Principal Investigators
PROVIDE brings together research supervisors who are dedicated to providing the highest quality doctoral training, from research and skills development to career planning. They hold a collective record of supervising over 162 PhDs and contributing to more than 690 publications. PROVIDE’s unique co-supervision model, blending academic and non-academic insights, ensures intersectoral, international, and individualized training for each of our doctoral candidates.
Sonja Pyott
Sonja Pyott (PhD) is Associate Professor at the University Medical Center Groningen in Groningen, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on the molecular and cellular neuroscience of auditory and vestibular systems. Her academic training includes a Fulbright Scholarship at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany, a PhD from Stanford University, and postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She has extensive experience coordinating interdisciplinary and international research collaborations and organizing top-tier scientific training. She serves as the Coordinator of the PROVIDE network and oversees all network activities.
Jordi Llorens
Jordi Llorens (PhD) is Professor of Physiology at the University of Barcelona in Spain. He is an expert in vestibular toxicity with over 80 published articles and extensive funding. He has trained interantionally in the United States, France, and Spain. He is also former President of the International Neurotoxicology Association. Within the PROVIDE network, he also leads research-related activities.
Raymond van de Berg
Raymond van de Berg (MD/PhD) is an ENT-surgeon and Professor at Maastricht University Medical Center in Maastricht, the Netherlands. He specializes in vestibular disorders and cochlear implantation. He holds dual PhDs in medicine and biophysics and leads the Department of Audiology and Vestibular Department. His research focuses on vestibular implants and diagnostics, and he chairs the Bárány Society Educational Committee.
Andreas Zwergal
Professor Andreas Zwergal (MD/PhD) is Professor at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Münich, Germany and the Director of the German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders. Since 2014, he has led DIZZYNET, a European interdisciplinary research network on vestibular disorders. His work, which has been recognized with prestigious awards, combines neurophysiology, neuropsychology, and imaging to better understand and treat vestibular diseases.
Berta Alsina
Berta Alsina (PhD) is Associate Professor and Vice-Director at the Department of Medicine and Life Sciences at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. She leads a research group exploring inner ear development and the genetic causes of hearing loss and vertigo using zebrafish and human organoids. She has several key publications in inner ear biology and is principal investigator on numerous national grants.
Vincent van Rompaey
Vincent van Rompaey (MD/PhD) is Professor at the University of Antwerp and Antwerp University Hospital, where he also directs the Experimental Laboratory of Translational Neurosciences. His research spans fundamental studies in mouse models and clinical aspects of hearing loss, bilateral vestibulopathy, cochlear implantation, and innovative inner ear therapies. Within the PROVIDE network, he also leads training-related activities.
Christian Chabbert
Christian Chabbert (PhD) is Research Director at CNRS. As a neurophysiologist he mainly dedicated his research to the mechanisms of neuronal plasticity in the vestibule and to its functional correlates. He is an expert in sensory neuroscience and molecular electrophysiology. He is Director of the CNRS unit GDR2074 (Research Groupe in vertigo: http://gdrvertige) which gathers French research teams and clinical services involved in Neurotology research. Within the PROVIDE network, he also leads impact-related activities.
Herman Kingma
Herman Kingma (PhD) is professor at Aalborg University Hospital in Aalborg, Denmark, and emeritus professor at Maastricht University Medical Center in Maastricht, the Netherlands. By utilizing a multidisciplinary approach and collaborating with experts in various fields such as neurology, otolaryngology, and engineering, his research bridges the gap between fundamental investigation and clinical application. His work has been essential in advancing the treatment of vestibular disorders with the development of implantable vestibular protheses and wearable devices.
Patrick Hübner
Patrick Hübner (PhD) currently leads the Vestibular Research and Clinical Systems department at MED-EL in Innsbruck, Austria. His academic training includes a PhD in Biomedical/Medical Engineering from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and a BS/MS degree in Medical Engineering from University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria in Wels, Austria. He specializes in bioengineering research and development in the vestibular field.
Doctoral Candidates
Giulia Leschiutta
Giulia Leschiutta earned her Bachelor’s degree in Science of Nutrition and her Master’s degree in Molecular, Health and Nutritional Biology from the University of Urbino, where she received a Young Investigator Award and gained research experience in molecular oncology. Her passion for research led her to pursue an International Master’s degree in Neuroscience from the University of Trieste (Italy), where she conducted two projects in collaboration with the Neuromodulation and Behaviour group at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam (the Netherlands). Giulia is currently pursuing her PhD at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in Germany, investigating the mechanisms of structural and functional brain plasticity following peripheral vestibular loss and their augmentation by neuromodulation in animal models and patients.
Ana Renner Rodríguez
Ana Renner Rodriguez earned her Bachelor's degree in Biology from the Free University of Berlin, where she researched corpus callosum development at Charité Berlin (Germany). She completed her Master's in Neuroscience at the Universitat de Barcelona (Spain), working at the Neuropharmacology laboratory of Universitat Pompeu Fabra, studying cellular mechanisms of memory in Fragile X syndrome. Ana is currently pursuing her PhD in the Laboratory of Prof. Jordi Llorens at Universitat de Barcelona, focusing on understanding vestibular loss by investigating its functional and pathological aspects using various experimental models.
