Andrew MacAskill
@macaskillaf.bsky.social
UCL neuroscientist investigating the neural basis of contextual decision making. Views are my own.
Prof @uclnpp
lab website: www.macaskilllab.com
UCL profile: https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/5194
also @macaskillaf@fediscience.org
Prof @uclnpp
lab website: www.macaskilllab.com
UCL profile: https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/5194
also @macaskillaf@fediscience.org
Pinned
Andrew MacAskill
@macaskillaf.bsky.social
· Nov 22
Hidden state inference requires abstract contextual representations in the ventral hippocampus
The ability to use subjective, latent contextual representations to influence decision-making is crucial for everyday life. The hippocampus is hypothesized to bind together otherwise abstract combinat...
www.science.org
Huge congrats to @karyna-mi.bsky.social for her paper published today in Science! She found that the hippocampus is really important for a key strategy we use to make decisions called hidden state inference! 🧪 🧠https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq5874 1/7
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
I'm a bit late with this, but awesome to see it out in the wild! A real tour de force from @dozenoaks.bsky.social @timcraggs.bsky.social An amazing example of why we need to think more about flexibility in our biological questions! www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
Kinesin-1 is highly flexible and adopts an open conformation in the absence of cargo
Kinesin-1 is an essential anterograde microtubule motor protein. The core kinesin
motor is a homodimer of two heavy chains; N-terminal motor domains hydrolyse ATP and
walk along microtubules, whilst a...
www.cell.com
February 12, 2026 at 9:28 AM
I'm a bit late with this, but awesome to see it out in the wild! A real tour de force from @dozenoaks.bsky.social @timcraggs.bsky.social An amazing example of why we need to think more about flexibility in our biological questions! www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
I really hope at the very least they let unsuccessful applications this round reapply...!
They've separately said:
Our transition to new ways of working also means we unfortunately expect to make a reduced number of awards to applications currently being assessed by our four research boards and developmental pathway funding scheme.
www.ukri.org/blog/mrc-fun...
Our transition to new ways of working also means we unfortunately expect to make a reduced number of awards to applications currently being assessed by our four research boards and developmental pathway funding scheme.
www.ukri.org/blog/mrc-fun...
MRC funding update
An update on MRC funding during UKRI’s transition, what’s changing, and the next steps for paused opportunities and reopening timelines.
www.ukri.org
February 5, 2026 at 8:56 PM
I really hope at the very least they let unsuccessful applications this round reapply...!
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
Some initial reactions to the 'published on a Sunday afternoon' letter from the CEO of UKRI. 🧵
www.ukri.org/news/open-le...
www.ukri.org/news/open-le...
February 1, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Some initial reactions to the 'published on a Sunday afternoon' letter from the CEO of UKRI. 🧵
www.ukri.org/news/open-le...
www.ukri.org/news/open-le...
hmm. not much reassurance here - other than the full new system will be up by the '2027 to 2028 financial period' and 'To repeat the point: levels of funding for curiosity-driven research will remain stable across this SR period and are reflective of recent years'. lets hope we can hold out...
Open letter from Ian Chapman to research and innovation community
UKRI Chief Executive outlines changes to UKRI investment approach, addressing concerns about research funding and the financial position of STFC.
www.ukri.org
February 1, 2026 at 5:29 PM
hmm. not much reassurance here - other than the full new system will be up by the '2027 to 2028 financial period' and 'To repeat the point: levels of funding for curiosity-driven research will remain stable across this SR period and are reflective of recent years'. lets hope we can hold out...
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
I think we should make a bigger fuss about this. It is as existential as Trump's cuts and could not come at a worst moment for UK science, beaten by Brexit through visa costs, fewer students, and inflation.
Plus: these top-down approaches NEVER WORK. NEVER. Haven't they learned anything?
Plus: these top-down approaches NEVER WORK. NEVER. Haven't they learned anything?
Both MRC and BBSRC responsive modes now withdrawn until further notice. Existing applications unlikely to succeed (late 2025 round expecting 1-5% success rate).
Listen, I get that UKRI wants to pivot. But killing both at once is devastating.
Let's hope at least one opens by summer... #AcademicSky
Listen, I get that UKRI wants to pivot. But killing both at once is devastating.
Let's hope at least one opens by summer... #AcademicSky
MRC instructs grant review boards to slash funding rates - Research Professional News
Boards asked to recommend just three applications for funding, as BBSRC also suspends calls
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
February 1, 2026 at 5:00 PM
I think we should make a bigger fuss about this. It is as existential as Trump's cuts and could not come at a worst moment for UK science, beaten by Brexit through visa costs, fewer students, and inflation.
