Ben Fulcher
@bendfulcher.bsky.social
I lead the Dynamics and Neural Systems Group at the School of Physics, the University of Sydney.
We develop time series tools & physical models to understand the dynamics of complex (usually neural) systems.
Also: @bendfulcher@fediscience.org
We develop time series tools & physical models to understand the dynamics of complex (usually neural) systems.
Also: @bendfulcher@fediscience.org
Pinned
Ben Fulcher
@bendfulcher.bsky.social
· Aug 11
Postdoctoral Research Associate (Physics)
Full time, 2-year fixed term position with potential to extend. Located on the Camperdown Campus at the School of Physics. Exciting opportunity to conduct research in a world-leading interdisciplinary...
usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com
Are you interested in our work on complex physical systems and applications (to neural systems)?
Wanna join us in Sydney? 🐨 🦘
We have two open positions:
1. Postdoc position: usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/USYD_EXTERNA...
2. Fully-funded PhD position: www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships...
Wanna join us in Sydney? 🐨 🦘
We have two open positions:
1. Postdoc position: usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/USYD_EXTERNA...
2. Fully-funded PhD position: www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships...
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
In case anyone is interested, I've put that animation I made of brain development from 21-40 weeks GA on YouTube for your enjoyment/reference🤰👶🧠 Now you don't need to go to that other place anymore to find it 😁
youtu.be/C20GQ5CtVt0
Plus the code is now up!
github.com/StuartJO/Fet...
youtu.be/C20GQ5CtVt0
Plus the code is now up!
github.com/StuartJO/Fet...
Fetal Brain Development: From 21 to 40 Weeks Gestation
YouTube video by Stuart0193
youtu.be
November 13, 2025 at 1:19 PM
In case anyone is interested, I've put that animation I made of brain development from 21-40 weeks GA on YouTube for your enjoyment/reference🤰👶🧠 Now you don't need to go to that other place anymore to find it 😁
youtu.be/C20GQ5CtVt0
Plus the code is now up!
github.com/StuartJO/Fet...
youtu.be/C20GQ5CtVt0
Plus the code is now up!
github.com/StuartJO/Fet...
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
We wrote an article explaining why you shouldn't put several variables into a regression model and report which are statistically significant - even as exploratory research. bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/4/1/.... How did we do?
October 27, 2025 at 5:39 PM
We wrote an article explaining why you shouldn't put several variables into a regression model and report which are statistically significant - even as exploratory research. bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/4/1/.... How did we do?
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Glad to share the publication of our #newpaper (aka #blueprint) :
> A Predictive Approach to Enhance Time-Series Forecasting
By Skye Gunasekaran, Assel Kembay, Hugo Ladret, Rui-Jie Zhu, myself, Omid Kavehei and Jason Eshraghian
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience #AI #prediction #time
> A Predictive Approach to Enhance Time-Series Forecasting
By Skye Gunasekaran, Assel Kembay, Hugo Ladret, Rui-Jie Zhu, myself, Omid Kavehei and Jason Eshraghian
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience #AI #prediction #time
Just published in Nature Communications! Skye Gunasekaran has raised my expectations of UCSC undergraduate students impossibly high. You can direct all grading complaints to her. | Jason Eshraghian
Just published in Nature Communications! Skye Gunasekaran has raised my expectations of UCSC undergraduate students impossibly high. You can direct all grading complaints to her.
www.linkedin.com
October 2, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Glad to share the publication of our #newpaper (aka #blueprint) :
> A Predictive Approach to Enhance Time-Series Forecasting
By Skye Gunasekaran, Assel Kembay, Hugo Ladret, Rui-Jie Zhu, myself, Omid Kavehei and Jason Eshraghian
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience #AI #prediction #time
> A Predictive Approach to Enhance Time-Series Forecasting
By Skye Gunasekaran, Assel Kembay, Hugo Ladret, Rui-Jie Zhu, myself, Omid Kavehei and Jason Eshraghian
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience #AI #prediction #time
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Nature research paper: Arousal as a universal embedding for spatiotemporal brain dynamics
go.nature.com/4nMUgYz
go.nature.com/4nMUgYz
Arousal as a universal embedding for spatiotemporal brain dynamics - Nature
Reframing of arousal as a latent dynamical system can reconstruct multidimensional measurements of large-scale spatiotemporal brain dynamics on the timescale of seconds in mice.