Maria Eleni Mavrogeni
Maria Eleni studied Pharmacy at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where her Bachelor's thesis focused on implementing in silico methodologies in drug discovery. She then earned her Master's degree in Biosciences from Utrecht University (the Netherlands), investigating the protective potential of prebiotic fibers on a leaky gut and the role of the enteric nervous system in Parkinson’s disease. Her main research interest lies in stem cell research and its application in translational neuroscience using advanced in vitro models. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at the Pompeu Fabra University in Spain, researching the etiology of vestibular disorders using inner ear organoids and CRISPR technology.
Bandana Mainali
Bandana Mainali holds a Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from Kathmandu University in Nepal and a Master's degree in BioHealth Engineering from the University of Grenoble Alpes in France. She is interested in clinically relevant translational research, focusing on inner ear disorders, environmental health, genetics, and bioinformatics. Bandana is currently a PhD student at the University Medical Center Groningen and University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Her research investigates the prevalence of vestibular loss (across different subgroups, including age, sex, and comorbidities) and aims to identify the environmental and genetic risk factors associated with vestibular loss using large multimodal datasets.
Máté Unger
Máté Unger studied at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest, Hungary. He earned his BSc in Molecular-Bionics Engineering and an MSc in Info-bionics Engineering. For his final projects, he worked with the Integrative Neuroscience Research Group (Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Hungary) creating an electrical device capable of precisely manipulating the temperature of brain tissue during in-vivo electrophysiological experiments. Máté is conducting his PhD studies at the German Dizziness and Balance Center and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany, with the goal of creating a computer vision-based movement evaluation system to assess patients and offer guidance for corrective measures.
André Ahrens
André Ahrens completed both his BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering at Leibniz Universität Hannover in Germany. His Bachelor's and Master's thesis focused on the in vitro behavior of platinum electrodes in cochlear implants. After he interned within the engineering team at the Deutsches HörZentrum at the Hannover Medical School (Germany), he studied abroad at Università di Pisa (Italy). As a Research Assistant at Leibniz Universität Hannover, he investigated sensory safety through detection of critical processes at the electrode-nerve interface. André is currently pursuing his PhD at MED-EL in Innsbruck, Austria. His research focuses on enhancing the usability of vestibular implants.
Panagiotis Dogantzis
Panagiotis graduated from the Medical School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) in 2019. He worked for one year as a primary healthcare physician in rural Greece before beginning his ENT training. His initial year of training took place at the General Panarcadian Hospital of Tripoli, followed by continued training at the 2nd Academic ENT Department at AUTH, where he also earned a master’s degree (MSc) studying salivary gland diseases. He is fascinated by vestibular disorders and hopes his research will help improve treatment for patients. His research in the ENT Department at the University of Maastricht focuses on using technology-enhanced methods for the diagnosis of vestibular disorders.
Azzaddin Elasry
Azzaddin Elasry is a PhD candidate at Aix-Marseille University within the Research Center of Psychology and Neuroscience (CRPN), under the supervision of Professor Christian Chabbert. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Neurobiology from Cadi Ayyad University in Morocco and completed an international master’s degree in Neuroscience through a partnership between the same university and the University of Bordeaux. His master’s internship at the Broca Center in Bordeaux, under Professor Marc Lundry’s supervision, focused on studying the link between Relaxin-3 and pain. His PhD research explores hormonal roles in bilateral vestibular loss. He has a strong interest in glial-neuron interactions.
Gabrielle Vassard Yu
Gabrielle Vassard Yu obtained her state degree in Physiotherapy from L'Institut de Formation en Masso-Kinésithérapie and two complementary degrees in Clinical Research at the University of Montpellier and Vestibular Rehabilitation at the Claude Bernard University in France. She worked for five years as a vestibular physiotherapist in a mixed practice (hospital and private) and in research in Lyon (France). Her research focused on assessment in vestibular schwannoma patients. She is also a member of the GDR Vertige, where she works on the care pathway for patients with vertigo. Gabrielle is currently a PhD student in Neuroscience at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. During her PhD, she will work on vestibular assessment to better characterize vestibular loss.
Beneficiaries
Associated Partners
External Advisory Board
Ruth Anne Eatock
Ruth Anne Eatock (PhD) is Professor at the University of Chicago, USA and renowned for her work in understanding balance and inner ear function and brings fundamental scientific expertise to our network.
Anita Bhandari
Anita Bhandari (MD) is both a clinician and an entrepreneur and leads the Vertigo and Ear Clinic in Jaipur, India. She brings a unique blend of medical expertise and innovative business acumen to our network.
Paul Delano
Paul Delano (MD/PhD) is Professor at the University of Chile in Santiago. His medical research and clinical practice focuses on inner ear and balance disorders.
Angélica Pérez Fornos
Angélica Pérez Fornos (PhD) is the head of engineering of the Western Switzerland University Cochlear Implants Center and of the laboratory of Audiology of the Geneva University Hospital.