Post by Zaynab Azeem

I am beyond excited to share that I will be joining the University of Toronto as a PhD student in the Neurocomputational Vision Lab under Dr. Adrian Nestor. My research is rooted in a question I keep coming back to: how does the brain encode what we see, and can we read that back out? I am drawn to the space where neuroscience, machine learning, and vision science converge, specifically how the geometry of neural activity captures visual information and how we can use that structure to decode and reconstruct perception. There is something deeply compelling about the idea that the brain's internal representations are not just measurable but meaningful in ways we are only beginning to understand. I feel incredibly fortunate to be continuing this work with Dr. Adrian Nestor, whose mentorship has shaped how I think about science, what questions are worth asking, and how to pursue them rigorously. The Neurocomputational Vision Lab is exactly the environment I want to grow in. I am also thrilled to share that I have been awarded the Canada Graduate Reserach Scholarship (CGRS-M). It is a tremendous honour to receive this recognition, and the funding will directly support my research goals in neural decoding and visual reconstruction as I begin my PhD. I am incredibly grateful to have this backing as I take on the next stage of my work. Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me along the way :) Lots more to come!