Plus: these top-down approaches NEVER WORK. NEVER. Haven't they learned anything?
Plus: these top-down approaches NEVER WORK. NEVER. Haven't they learned anything?
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
Both MRC and BBSRC responsive modes now withdrawn until further notice. Existing applications unlikely to succeed (late 2025 round expecting 1-5% success rate).
Listen, I get that UKRI wants to pivot. But killing both at once is devastating.
Let's hope at least one opens by summer... #AcademicSky
Listen, I get that UKRI wants to pivot. But killing both at once is devastating.
Let's hope at least one opens by summer... #AcademicSky
MRC instructs grant review boards to slash funding rates - Research Professional News
Boards asked to recommend just three applications for funding, as BBSRC also suspends calls
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
January 31, 2026 at 11:12 PM
Both MRC and BBSRC responsive modes now withdrawn until further notice. Existing applications unlikely to succeed (late 2025 round expecting 1-5% success rate).
Listen, I get that UKRI wants to pivot. But killing both at once is devastating.
Let's hope at least one opens by summer... #AcademicSky
Listen, I get that UKRI wants to pivot. But killing both at once is devastating.
Let's hope at least one opens by summer... #AcademicSky
Great opportunity here! For amazing science as well as proximity to the calanques 😅
📣 PhD position in computational & systems neuroscience (Marseille, France).
⏰ Deadline 28 Jan.
We are recruiting a PhD student to work on neuromodulatory control of predictive processing in mouse vision, jointly supervised by @ederancz.bsky.social (INMED) and @laurentperrinet.bsky.social (INT).
⏰ Deadline 28 Jan.
We are recruiting a PhD student to work on neuromodulatory control of predictive processing in mouse vision, jointly supervised by @ederancz.bsky.social (INMED) and @laurentperrinet.bsky.social (INT).
January 5, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Great opportunity here! For amazing science as well as proximity to the calanques 😅
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
New preprint from the lab!
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions
Flexible behaviour requires transforming abstract cognitive representations, such as value preferences, into concrete motor actions. During economic decision-making, individuals evaluate options to gu...
www.biorxiv.org
December 14, 2025 at 10:59 AM
New preprint from the lab!
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
Congrats to Ella for her new paper! She asked a really interesting question about how the brain represents uncertainty during hidden state inference, and in a lovely crossover with theoretical work, she shows that in mice, acetylcholine dynamics play a crucial role. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Acetylcholine reflects uncertainty during hidden state inference
To act adaptively, animals must infer features of the environment that cannot be observed directly, such as which option is currently rewarding, or which context they are in. These internal estimates,...
www.biorxiv.org
November 14, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Congrats to Ella for her new paper! She asked a really interesting question about how the brain represents uncertainty during hidden state inference, and in a lovely crossover with theoretical work, she shows that in mice, acetylcholine dynamics play a crucial role. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
come join our dept as a fellow - and join a fantastic crew of people using interdisciplinary approaches to investigate the brain across scales - from molecules to behaviour. reach out if you have any Qs!
Calling aspiring group leaders! We've just opened applications for group leader fellowship sponsorship to start a lab in UCL NPP. Deadline 5 Jan. @uclnpp.bsky.social tinyurl.com/3h33dvev
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
tinyurl.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:17 AM
come join our dept as a fellow - and join a fantastic crew of people using interdisciplinary approaches to investigate the brain across scales - from molecules to behaviour. reach out if you have any Qs!
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
Today is the 89th anniversary of The Battle of Cable Street when the people of the East End of London halted the march of Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts through Stepney.
October 4, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Today is the 89th anniversary of The Battle of Cable Street when the people of the East End of London halted the march of Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts through Stepney.
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
In London, hate will never win.
September 17, 2025 at 6:10 AM
In London, hate will never win.
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
True. Current Biology on the other hand...
September 8, 2025 at 5:26 PM
True. Current Biology on the other hand...
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
This had me laughing to tears. The person sitting next to me on the flight must have thought I was nuts.
A must read for the FEP curious.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
A must read for the FEP curious.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
(PDF) The Exit Manual: How to Leave the Free Energy Cult and Still Get Tenure
PDF | This manual is not a plea. It is a jailbreak from a cult—the Free Energy Principle, a theoretical metastasis that began in computational... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on Res...
www.researchgate.net
August 15, 2025 at 7:04 PM
This had me laughing to tears. The person sitting next to me on the flight must have thought I was nuts.
