When the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) selected the research leaders of the future three years ago as part of the prestigious programme 'Future Research Leaders' (FFL), KI researcher Arvid Guterstam was one of the 16 selected. The award offers researchers the opportunity to further develop their research with a grant of SEK 15 million over a five-year period. Halfway through the programme, Arvid Guterstam talks here about his results within the framework of the programme.
The SSF programme 'Future Research Leaders' aims to support newly established researchers with high scientific and pedagogical competence, and to give them the tools to grow in their role as research leaders. A central objective is that the research results should also be of benefit outside academia - in society and industry.
In addition to financial support, the programme includes comprehensive leadership training, which spans 18 months and includes 20 full days and a week-long study trip to Switzerland. The aim is to equip participants to lead larger research constellations in the future.
From Arvid Guterstam's application to the 'Future Research Leaders' programme: "The brain encodes the attention of others like a motion beam, which is used for social cognition. This project will (1) determine whether the mechanism is innate or culturally conditioned, (2) clarify the functional roles of the brain areas involved and (3) the basic perceptual properties of the mechanism, as well as (4) investigate whether the mechanism is affected in autism and (5) whether it can be "trained" through fMRI neurofeedback to improve social functioning in autism. The results are expected to contribute to new fundamental knowledge about autism, which could potentially lead to groundbreaking diagnostic and therapeutic methods.
In this filmed interview, Arvid Guterstam , researcher and research group leader at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience , KI, talks more about his work so far.
