → 31/12/26
Project: Research
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Computational modelling to understand early-stage neurodegeneration
Razi, A. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
1/01/21 → 31/12/25
Project: Research
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A call to action to address escalating global threats to academic research
Piret, G., Fung, F. M., Fullerton, J., Fico, G., Ponkratov, D., Chen, W., Latorre, D., Wan, K. Y., Aghaeepour, N., Welgryn, J., Razi, A., Silveyra, P., Altun, A., Jurkowska, R. Z., Hughes, A. C. & Wolfram, J., 7 Apr 2025, In: Innovation. 6, 4, 3 p., 100758.Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment / Debate › Other › peer-review
Open Access -
Correction: Neural mechanisms of psychedelic visual imagery (Molecular Psychiatry, (2024), 10.1038/s41380-024-02632-3)
Stoliker, D., Preller, K. H., Novelli, L., Anticevic, A., Egan, G. F., Vollenweider, F. X. & Razi, A., Apr 2025, In: Molecular Psychiatry. 30, 4, 1 p., 1714.Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment / Debate › Other › peer-review
Open Access -
Neural mechanisms of psychedelic visual imagery
Stoliker, D., Preller, K. H., Novelli, L., Anticevic, A., Egan, G. F., Vollenweider, F. X. & Razi, A. (Leading Author), Apr 2025, In: Molecular Psychiatry. 30, 4, p. 1259–1266 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access5 Citations (Scopus) -
A Deep Probabilistic Spatiotemporal Framework for Dynamic Graph Representation Learning with Application to Brain Disorder Identification
Yap, S.-Y., Loo, J. Y., Ting, C.-M., Noman, F., Phan, R. C. W., Razi, A. & Dowe, D. L., 2024, Proceedings of the 33rd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI 2024. Larson, K. (ed.). Marina del Rey CA USA: Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), p. 5353-5361 9 p. (IJCAI International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Animals and the iterative natural kind strategy
Bayne, T., Seth, A., Massimini, M., Shepherd, J., Cleeremans, A., Fleming, S. M., Malach, R., Mattingley, J. B., Menon, D. K., Owen, A. M., Peters, M. A. K., Razi, A. & Mudrik, L., 2024, (Accepted/In press) In: Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › Other › peer-review