Dr Yidian Gao

I am a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Southampton. I began my research career in China, where I completed my PhD at Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, investigating the neurobiological mechanisms of conduct disorder and antisocial behaviour in young people. During my PhD, I spent a year as a Visiting PhD Researcher at the University of Birmingham, which was an important step in my transition to an international research career.

I subsequently moved to the UK and joined the University of Birmingham as a postdoctoral researcher, initially through a Newton International Fellowship funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society. I later continued as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, working on the mTBI-PREDICT study, a large-scale multisite cohort investigating predictors of long-term outcomes following mild traumatic brain injury using multimodal clinical, physiological and neuroimaging measures, including MRI and MEG.

In 2025, I joined the University of East Anglia as a Senior Research Associate, where I worked on the SIGHT trial, a large multisite clinical trial investigating Spatial Inattention Grasping Therapy for spatial inattention following stroke. I was responsible for the MRI mechanistic sub-study and worked closely with researchers and NHS clinical teams across participating sites.

I joined the University of Southampton as a Lecturer in Psychology in September 2026, where I am developing my independent research programme in mental health and clinical neuroimaging.