go.nature.com
September 26, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Nature research paper: Arousal as a universal embedding for spatiotemporal brain dynamics
go.nature.com/4nMUgYz
go.nature.com/4nMUgYz
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
random neuroimaging question: does anyone in bluesky-land have access to the loadings for neurosynth topics in schaefer 400 (yeo7) space? #neuroskyence @misicbata.bsky.social @richardfbetzel.bsky.social @borismontreal.bsky.social @sofievalk.bsky.social
September 26, 2025 at 2:39 AM
random neuroimaging question: does anyone in bluesky-land have access to the loadings for neurosynth topics in schaefer 400 (yeo7) space? #neuroskyence @misicbata.bsky.social @richardfbetzel.bsky.social @borismontreal.bsky.social @sofievalk.bsky.social
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Finally published:
“Toward a unified taxonomy of information dynamics via Integrated Information Decomposition”
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
An information-theoretic framework to analyse complex multivariate dynamical processes ✨
“Toward a unified taxonomy of information dynamics via Integrated Information Decomposition”
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
An information-theoretic framework to analyse complex multivariate dynamical processes ✨
Toward a unified taxonomy of information dynamics via Integrated Information Decomposition | PNAS
Our ability to understand and control complex systems of many interacting parts remains
limited. A key challenge is that we still do not know how b...
www.pnas.org
September 24, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Finally published:
“Toward a unified taxonomy of information dynamics via Integrated Information Decomposition”
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
An information-theoretic framework to analyse complex multivariate dynamical processes ✨
“Toward a unified taxonomy of information dynamics via Integrated Information Decomposition”
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
An information-theoretic framework to analyse complex multivariate dynamical processes ✨
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Can a virus help uncover Turing patterns in nature? In this @commsbio.nature.com paper, researchers show how the tulip breaking virus triggers the expression of a pigment that can display a broad range of (observable) stripe patterns @philipcball.bsky.social
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 27, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Can a virus help uncover Turing patterns in nature? In this @commsbio.nature.com paper, researchers show how the tulip breaking virus triggers the expression of a pigment that can display a broad range of (observable) stripe patterns @philipcball.bsky.social
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
🎊Ain’t no party like a thesis submission party🎊
Honored to have submitted my PhD as a recipient of the Paulette Isabel Jones Career Development Award from The University of Sydney!
Thank you x1000000 to MVP supervisor @bendfulcher.bsky.social & co-supervisor @macshine.bsky.social 😊
Honored to have submitted my PhD as a recipient of the Paulette Isabel Jones Career Development Award from The University of Sydney!
Thank you x1000000 to MVP supervisor @bendfulcher.bsky.social & co-supervisor @macshine.bsky.social 😊
August 20, 2025 at 2:14 PM
🎊Ain’t no party like a thesis submission party🎊
Honored to have submitted my PhD as a recipient of the Paulette Isabel Jones Career Development Award from The University of Sydney!
Thank you x1000000 to MVP supervisor @bendfulcher.bsky.social & co-supervisor @macshine.bsky.social 😊
Honored to have submitted my PhD as a recipient of the Paulette Isabel Jones Career Development Award from The University of Sydney!
Thank you x1000000 to MVP supervisor @bendfulcher.bsky.social & co-supervisor @macshine.bsky.social 😊
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
This is what happens to successful authors. Caveat emptor.
Something similar happened (on much smaller scale) w/ one of my books. Amazon did nothing. Then a journalist reported on it. Amazon took down offending title.
I hope someone will report on this happening (much more blatantly) to Eric!
Something similar happened (on much smaller scale) w/ one of my books. Amazon did nothing. Then a journalist reported on it. Amazon took down offending title.
I hope someone will report on this happening (much more blatantly) to Eric!
FRAUD ALERT: I have nothing to do with these phony books using my name on the cover. I have not written a memoir or partnered/inspired any cookbooks!
Attempts to get Amazon to take these down have gone nowhere.
Attempts to get Amazon to take these down have gone nowhere.
August 14, 2025 at 10:27 PM
This is what happens to successful authors. Caveat emptor.
Something similar happened (on much smaller scale) w/ one of my books. Amazon did nothing. Then a journalist reported on it. Amazon took down offending title.
I hope someone will report on this happening (much more blatantly) to Eric!
Something similar happened (on much smaller scale) w/ one of my books. Amazon did nothing. Then a journalist reported on it. Amazon took down offending title.
