Professor Iris Sommer has an impressive track record with over 500 publications to her name. She earned her PhD cum laude from the Faculty of Medicine/ Psychiatry Department at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands in 2004. Currently, Professor Sommer holds the position of Full Professor and Psychiatrist at the Faculty of Medicine within the Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, as well as the Psychiatry Department at Rijks University Groningen/ University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in the Netherlands. Her influence transcends academia as she also serves as the Director of the Research Institute Brain and Cognition at the Faculty of Medicine, Rijks University Groningen/ UMCG, a role she has held since 2019.

Professor Sommer’s distinguished career is further exemplified by her role as a keynote speaker at more than 30 international conferences, including prominent events such as the Society of International Schizophrenia Research in 2022. In recognition of her outstanding contributions, she has received several prestigious fellowships and awards.

Professor Brita Elvevåg is internationally recognized for her research in psychiatry that uses natural language processing methods to improve assessment. In her research, Professor Elvevåg uses artificial intelligence to enable remote monitoring of patients’ cognitive and mental states. She started her research career with a PhD in experimental psychology (cognitive neuroscience) from the University of Cambridge (UK), and then continued her research at the National Institute of Mental Health in Maryland (USA). In 2010 she joined the University of Tromsø – the Arctic University of Norway – where she is Professor of Psychiatry at the Department of Clinical Medicine. Professor Elvevåg has published over 100 scientific articles.

Professor Philipp Homan is a clinician scientist at the University Hospital of Psychiatry and the Neuroscience Center Zurich. He is Vicedirector and Chief Physician (Stv. Klinikdirektor and Chefarzt) at the University Hospital, and Principal Investigator of the IDP Lab. Professor Homan studied business and computer science at the Technical University and medicine at the Medical University in Vienna. He completed his residency in psychiatry as well as a PhD in clinical neuroscience at the University of Bern in Switzerland.

He then did a two year fellowship with Daniela Schiller at Mount Sinai, New York after which he joined the faculty as Assistant Professor at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and the Zucker School of Medicine in New York. As per January 2023 he was appointed Professor with tenure track in clinical research in psychiatry and psychotherapy at the faculty of medicine at the University of Zurich.

Professor Wolfram Hinzen obtained a Magister degree from Freiburg in 1993, followed by an MA from King’s College London in 1994, and a PhD in philosophy from Bern in 1996. Afterward, he held a Swiss-government funded postdoctoral researcher position in Stuttgart from 1996 to 1997 and in New York from 1997 to 1999. He began his academic career as an Assistant Professor in Regensburg in 1999 and subsequently served as a Lecturer at the Universitat van Amsterdam from 2003 to 2006. Professor Hinzen then became a full professor at Durham University, where he worked from 2006 to 2014. In April 2013, he assumed the role of an ICREA Research Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona. Additionally, he served as a guest professor at Hong Kong University in 2010 and at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in 2011.

Doctor Balázs Babarczy MA PhD graduated from the Paris Institute of Political Science (SciencesPo), with a Master’s in public affairs (specialization: health policy). He also holds a PhD in social policy from Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest), where he conducted research in the field of health policy reforms. He previously held various positions in Hungarian public health administration, leading evidence synthesis, data analysis, indicator development and policy development projects. He is senior researcher at Syreon Research Institute, and operative lead of European collaborative research projects. DoctorBabarczy is also a lecturer in health financing policy at Semmelweis University (Budapest) and Sapientia University (Târgu-Mureş, Romania).

Erik Van der Eycken is a mental health Expert by Experience, leveraging his personal journey and expertise to contribute significantly to various organisations and initiatives. He plays a pivotal role as a Board Member of the patient organisation ‘Ups & Downs,’ where he advocates for individuals living with bipolar disorder, representing their needs and concerns.

Furthermore, Erik is actively engaged with OpGanG, a prominent association in Belgium dedicated to supporting individuals facing mental health challenges. In this capacity, he works tirelessly to provide assistance and resources to those in need.

Erik’s commitment extends to representing patient interests at RISIV-INAMI, a crucial advisory body focused on chronic diseases. He also serves as an independent Director on the Board of OPZ, a renowned psychiatric hospital, where he contributes his valuable insights to improve mental healthcare services.

He has been involved in EU-funded mental health research projects since 2014, where he represents patient perspectives for GAMIAN-Europe.

Doctor Sanne Schuite-Koops received her Master degree from the Neuroscience & Cognition research master at Utrecht University, during which she also started her first research project on possible treatments for patients suffering from psychotic disorders. During her PhD at the University Medical Center Utrecht that followed, she mainly worked on randomized clinical trials investigating the treatment effect of brain modulation techniques on auditory verbal hallucinations. Furthermore, she was involved in multiple fMRI and EEG projects. After obtaining her PhD in 2018, she did the project management of several international EU-funded studies both within and outside the research field of psychotic disorders. She currently works as a postdoctoral researcher in the Language In Psychiatry group of Prof. Iris Sommer in the University Medical Center Groningen.”