Dr. Hanna Poikonen

Dr. Hanna Poikonen is an academic guest at the Social Brain Sciences lab, collaborating with the political scientist Dr. Aydin Yildirim on neuropolitics. From 2019-2023, she conducted her part-time postdoc training at another ETH D-GESS lab, Learning Sciences and Higher Education. Her research focused on math expertise and embodied cognition, which expanded her interest in expertise and the brain from dancers and musicians to mathematicians. Currently, she is also a guest researcher at the Örebro University Hospital in Sweden, investigating the influence of a creative movement intervention in people with schizophrenia.

Combining her background in biomedical engineering, neuroscience and dance in 2018, Hanna pursued her doctoral degree at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, focusing on cortical oscillation (EEG) in professional dancers and musicians. She was highly interested in naturalistic brain research and brought a live dance duet to the LIVELab of McMaster University in Canada.

She has also studied contemporary dance, completed a postgraduate in art therapy at Metàfora/Spain, and conducted her art science project at the Museum of Contemporary Art Barcelona (MACBA). Since 2018, she has also taught her WiseMotion method on neuroscience and creative movement globally for educators, creative and healthcare professionals, higher executives, and people with a brain-related illness. Through WiseMotion, Hanna also partners in different EU projects.

In her free time, Hanna enjoys versatile conversations with different people, good food, and artistic surprises.