I hope someone will report on this happening (much more blatantly) to Eric!
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
💤🧠🧪 New article! 🧪🧠💤
After years of effort led by @qualiastructure.bsky.social (Nao Tsuchiya and William Wong), Jenny Windt, Katja Valli, Valdas Noreika and @rherzoga.bsky.social, the Dream database is now published in @natcomms.nature.com
**A dream EEG and mentation database**
rdcu.be/eAwni
After years of effort led by @qualiastructure.bsky.social (Nao Tsuchiya and William Wong), Jenny Windt, Katja Valli, Valdas Noreika and @rherzoga.bsky.social, the Dream database is now published in @natcomms.nature.com
**A dream EEG and mentation database**
rdcu.be/eAwni
August 14, 2025 at 1:40 PM
💤🧠🧪 New article! 🧪🧠💤
After years of effort led by @qualiastructure.bsky.social (Nao Tsuchiya and William Wong), Jenny Windt, Katja Valli, Valdas Noreika and @rherzoga.bsky.social, the Dream database is now published in @natcomms.nature.com
**A dream EEG and mentation database**
rdcu.be/eAwni
After years of effort led by @qualiastructure.bsky.social (Nao Tsuchiya and William Wong), Jenny Windt, Katja Valli, Valdas Noreika and @rherzoga.bsky.social, the Dream database is now published in @natcomms.nature.com
**A dream EEG and mentation database**
rdcu.be/eAwni
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Preprint⭐
Our attention changes over time and differs across contexts—which is reflected in the brain🧠 Fitting a dynamical systems model to fMRI data, we find that the geometry of neural dynamics along the attractor landscape reflects such changes in attention!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Our attention changes over time and differs across contexts—which is reflected in the brain🧠 Fitting a dynamical systems model to fMRI data, we find that the geometry of neural dynamics along the attractor landscape reflects such changes in attention!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Geometry of neural dynamics along the cortical attractor landscape reflects changes in attention
The brain is a complex dynamical system whose activity reflects changes in internal states, such as attention. While prior work has shown that large-scale brain activity reflects attention, the mechan...
www.biorxiv.org
August 12, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Preprint⭐
Our attention changes over time and differs across contexts—which is reflected in the brain🧠 Fitting a dynamical systems model to fMRI data, we find that the geometry of neural dynamics along the attractor landscape reflects such changes in attention!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Our attention changes over time and differs across contexts—which is reflected in the brain🧠 Fitting a dynamical systems model to fMRI data, we find that the geometry of neural dynamics along the attractor landscape reflects such changes in attention!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
I've been thinking a lot about the preprint in terms of my own career. I grew up academically in computational labs. My papers were abstract early on and they only got more abstract as I progressed. The model was: find a new exciting mathematical tool. Apply it to brain imaging data. Write it up. 1/
I still get chills
Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts
Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE
see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts
Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE
see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
August 11, 2025 at 7:19 PM
I've been thinking a lot about the preprint in terms of my own career. I grew up academically in computational labs. My papers were abstract early on and they only got more abstract as I progressed. The model was: find a new exciting mathematical tool. Apply it to brain imaging data. Write it up. 1/
Are you interested in our work on complex physical systems and applications (to neural systems)?
Wanna join us in Sydney? 🐨 🦘
We have two open positions:
1. Postdoc position: usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/USYD_EXTERNA...
2. Fully-funded PhD position: www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships...
Wanna join us in Sydney? 🐨 🦘
We have two open positions:
1. Postdoc position: usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/USYD_EXTERNA...
2. Fully-funded PhD position: www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships...
Postdoctoral Research Associate (Physics)
Full time, 2-year fixed term position with potential to extend. Located on the Camperdown Campus at the School of Physics. Exciting opportunity to conduct research in a world-leading interdisciplinary...
usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com
August 11, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Are you interested in our work on complex physical systems and applications (to neural systems)?
Wanna join us in Sydney? 🐨 🦘
We have two open positions:
1. Postdoc position: usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/USYD_EXTERNA...
2. Fully-funded PhD position: www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships...
Wanna join us in Sydney? 🐨 🦘
We have two open positions:
1. Postdoc position: usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/USYD_EXTERNA...
2. Fully-funded PhD position: www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships...
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Mapping cerebral blood perfusion and its links to multi-scale brain organization across the human lifespan | doi.org/10.1371/jour...
