DrVincenzo De Paola

In 2008 and 2009, I organized the Experimental Neuroscience Lecture Series for PhD students. This included contacting all the participating lecturers to discuss the content of the lectures, planning the final schedule of the lecture series and chairing the meetings (1 hour every other week).

In 2011, I organised the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (then called the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre) Scientific Retreat together with F. Martinez-Perez and D. Withers. To increase student participation, we included a poster competition for year 2 and year 3 PhD students, with a total of 34 PhD students presenting posters, which was very well received.

Since 2014, I contribute to the MRes in Experimental Neuroscience by offering a 14 week lab placement and to the BSc in Neuroscience & Mental Health by giving Lectures (2 hours/year) and tutorials on synaptic plasticity and neuroregeneration.

I also help with the BSc course in Biomedical Science exam marking.

I am involved in the MRes in Neurotechnology as Named Investigator on the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Neurotechnology for Life and Health (Lectures and laboratory projects since 2014).

I act as a mentor and assessor to an average of eight PhD students per year from laboratories across multiple institutions. As of 2024, I mentored ten PhD students across four sites: Venetia Kok Tong (I stepped down in 2025), Miley Zheng, Jolene Lee, Jiaen Lin, Wen Yang Png, Mingkang Liu, Julia Rodrigues, Taylor Lyons, Claudia Garcia Diaz and Ana Beltran, based at Duke-NUS (six), Imperial College London’s Institute of Clinical Sciences (one) and Department of Brain Sciences (two), and King’s College London (one), respectively. I meet with each student regularly (approximately 4–5 hours per student per year) to review progress and address issues arising throughout their PhD. This includes reviewing reports, discussing timelines and project feasibility, providing advice on progression, and attending seminars and vivas.

In the last year, I have been a member of 6 Duke-NUS Thesis Advisory Committees and 3 PhD Qualifying Examinations:

1) Wen Yang Png (Chair)

2) Mingkang Liu (Chair)

3) Miley ZHENG Danyi (Chair)

4) Jolene Lee (Thesis Committee member)

5) Jiaen Lin (Thesis Committee member)

6) Venetia Kok Jing Tong (Thesis Committee member) 

I have contributed to several MRes and MSc programmes, delivering lectures on synaptic plasticity, brain repair, stem cell neurobiology and translational neuroscience, and hosting students in my laboratory for research projects.