My first hackathon abroad opened a door I didn't know I was looking for. Flew to Megathon, built Sounday (music to prep your for your week), shipped a working demo in hours. Biggest lesson: framing beats polish — "without us you lose X, with us you win Y." If you're unsure about doing one: go. 🚀

Meet my Megathon teammate & co-founder, Hodo Elmi Aden! Pairing my background in human cognitive neuroscience & psychology with her experience building design-centred products, we're creating something at the intersection of music & psychology. More soon 👀

First time in Amsterdam, here for the Megathon — one of Europe's biggest hackathons. Here to meet new people, swap ideas, and learn as much as I can. If you're around, say hello 🚀

A lovely day in Rotterdam with my friend Alessandra La Terra, whom I first met at RIKEN’s neuroscience summer school in Tokyo. The architecture struck me — the Cube Houses aren't just homes, they're built to bring people together. It echoes my work with Arup & RISE on how design shapes behaviour 🌱

Arrived in Amsterdam for the Megathon — 500+ builders, the biggest hackathon I've done and my first abroad (and my first time in Amsterdam!). Here to absorb everything, build, and hopefully make lifelong friends. If you're in the city, drop me a message 🚀🌱

The last night of the Lord of the Rings Weekenders at the Royal Albert Hall! Singing in all 9 of these concerts has been a blast. And a lovely last-minute surprise to see friends from my PhD watching the last concert. Until next time! 🌟🥰 #film #lordoftherings #music #choir #orchestra

Back at Royal Albert Hall with London Philharmonic Choir and London Philharmonic Orchestra for a Lord of the Rings Weekender! Amazing to share the stage with Sir Ian McKellen! 🫶🌟🗡️ #music #performance #film #soundtrack #lordoftherings @lpchoir.bsky.social

With my lovely LPC’ers on another journey across Middle-earth! 🫶🫶🫶 #choir #singer #music #connection #love @lpchoir.bsky.social

Night two of Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers 🌟 Let the journey to Mordor continue! 🗡️ #film #music #lordoftherings #choir #singer #thetwotowers #LPO #orchestra @royalalberthall.bsky.social @lpchoir.bsky.social

A tremendous first night performing the soundtrack for the first Lord of the Rings movie – The Fellowship of the Ring – with the @lpchoir.bsky.social and @londonphilharmonicorchestra, under the baton of Ludwig Wicki at the Royal Albert Hall! 🏰🎻 #music #performance @royalalberthall.bsky.social

Why do some people never get lost while others rely on GPS? A new review, written by @hugospiers.bsky.social and @emre-yavuz-21.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s44... argues that navigation ability is shaped by both fixed factors (age, genetics) and modifiable ones (sleep, exercise, experience).

A fun challenge to lead this project throughout my PhD! So grateful to my colleagues for making this happen 🚀

New preprint! Prefrontal brain-to-brain synchrony during human group hunting: Evidence from fNIRS hyperscanning Heroic work from @emre-yavuz-21.bsky.social and team fNIRS & minecraft combined to reveal PFC synchrony during human group hunting www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

📣 So happy to share with you the results of my main PhD study, where two human predators worked together to hunt a human prey in Minecraft, and had their brains scanned simultaneously using fNIRS 🎮🧠 We find that the brains of the predators are synchronised in the prefrontal cortex during hunting! 💡

Epic night with Tan Dun conducting the UK premiere of his Choral Concerto: Nine + Beethoven’s 9th! London Philharmonic & London Chinese Philharmonic Choirs, incredible soloists. Loved every minute 💫🎵​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Such a fun to read and well written review; can really recommend for anyone new to or already proficient in spatial navigation research!

New review from our group out in Nature Reviews Psychology: Determinants of individual navigation ability with my excellent co-author: @emre-yavuz-21.bsky.social

My first-author review ‘Determinants of individual navigation ability’ is out in Nature Reviews Psychology, co-authored with the inspiring @hugospiers.bsky.social!!!! 🎉🧠 ➡️ rdcu.be/e7KxG #Neuroscience #Navigation @nature.com @natrevpsychol.nature.com @sfn.org @fens.org @ucl.ac.uk

Some tunes from me and my sister to start 2026! 🎻 Wishing everyone a beautiful year ahead ✨ 💕 #siblings #music #violin #cello #2026 @ucl.ac.uk @edinburghup.bsky.social @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social

Dr. Yavuz!!!! Delighted to share that I have passed my PhD viva today 🎓✨ A heartfelt thank you to Prof. Isabella Wagner (University of Vienna) and Prof. Caswell Barry (University College London) for an extremely enjoyable and stimulating viva.

Its been an honour to have been @emre-yavuz-21.bsky.social's PhD supervisor for he last 3 years. His hard work as created 3 published articles on Sea Hero Quest, one review manuscript with revisions resubmitted & a final article on fNIRS and group hunting behaviour about to be submitted/preprinted

📘 Submitted my PhD last week! Over 3 years, I explored what makes us good at spatial navigation using behaviour, brain imaging & VR. Grateful to my supervisors @hugospiers.bsky.social and @antoniahamilton.bsky.social, collaborators, friends & family! ♥️ Excited for what’s next! 🚀 #PhDCompleted

✨ My first Prom! What a joy to sing Mahler’s Das klagende Lied with the BBC Symphony Chorus, Constanza Chorus & Orchestra under Hannu Lintu. Grateful for the magic, the mentors, and the music. 🎶 #BBCProms #Mahler #FirstProm

Today I was officially told I’m cancer-free. After treatment for Hairy Cell Leukaemia at UCLH & Macmillan, I’m so grateful to be on the other side. It’s tested me in every way, but I’ve grown in strength, resilience & perspective. Thankful to all who were by my side throughout ♥️

Amazing Neuroscientists and life-long friends - grateful to grow, learn, and laugh alongside such brilliant minds! ♥️

Had so much presenting my poster ‘Dorsolateral prefrontal involvement in prey tracking during group hunting behaviour: Evidence from fNIRS and a Minecraft World’ at the FENS Regional Meeting in Oslo! Can’t thank enough my wonderful supervisors and collaborators who helped me make this happen 🙌🧠♥️

For those of you at FENS, poster location 79! Looking forward to seeing you there 🙌🧠

Great to see more of my lab join Bluesky Welcome Emre Yavuz!

Hello Bluesky! 👋 I’m a human cognitive neuroscientist and final-year PhD candidate at UCL, supervised by Prof. Hugo Spiers and Prof. Antonia Hamilton, using fNIRS, fMRI, and behavioural data to explore why we get lost and how our brains help us know where others are in space. 🧠✨