How does blood perfusion map onto canonical features of brain structure and function? @asafarahani.bsky.social investigates @plosbiology.org ⤵️
How does blood perfusion map onto canonical features of brain structure and function? @asafarahani.bsky.social investigates @plosbiology.org ⤵️
August 8, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Mapping cerebral blood perfusion and its links to multi-scale brain organization across the human lifespan | doi.org/10.1371/jour...
How does blood perfusion map onto canonical features of brain structure and function? @asafarahani.bsky.social investigates @plosbiology.org ⤵️
How does blood perfusion map onto canonical features of brain structure and function? @asafarahani.bsky.social investigates @plosbiology.org ⤵️
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
Interested in cortical wave dynamics? Check out our new preprint led by J Cruddas with @jchrispang.bsky.social where review the physics and physiology of cortical waves and their implications for psychological function:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
@nsb-lab.bsky.social
osf.io/preprints/ps...
@nsb-lab.bsky.social
August 2, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Interested in cortical wave dynamics? Check out our new preprint led by J Cruddas with @jchrispang.bsky.social where review the physics and physiology of cortical waves and their implications for psychological function:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
@nsb-lab.bsky.social
osf.io/preprints/ps...
@nsb-lab.bsky.social
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
and: "but somehow power and control over vital issues – what is peer review, what is a journal, what gets published – have been ceded to organizations beyond the scientific community, like Web of Science and Scopus. This is not healthy for science or the scientific community."
'The resistance we have seen [towards eLife's new publishing model] should force the scientific community to confront a question that is often avoided: who controls the scientific literature?'
sfdora.org/2025/07/30/s...
sfdora.org/2025/07/30/s...
Why are indexers unable to see that peer review can be more than a thumbs up or a thumbs down? | DORA
Journals and peer review are unlikely to change for the better if the companies that operate scientific indexes and citation databases continue to stifle innovation. At eLife we believe that the conte...
sfdora.org
July 30, 2025 at 11:47 PM
and: "but somehow power and control over vital issues – what is peer review, what is a journal, what gets published – have been ceded to organizations beyond the scientific community, like Web of Science and Scopus. This is not healthy for science or the scientific community."
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
JOB ALERT! We're seeking a postdoctoral scientist to join Developmental Imaging at @mcri.bsky.social in Melbourne.
Role will involve working with international partners on a new project charting brain growth in children with NF-1
Please reach out for more information
www.seek.com.au/job/86090834
Role will involve working with international partners on a new project charting brain growth in children with NF-1
Please reach out for more information
www.seek.com.au/job/86090834
Research Officer Job in Parkville, Melbourne VIC - SEEK
We are seeking a Postdoctoral Research Officer to drive international neuroimaging research into childhood NF1 brain development.
www.seek.com.au
July 29, 2025 at 11:44 PM
JOB ALERT! We're seeking a postdoctoral scientist to join Developmental Imaging at @mcri.bsky.social in Melbourne.
Role will involve working with international partners on a new project charting brain growth in children with NF-1
Please reach out for more information
www.seek.com.au/job/86090834
Role will involve working with international partners on a new project charting brain growth in children with NF-1
Please reach out for more information
www.seek.com.au/job/86090834
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
This is unfortunate:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...
I wrote to the president of Harvard. I hope other faculty will speak their conscience, even if it means more struggle ahead.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...
I wrote to the president of Harvard. I hope other faculty will speak their conscience, even if it means more struggle ahead.
July 29, 2025 at 9:54 AM
This is unfortunate:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...
I wrote to the president of Harvard. I hope other faculty will speak their conscience, even if it means more struggle ahead.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...
I wrote to the president of Harvard. I hope other faculty will speak their conscience, even if it means more struggle ahead.
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
New pre-print from @alexfornito.bsky.social, @jchrispang.bsky.social, and myself looking at the sensitivity of different methods used to estimate FC/EC in relation to residual motion artifacts and behavioural prediction
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The Motion Sensitivity and Predictive Utility of Different Estimates of Inter-regional Functional Coupling in Resting-state Functional MRI.
Numerous methods exist for quantifying statistical dependencies, termed functional coupling (FC), between regional brain activity recorded with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-...
www.biorxiv.org
July 21, 2025 at 1:33 AM
New pre-print from @alexfornito.bsky.social, @jchrispang.bsky.social, and myself looking at the sensitivity of different methods used to estimate FC/EC in relation to residual motion artifacts and behavioural prediction
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
If you enjoy eschewing the need for parametric assumptions about the nature of a map’s SA as much as I do, check this one out!
