The role is that of a domain expert: you contribute your scientific knowledge of the field to strategic engagements with a long-term, future-oriented perspective.
Domain Expertise and Evidence Assessment
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Share a well-founded view on the neural basis of acute pleasure in humans, including the brain areas and neurotransmitter systems involved.
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Explain how different forms of pleasure, such as gustatory, social or sensory, overlap or diverge mechanistically, and how pleasure differs from pleasantness.
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Assess the strength of evidence behind current hypotheses, distinguishing neuroimaging and neurochemical findings from self-report.
Expert Dialogue and Future Perspectives
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Take part in structured expert interviews and, where useful, in workshops with senior stakeholders.
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Bring an informed view on emerging research, including whether non-invasive routes can plausibly engage the brain's reward and pleasure systems, and on the most reliable ways to elicit pleasurable responses such as frisson.
Review and Sparring
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Review interim findings and assumptions for scientific soundness, and challenge them from a researcher's perspective.
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Explain complex neuroscientific dynamics clearly to a non-specialist, executive audience.