Passions
Apart my subjects of expertise, I am interested in the topics forcing Science to meet philosophy, in general. I also enjoy investigating the detailed biography of famous scientific or spiritual figures.
Another topic I love digging into relates to the progressive evolution of homo sapiens - who was born in Africa as everyone knows :) - and everything that characterises homo sapiens such as complex behaviours, language/speech, but also writing system, science, technology, spirituality / religious rituals, music, painting/drawing.
Evidence from linguistics (see paper published in Science Mag here) point to an “ancestor” language originated in West Africa, anterior to Ancient Egypt or Sumerian civilisations.
Apart science and computing, I write on a regularly basis. My favourite productions are tales, sci-fi and essays that stimulate reflection and imagination.
I illustrate my texts myself and find inspiration in nature, science, archaeology and anthropology.
Riyom - Jos, Plateau state, Nigeria .
About me
Born in France. I am passionate about Human and natural sciences, especially neuroscience and spirituality related topics. I organise lectures and conference cycles, primarily on subjects susceptible to speak to everyone.
Education
My first specialty is Philosophy, that I studied at the Sorbonne for six years – specialised in Epistemology (dir. Pascal Engel) and history of sciences.
I then moved to the Ecole Normale (ENS Paris) and enrolled into the Master Research Course in Cognitive Sciences – dir. Stanislas Dehaene (Académie des sciences, Professeur au Collège de France)
I made my Ph.D in Neurosciences at the SISSA – dir. Tim Shallice — on the architecture of prefrontal cortex and its associated functions (cognitive control, access to consciousness and metacognition) in healthy subjects and patients with schizophrenia.
There is much to say about the prefrontal cortex. To give you a foretaste, it is the seat of the so-called higher cognitive functions, is particularly developed in apes and even more in homo sapiens. Immature in children and developing until the age of 25/30 years old, it is involved in the major psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, but also depression and addiction. The underlying neuromodulation of the prefrontal cortex is absolutely essential to its functions. Prefrontal mechanisms, let they be normal or pathological, cannot be fully understood without referring to the dopaminergic/serotonergic synergic activity, as well the cholinergic pathways. Fascinating, isn’t it?
It is unclear which factors across evolution influenced this spectacular growth of the brain and especially of the prefrontal cortex in homo sapiens. Philosophers and now neurobiologists are still getting headaches on this question.
Mission
I left academy in 2014 and after a few privately funded research projects, I progressively moved to Business Analysis and Data Science and Machine Learning. I currently work as head of Business Data and Digital Analytics and leverage my background in integrative neuroscience to solve business related problems, such as performance optimisation and monitoring or predictive analytics.
Along this, I am still engaged in teaching and writing, depending on my workload. I organise events (lecture or short conferences) in a format accessible to anyone curious or starving for learning, regardless of educational background.