A must read for the FEP curious.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
A must read for the FEP curious.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
We're looking for a research assistant to work in our neuroscience lab at @princetonneuro.bsky.social @hhmi.org where we study learning and decision-making circuitry.
Apply here: research-princeton.icims.com/jobs/21001/r...
Pls share w/ anyone who might be interested!
Apply here: research-princeton.icims.com/jobs/21001/r...
Pls share w/ anyone who might be interested!
August 5, 2025 at 1:26 PM
We're looking for a research assistant to work in our neuroscience lab at @princetonneuro.bsky.social @hhmi.org where we study learning and decision-making circuitry.
Apply here: research-princeton.icims.com/jobs/21001/r...
Pls share w/ anyone who might be interested!
Apply here: research-princeton.icims.com/jobs/21001/r...
Pls share w/ anyone who might be interested!
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
🚨Amazing opportunity: position available for a new associate/full professor at the FIL @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social @uclbrainscience.bsky.social! Do you have a neuroimaging-focused research program? Get applying! 🚨
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
www.ucl.ac.uk
August 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
🚨Amazing opportunity: position available for a new associate/full professor at the FIL @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social @uclbrainscience.bsky.social! Do you have a neuroimaging-focused research program? Get applying! 🚨
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
The story — written by journalist @emmaanne.bsky.social — raises tough questions about the perverse incentives at play in mine action.
Emma reached out @thehalotrust.bsky.social for comment. They declined.
Read the full story: spoileralerts.substack.com/p/questionab...
Emma reached out @thehalotrust.bsky.social for comment. They declined.
Read the full story: spoileralerts.substack.com/p/questionab...
Questionable incentives
Why is the CEO of the world’s largest demining organisation defending banned landmines?
spoileralerts.substack.com
July 23, 2025 at 12:24 PM
The story — written by journalist @emmaanne.bsky.social — raises tough questions about the perverse incentives at play in mine action.
Emma reached out @thehalotrust.bsky.social for comment. They declined.
Read the full story: spoileralerts.substack.com/p/questionab...
Emma reached out @thehalotrust.bsky.social for comment. They declined.
Read the full story: spoileralerts.substack.com/p/questionab...
🚨🚨Job Alert🚨🚨!! Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology are recruiting a new lecturer/associate professor! an amazing opportunity to join our fantastic dept! @ucl.ac.uk @ucllifesciences.bsky.social @uclnpp.bsky.social post here:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Lecturer / Associate Professor - London, England job with University College London (UCL) | 12840324
About usThe Division of Biosciences at UCL is one of the world's foremost centres for research and teaching in the biological sciences. We have an out
www.nature.com
June 19, 2025 at 12:59 PM
🚨🚨Job Alert🚨🚨!! Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology are recruiting a new lecturer/associate professor! an amazing opportunity to join our fantastic dept! @ucl.ac.uk @ucllifesciences.bsky.social @uclnpp.bsky.social post here:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
Our work, out at Cell, shows that the brain’s dopamine signals teach each individual a unique learning trajectory. Collaborative experiment-theory effort, led by Sam Liebana in the lab. The first experiment my lab started just shy of 6y ago & v excited to see it out: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
June 11, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Our work, out at Cell, shows that the brain’s dopamine signals teach each individual a unique learning trajectory. Collaborative experiment-theory effort, led by Sam Liebana in the lab. The first experiment my lab started just shy of 6y ago & v excited to see it out: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
This is a nice paper which applies and refines some of the ideas we put forward in our Psych Review paper. Our model combined multiple Successor Representations which it switches between based on uncertainty. Jess's model adds reward outcomes to this process and captures splitter cells and more!
Congrats to the fantastic Jess P for her new paper! She compared how feature Vs outcome focussed agents learn to solve contextual inference problems. She found that you need a balance of both to learn these tasks - and that this mix recapitulates pfc and hippocampal activity in rodent tasks!
Contextual inference through flexible integration of environmental features and behavioural outcomes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.28.656607v1
June 6, 2025 at 3:10 PM
This is a nice paper which applies and refines some of the ideas we put forward in our Psych Review paper. Our model combined multiple Successor Representations which it switches between based on uncertainty. Jess's model adds reward outcomes to this process and captures splitter cells and more!
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
How does in-context learning emerge in attention models during gradient descent training?
