Zurna Ahmed

Neuroscientist · Medical Engineer

Curriculum Vitae

Portrait of Zurna Ahmed

Academic professional experience

Early Career Researcher — Georg-Elias-Müller Institute for Psychology, Psychology of Language, and Institute of Computer Science and Campus Institute Data Science, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany 08 / 2025 – present

Career break — parental leave 03 / 2026 – 05 / 2026

Visiting Researcher — Mobile Brain/Body Imaging Lab (BeMoBIL), TU Berlin, Lab of Prof. Dr. Klaus Gramann 11 / 2025

Career break — parental leave 03 / 2025 – 08 / 2025

Researcher, PostDoc (part-time) in Cognitive Neuroscience and Machine Learning — Georg-Elias-Müller Institute for Psychology, Psychology of Language, and Institute of Computer Science and Campus Institute Data Science, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany 08 / 2024 – 02 / 2025

Researcher, PostDoc (part-time) in Systems Neuroscience — German Primate Center, Sensorimotor Group, Göttingen, Germany 08 / 2024 – 02 / 2025

Researcher, PostDoc in Systems Neuroscience — German Primate Center, Sensorimotor Group, Göttingen, Germany 01 / 2024 – 07 / 2024

Researcher, PhD Student in Systems Neuroscience — German Primate Center, Sensorimotor Group, Göttingen, Germany 08 / 2018 – 12 / 2023

Internship — German Primate Center, Sensorimotor Group, Göttingen, Germany 10 / 2017 – 08 / 2018

Non-academic professional experience

Quality and Project Manager — H+H Maslanka, Tuttlingen, Germany 03 / 2015 – 09 / 2015

Project Manager — Karl Storz Endoscopy, Tuttlingen, Germany 09 / 2013 – 02 / 2014

Product Manager — Karl Storz Endoscopy, Schaffhausen, Switzerland 03 / 2013 – 09 / 2013

Education

PhD Candidate — German Primate Center, Sensorimotor Group of Prof. Dr. Alexander Gail, Göttingen, Germany 08 / 2018 – 12 / 2023 · Degree: Dr. rer. nat. Thesis: “Neural correlates of action effect anticipation — towards ecologically more relevant paradigms.”

M.Sc. in Neuroscience — University of Oldenburg, Lab of Prof. Dr. Jutta Kretzberg, Oldenburg, Germany 10 / 2015 – 09 / 2017 · Degree: M. Sc. Thesis: “Intracellular Recordings and Hodgkin-Huxley Model simulation of leech neurons.”

B.Sc. in Medical Engineering — Hochschule Furtwangen / Karl Storz Endoscopy, Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany 03 / 2011 – 02 / 2015 · Degrees: Ing. (FH), B. Sc. Thesis: “Development of an application tip for a holmium laser light guide for applications in Otorhinolaryngology.”

Awards

  • DPZ “Promotionspreis” for the best PhD thesis of the year 2022, supported by the Maclean-Erkelenz foundation, Göttingen, Germany — announcement
  • Young Investigator Award at the Neurizons Conference, Göttingen, Germany

Funding

  • Seed Fund for collaborative project “Embodied Planning and Exploration Under Uncertain Futures”, 2026, 900 €
  • Seed Fund for collaborative project “How Does Inferred Popularity Affect Children’s Curiosity?”, 2025, 1000 €
  • Seed Fund for collaborative project “Investigating Adaptive Exploration across Development in Real-World Contexts”, 2025, 1000 €
  • Main lead of central project “Z01 — Exploration Room Platform” within the SFB 1528 consortium, 2022, total SFB funding 12.5 mio. €

Mentoring

  • Mentor to 14 PhD students for the organisation of the Interdisciplinary Summer School on the topic of “Curiosity”
  • Mentor to 15 PhD students within the Research Training Group (RTG 2906), providing ongoing guidance on research planning, career progression, mental health and personal growth (since 2024)
  • Participant in the Margaret-Maltby Mentoring Program, engaging in structured mentoring for early-career scientists
  • Informal mentorship through the Women Career & Networks Symposium, supporting junior researchers in career decisions, transitioning fields, and building academic resilience
  • Support for students from underrepresented backgrounds entering neuroscience and STEM pathways

Teaching

For supervision of projects, see Student Projects.

  • Co-Lecturer, Challenges and Perspectives in Neural Data Science (Master level Data Science students)
  • Co-Lecturer, Biokognition (Bachelor level Psychology and Biology students)
  • Organizer & instructor of a weekly seminar for PhD students (RTG 2906) with a final Stage I colloquium (09 / 2024 – 01 / 2025)
  • Invited technical lectures and training sessions on freely-moving rhesus macaques and cranial implant design:
    • Primate Neurobiology TA Sub-Symposium (2023)
    • TA Network Meeting “Tierkontakt” (2022)
    • European TA Training (2020)
  • Half-day workshop, Summer School Bridging the Technological Gap (2022)
  • Supervision of student research projects (internships, rotations)
  • Tutor, Master’s Neuroscience Practical Electrophysiology (2017)

Service to the scientific community

  • Steering Committee Member, EEGManySteps (starting 12 / 2025)
  • Chair, Organization Team, Women Career and Networks Symposium
  • Team Member, Finances Sub-team, Women Career and Networks Symposium
  • PhD Representative, German Primate Center (DPZ)
  • Member, Leibniz PhD Network (DPZ representative)
  • Co-Chair, Neuroscience Student Body Council, University of Oldenburg
  • Member of Buddy Program, Hochschule Furtwangen

Computer & technical skills

  • Matlab (excellent), Python (good), SciLab (good), C++ (basic)
  • Hardware / prototyping: Arduino (excellent)
  • CAD / 3D design: Fusion 360 (excellent), Rhinoceros (very good), SolidWorks (very good), ProEngineer (basic)
  • General: Microsoft Office, Keynote, Pages (excellent)

Languages

  • English: fluent in speaking and writing (C1)
  • German: fluent in speaking and writing (native language)
  • Urdu: fluent in speaking (native language)
  • Hindi: fluent in speaking
  • Italian: level A2

Talks, outreach and publications

  • Various invited talks and conference presentations at international events — see Talks
  • Active involvement in public engagement and science communication — see Outreach
  • Authored papers and conference posters in various scientific journals and conferences — see Publications