Our lab is involved in several projects. In this section we present our past and current projects.

2019-2023: Dr Luca Citi (PI), Dr Dimitri Ognibene and Dr Tom Foulsham (Co-Is), EU Horizon 2020 project entitled “POTION – Promoting social interaction through emotional body odours” (approx £560,000).

2018-2022: a prestigious 3-year $5M grant under the US Department of Defence’s inaugural Bilateral Academic Research Initiative (BARI), for a project in partnership with the University of Southern California, the University of California Berkeley, Harvard University, University of Massachusetts Medical School and the University of Oxford. The project is entitled “Adaptive joint cognitive systems for complex and strategic decision making: building trust in human-machine teams through brain-computer-interface augmentation, social interaction and mutual learning”.  The Essex team is formed by Prof Riccardo Poli (PI and UK team leader), Dr Luca Citi (Co-I), Dr Caterina Cinel (Co-I and named Research Fellow) and Dr Saugat Bhattacharyya. The UK partners in the project will be funded by the UK Ministry of Defence. The Essex share of the funding is approximately £930,000. More details can be found in here.

2017-2020 Dr Luca Citi (Lead Academic), Dr Spyros Samothrakis (Academic Supervisor), Prof Maria Fasli, Dr Ewan Speed, and Dr Audrey Guinchard (Support Academics), entitled “The design and development of a scalable, avatar based, digital healthcare platform, driven by AI and Machine Learning technology.”, Innovate UK – KTP grant with Orbital Media Ltd (approx £ 175,000). Description: The University of Essex and Orbital Media, digital and social specialists, are developing photo realistic avatars who will use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies to advise on self-treatable conditions such as colds, coughs, flu and hay fever.

2016-2019: Riccardo Poli (PI), Caterina Cinel (Co-I), Davide Valeriani (Co-I) and Luca Citi (Co-I), entitled “Brain-computer-interface-assisted confidence estimation for group decision making, group selection and personnel training” (approx £390,000, for Tranches 1 and 2). The project is funded by the UK Ministry of Defence through the Defence Human Capability Science and Technology Centre (DHCSTC, see below).

2016-2018: Luca Citi (PI), EPSRC project EP/N031806/1  entitled “Decoding the neural drive for finer and more intuitive control of a myoelectric robotic hand” (approx £125,000).

2016-2021: a prestigious 5-year $11.5M grant under the US Department of Defence Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), for a project in partnership with the University of Southern California, the University of California Berkeley, Harvard University, New York University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Imperial College London, and University College London. The project is entitled “Closed-Loop Multisensory Brain-Computer Interface for Enhanced Decision Accuracy” and it falls within the MURI theme “Modeling and Analysis of Multisensory Neural Information Processing for Direct Brain-Computer Communications”.  The Essex team is formed by Dr Luca Citi (PI), Prof Riccardo Poli (Co-I and UK team leader), Dr Caterina Cinel (named Research Fellow) and a research officer to be recruited. The UK partners in the project will be funded by the UK Ministry of Defence through EPSRC (initially for 3 years extendible for a further 2 years based on satisfactory progress). The Essex share of the funding is approximately £ 600,000 (for the initial 3 years). More details can be found in the University of Southern California press release.

2016 onward: The BCI-NE Lab of the University of Essex is a registered supplier with the Defence Human Capability Science and Technology Centre (DHCSTC). The DHCSTC, which is led by BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd, delivers the Ministry of Defence’s Human Capability research programme under contract from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

2016-2020: Luca Citi (PI), Riccardo Poli (Co-I) and Francisco Sepulveda (Co-I), Horizon 2020 project ““DeTOP: Dexterous Transradial Osseointegrated Prosthesis with neural control and sensory feedback” (approx £450,000)

2016-2020: Luca Citi (PI) and Riccardo Poli (Co-I), Horizon 2020 project “NEVERMIND: neuro-behavioural predictive and personalised modelling of depressive symptoms during primary somatic diseases” (approx £500,000)

2015-2018: Francisco Sepulveda, EPSRC project “Enabling Technologies for Sensory Feedback in Next-Generation Assistive Devices” (approx £500,000).

2015-2016: John Gan (PI), UKIERI project (in collaboration with Tezpur University in India) “BCI Integrated Collaborative Control of a Cognitively Enhanced Smart Wheelchair”. Of the £27,255 for the project, £16,430 are for Essex.

2013-2017: Riccardo Poli and Caterina Cinel, DSTL National PhD grant “Improving group decision making with collaborative Brain Computer Interfaces” to support Davide Valeriani’s research (£161,312).

2012-2014: Riccardo Poli and Francisco Sepulveda (co-investigators, K. McDonald-Maier, PI), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant “Global – engagement with NASA JPL and ESA in Robotics, Brain Computer Interfaces, and Secure Adaptive Systems for Space Applications RoBoSAS” (£473,812).

2008-2011: Riccardo Poli and Francisco Sepulveda have been awarded an EPSRC grant. The project “Analogue Evolutionary Brain Computer Interfaces” (£370,000) from the EPSRC.

2006-2009: John Gan (PI) and Francisco Sepulveda (Co-I), EPSRC project (in collaboration with Oxford University) “AABAC: Adaptive Asynchronous Brain-Actuated Control”. Of the £442,401 for the project, £261,939 were for Essex.

2005-2007: The EPSRC project entitled ‘Mining for Novel Signatures in Multi-Channel EEG for Brain-Computer Interfaces’ (worth £123,000).

2005: The BCI group was granted £273,000.00 from SRIF3 to build new lab facilities. In addition to this, the Comp. Sci. Dept. has given us a 70m² area for the new lab.

2004: John Gan has been awarded an EPSRC Overseas Travel Grant for the project “Translating Brain Waves into Control Commands” for supporting a 3-month visit to Graz BCI (£3,600).