Sharing our new Spotlight paper @icmlconf.bsky.social: Training Dynamics of In-Context Learning in Linear Attention
arxiv.org/abs/2501.16265
Led by Yedi Zhang with @aaditya6284.bsky.social and Peter Latham
Sharing our new Spotlight paper @icmlconf.bsky.social: Training Dynamics of In-Context Learning in Linear Attention
arxiv.org/abs/2501.16265
Led by Yedi Zhang with @aaditya6284.bsky.social and Peter Latham
June 4, 2025 at 11:22 AM
How does in-context learning emerge in attention models during gradient descent training?
Sharing our new Spotlight paper @icmlconf.bsky.social: Training Dynamics of In-Context Learning in Linear Attention
arxiv.org/abs/2501.16265
Led by Yedi Zhang with @aaditya6284.bsky.social and Peter Latham
Sharing our new Spotlight paper @icmlconf.bsky.social: Training Dynamics of In-Context Learning in Linear Attention
arxiv.org/abs/2501.16265
Led by Yedi Zhang with @aaditya6284.bsky.social and Peter Latham
Really interesting stuff here!! Looking forward to digging in
We just pushed “Memory by a 1000 rules” onto bioRxiv, where we use clever #ML to find #plasticity quadruplets (EE, EI, IE, II) that learn basic stability in spiking nets. Why is it cool? We find 1000s!! of solutions, and they don’t just stabilise. They #memorise! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Memory by a thousand rules: Automated discovery of functional multi-type plasticity rules reveals variety & degeneracy at the heart of learning
Synaptic plasticity is the basis of learning and memory, but the link between synaptic changes and neural function remains elusive. Here, we used automated search algorithms to obtain thousands of str...
www.biorxiv.org
June 2, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Really interesting stuff here!! Looking forward to digging in
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
We just pushed “Memory by a 1000 rules” onto bioRxiv, where we use clever #ML to find #plasticity quadruplets (EE, EI, IE, II) that learn basic stability in spiking nets. Why is it cool? We find 1000s!! of solutions, and they don’t just stabilise. They #memorise! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Memory by a thousand rules: Automated discovery of functional multi-type plasticity rules reveals variety & degeneracy at the heart of learning
Synaptic plasticity is the basis of learning and memory, but the link between synaptic changes and neural function remains elusive. Here, we used automated search algorithms to obtain thousands of str...
www.biorxiv.org
June 2, 2025 at 6:50 PM
We just pushed “Memory by a 1000 rules” onto bioRxiv, where we use clever #ML to find #plasticity quadruplets (EE, EI, IE, II) that learn basic stability in spiking nets. Why is it cool? We find 1000s!! of solutions, and they don’t just stabilise. They #memorise! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Andrew MacAskill
Finishing your undergraduate and interested in neuroscience research?
The Neuroscience streams of our Biosciences MRes degree provide a unique opportunity to conduct a year-long research project in any UCL neuro lab, plus taught modules to prepare you for a PhD.
🧪🧠📈
www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/...
The Neuroscience streams of our Biosciences MRes degree provide a unique opportunity to conduct a year-long research project in any UCL neuro lab, plus taught modules to prepare you for a PhD.
🧪🧠📈
www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/...
Want to find out more about the neuroscience stream of UCL's Biosciences MRes? Register for our online open event on Friday 13 June, 11am-12pm: app.geckoform.com/events-embed...
May 30, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Finishing your undergraduate and interested in neuroscience research?
The Neuroscience streams of our Biosciences MRes degree provide a unique opportunity to conduct a year-long research project in any UCL neuro lab, plus taught modules to prepare you for a PhD.
🧪🧠📈
www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/...
The Neuroscience streams of our Biosciences MRes degree provide a unique opportunity to conduct a year-long research project in any UCL neuro lab, plus taught modules to prepare you for a PhD.
🧪🧠📈
www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/...
Congrats to the fantastic Jess P for her new paper! She compared how feature Vs outcome focussed agents learn to solve contextual inference problems. She found that you need a balance of both to learn these tasks - and that this mix recapitulates pfc and hippocampal activity in rodent tasks!
Contextual inference through flexible integration of environmental features and behavioural outcomes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.28.656607v1
May 29, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Congrats to the fantastic Jess P for her new paper! She compared how feature Vs outcome focussed agents learn to solve contextual inference problems. She found that you need a balance of both to learn these tasks - and that this mix recapitulates pfc and hippocampal activity in rodent tasks!