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ACKERLEY Rochelle

Status
Research Director
Team
MULTISENSE & BODY

Qualifications
2015: Docent (HDR) in Physiology (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
2006: PhD in Physiology (University of Bristol, UK)
2001: BSc(Hons) Psychology (University of Sheffield, UK)

Employment
2023 - auj.    Research Director – group leader (DR2) CNRS 
                       Centre de Recherche en Psychologie et Neurosciences (CRPN, UMR 7077), Aix-Marseille UniversitĂ©, France
2017- 2023    Researcher – group leader (CR1) CNRS
                       Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitive (LNC), Aix-Marseille UniversitĂ©, France
2015-2017     MSCA postdoctoral fellow
                       Laboratoire de Neurosciences Sensorielles et Cognitive, Aix-Marseille UniversitĂ©, France
2010-2017     Postdoctoral researcher 
                       Laboratoire de physiologie, UniversitĂ© de Goteborg, SuĂšde
2007-2010    Postdoctoral researcher 
                       Laboratoire de neuroscience sensorimotrice, UniversitĂ© de Manchester, Royaume-Uni
2006-2007   Cognitive Neuroscientist
                       Consumer Science Insights, Unilever, Wirral, Royaume-Uni

Grants 
2023-2026      Open Research Area 7 ANR grant "UNTOUCH" (PI)
2023-2024      ERC Proof-of-Concept grant “SOMATOSENSE” (PI)
2022-2022      NeuroMarseille ICR+ grant (co-PI)
2021-2022       CNRS – INSIS PEPS “Future Mechanics” project grant (co-PI)
2021-2022       Partenariat Hubert Curien (France) AURORA collaboration grant (co-PI)
2020-2024      ANR project COMTACT (collaborator)
2019-2023      ERC Consolidator grant “ARTTOUCH” (PI)
2019-2021       L’OrĂ©al Research & Development funding (PI)
2015-2018       MRC (UK) project grant, international co-investigator 
2015-2017       EU FP7-People-COFUND Mobility for Regional Excellence MSCA Fellowship 
2012-2013       Pain Research Foundation (UK) project grant (co-PI) 
2011-2012        Boehringer Ingelheim grant for international collaboration (PI)
2006-2007     Unilever Research & Development funding (PI)

Awards & Prizes
2020   CNRS Bronze Medal 
2017    Incoming Scientist Recognition & Reallocation Award, City of Marseille

Scientific and Editorial Responsibilities 
2024 - current Program committee Society for Neuroscience conference 
2022 - current  Head of the BodySense platform (CRPN, Marseille)
2022 - current  Steering committee International Association for Microneurography
2020 - current  President of the International Association for the Study of Affective Touch (IASAT) 
2020 - current  Associate Editor for Royal Society Open Science 
2020 - current  Member of the International Group of NeuroMarseille 
2017 - current   Member of the CERCLE initiative, Marseille, France

Additional Information

Public engagement: I have published 10 popular science articles and have been interacting with the public for >20 years. I recently appeared in an ARTE documentary on ‘The power of caresses’ (>1.5M YouTube views) and regularly post on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Twitter, and on my lab/personal webpages.

Organizing scientific meetings
Festival of Touch meeting of IASAT/Research in Touch, Marseille (2023, 230 attendees).
SocialBRIDGES online meeting on the effect of COVID on touch (2021, ~100 attendees)
Symposium at International Multisensory Research meeting, Pisa (2015; ~100 attendees)

Teaching & supervision: I have accumulated >300 hours of teaching experience in a variety of teaching methods, as well as being the primary supervisor of 11 graduate/Master’s projects. I currently supervise 3 post-docs and 4 PhD students (1 PhD graduated in 2019, 1 in 2023).

Websites
Research: ORCID, HAL, ResearchGate, OSF, Google Scholar, Personal website, NeuroTree, 
HAL CV: //cv.hal.science/rochelle-ackerley 
News updates: LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Bluesky
ARTE documentary on the Power of Caresses: English, French

Scientific Publications

I have published >50 in peer-reviewed papers, 4 book chapters, and >50 conference abstracts. For all full texts, see HAL, ResearchGate, OSF (also extra info). Below are 15 representative publications:

  1. Schirmer A, Croy I, Ackerley R (2023). What are C-tactile afferents and how do they relate to “affective touch”? Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 151: 105236.
  2. Dione M, Watkins RH, Aimonetti JM, Jourdain R, Ackerley R (2023). Effects of skin moisturization on various aspects of touch showing differences with age and skin site. Scientific Reports, 17977.
  3. Schirmer A, Cham C, Lai O, Le TS, Ackerley R (2022). Stroking Trajectory Shapes Velocity Effects on Pleasantness and Other Touch Percepts. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 49(1), 71–86.
  4. Watkins RH, Durao de Carvalho Amante M, Backlund Wasling H, Wessberg J, Ackerley R (2022). Slowly-adapting type II afferents contribute to conscious touch sensation in humans: Evidence from single unit intraneural microstimulation. Journal of Physiology, 600(12): 2939-2952.
  5. Ackerley R (2021). C-tactile (CT) afferents: evidence of their function from microneurography studies in humans. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 43: 95-100.
  6. Watkins RH, Dione M, Ackerley R, Backlund Wasling H, Wessberg J, Löken LS (2020). Evidence for sparse C-tactile afferent innervation of glabrous human hand skin. Journal of Neurophysiology, 125(1): 232-237.
  7. Sailer U, Ackerley R (2019). Exposure shapes the perception of affective touch. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 35: 109-114.
  8. Ackerley R, Wiklund Fernström K, Backlund Wasling H, Watkins RH, Johnson RD, Vallbo Å, Wessberg J (2018). Differential effects of radiant and mechanically applied thermal stimuli on human C-tactile afferent firing patterns. Journal of Neurophysiology, 120(4): 1885-1892.
  9. Ackerley R, Aimonetti JM, Ribot-Ciscar E (2017). Emotions alter muscle proprioceptive coding of movements in humans. Scientific Reports, 7: 8465.
  10. Filingeri D, Ackerley R (2017). The biology of skin wetness perception and its implications in manual function and for reproducing complex somatosensory signals in neuroprosthetics. Journal of Neurophysiology, 117(4): 1761-1775.
  11. Sanchez Panchuelo RM*, Ackerley R*, Glover PM, Bowtell RW, Wessberg J, Francis ST, McGlone F (2016). Mapping quantal touch using 7 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging and single-unit intraneural microstimulation. eLife, 5: e12812.
  12. Ackerley R, Backlund Wasling H, Liljencrantz J, Olausson H, Johnson RD, Wessberg J (2014). Human C-tactile afferents are tuned to the temperature of a skin-stroking caress. Journal of Neuroscience, 34: 2879-2883.
  13. Ackerley R, Carlsson I, Wester H, Olausson H, Backlund Wasling H (2014). Touch perceptions across skin sites: differences between sensitivity, direction discrimination and pleasantness. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8: 54.
  14. Ackerley R, Saar K, McGlone F, Backlund Wasling H (2014). Quantifying the sensory and emotional perception of touch: differences between glabrous and hairy skin. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8: 34.
  15. Ackerley R, Hassan E, Curran A, Wessberg J, Olausson H, McGlone F (2012). An fMRI study on cortical responses during active self-touch and passive touch from others. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 6: 51.
Author publications