Good spatial nulls are very important in neuroscience, and for assessing spatiotemporal patterns in many other physical systems 👇
Good spatial nulls are very important in neuroscience, and for assessing spatiotemporal patterns in many other physical systems 👇
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience,
Generation of surrogate brain maps preserving spatial autocorrelation through random rotation of geometric eigenmodes
direct.mit.edu/imag/article...
Produces surrogates for null hypothesis testing of nonlinear effects within and correlations between brain maps
Generation of surrogate brain maps preserving spatial autocorrelation through random rotation of geometric eigenmodes
direct.mit.edu/imag/article...
Produces surrogates for null hypothesis testing of nonlinear effects within and correlations between brain maps
July 18, 2025 at 6:09 AM
If you enjoy eschewing the need for parametric assumptions about the nature of a map’s SA as much as I do, check this one out!
Good spatial nulls are very important in neuroscience, and for assessing spatiotemporal patterns in many other physical systems 👇
Good spatial nulls are very important in neuroscience, and for assessing spatiotemporal patterns in many other physical systems 👇
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience,
Generation of surrogate brain maps preserving spatial autocorrelation through random rotation of geometric eigenmodes
direct.mit.edu/imag/article...
Produces surrogates for null hypothesis testing of nonlinear effects within and correlations between brain maps
Generation of surrogate brain maps preserving spatial autocorrelation through random rotation of geometric eigenmodes
direct.mit.edu/imag/article...
Produces surrogates for null hypothesis testing of nonlinear effects within and correlations between brain maps
July 17, 2025 at 11:33 PM
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience,
Generation of surrogate brain maps preserving spatial autocorrelation through random rotation of geometric eigenmodes
direct.mit.edu/imag/article...
Produces surrogates for null hypothesis testing of nonlinear effects within and correlations between brain maps
Generation of surrogate brain maps preserving spatial autocorrelation through random rotation of geometric eigenmodes
direct.mit.edu/imag/article...
Produces surrogates for null hypothesis testing of nonlinear effects within and correlations between brain maps
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
How far can you compress a complex system?
🚨 In our latest paper we collapse high-dim compartmental models (from epidemics to ecosystems) into a single 1-D equation using quantum-inspired math, exposing universal phase transitions #ComplexSystems 👇👇👇
journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...
🚨 In our latest paper we collapse high-dim compartmental models (from epidemics to ecosystems) into a single 1-D equation using quantum-inspired math, exposing universal phase transitions #ComplexSystems 👇👇👇
journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...
July 17, 2025 at 9:54 AM
How far can you compress a complex system?
🚨 In our latest paper we collapse high-dim compartmental models (from epidemics to ecosystems) into a single 1-D equation using quantum-inspired math, exposing universal phase transitions #ComplexSystems 👇👇👇
journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...
🚨 In our latest paper we collapse high-dim compartmental models (from epidemics to ecosystems) into a single 1-D equation using quantum-inspired math, exposing universal phase transitions #ComplexSystems 👇👇👇
journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...
Reposted by Ben Fulcher
📢 We are hiring! The School of #ComputerScience of #USyd 🇦🇺 is seeking outstanding women academics, at all seniority levels, for continuing (equivalent tenure system) positions.
Deadline to apply: ⏰ August 25 #AcademicJobs #WomenInCS
usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/USYD_E...
Deadline to apply: ⏰ August 25 #AcademicJobs #WomenInCS
usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/USYD_E...
Women in Engineering: Continuing (Tenure-Track) Academic Positions for Women, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Sydney
Join a growing Faculty and be part of a University that places amongst the world’s best teaching and research institutions Located in the heart of Sydney’s bustling inner west quarter, close to beache...
usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com
July 17, 2025 at 12:18 AM
📢 We are hiring! The School of #ComputerScience of #USyd 🇦🇺 is seeking outstanding women academics, at all seniority levels, for continuing (equivalent tenure system) positions.
Deadline to apply: ⏰ August 25 #AcademicJobs #WomenInCS
usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/USYD_E...
Deadline to apply: ⏰ August 25 #AcademicJobs #WomenInCS
usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/USYD_E...