Education
PhD Auditory Neuroscience UCL
MSc Computer Science (Hons) UCL
BSc Neuroscience (Hons) UCL
Academic work experience
Post-doc University of Oxford
Supervisor: Prof Masud Husain.
Post-doc UCL, London
Physiological markers for auditory salience.
Supervisor: Prof Maria Chait.
Academic Visitor NTT Basic Research Laboratories, Japan
Two eye-tracking projects about auditory change detection and distraction respectively.
Supervisors: Prof Makio Kashino, Dr Shigeto Furukawa, Dr Hsin-I Liao.
Supported by UCL-NTT collaboration.
Research Intern British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), UK
BBC Research & Development machine learning project. Implemented a Python system to improve the tagging system from user feedback using a state-of-the-art recommender system algorithm.
Supervisors: Dr Sebastian Riedel (UCL), Dr Andreas Vlachos (UCL), Dr Yves Raimond (BBC).
Lab Assistant UCL, London
fMRI project on human spatial hearing.
Supervisors: Prof David McAlpine (UCL) and Prof Fred Dick (Birkbeck).
Lab Intern UCL, London
3D animal model development for lizards.
Supervisor: Prof Susan Evans (UCL).
Academic Awards and Honours
Travel Award Brain Travel Award, Guarantors of Brain, £560
For 6th International Conference on Auditory Cortex 2017, Canada.
Travel Award Action on Hearing Loss and Wellcome Trust, £500
For 6th International Conference on Auditory Cortex 2017, Canada.
Travel Award Elizabeth Tyszkiewicz Award, £865
For 6th International Conference on Auditory Cortex 2017, Canada.
Poster competition Runners-up prize, £100
UCL Doctoral School Research Poster Competition 2017.
Travel Award $500
For Association of Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) 2017, USA.
Conference Bursary Action on Hearing Loss, £750
For Association of Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) 2017, USA.
Poster competition Highly Commended
UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences Postgraduate Symposium 2016.
Conference Fund SLMS Graduate Student
For ARO 39th Annual MidWinter Meeting, USA.
Travel Award
For 7th Mismatch Negativity Conference, Germany.
Conference presentations
Talks
Zhao S, Pearce M, Dick F, Chait M. (2016) "Sensitivity to the statistics of rapid, stochastic tone sequences". The 2016 Basic Auditory Meeting. Cambridge, UK.
Zhao S, Pearce M, Dick F, Chait M. (2016) "Sensitivity to the statistics of rapid, stochastic tone sequences". Association for Research in Otolaryngology 39th Annual MidWinter Meeting. San Diego, California, USA.
Posters
Zhao S, Zhou Y, Dick F, Chait M. (2017) "Sensitivity to non-deterministic pattern change in rapid, stochastic tone sequences". ARO 40th Annual MidWinter Meeting. Baltimore, Washington, USA.
Liao H, Zhao S, Chait M, Kashino M, Furukawa S. (2017) "How the eyes detect acoustic transitions: a study of pupillary responses to transitions between regular and random frequency patterns". ARO 40th Annual MidWinter Meeting. Baltimore, Washington, USA.
Yoneya M, Zhao S, Kashino M, Chait M, Furukawa S. (2017) "Eye metrics – a measure of auditory distraction". ARO 40th Annual MidWinter Meeting. Baltimore, Washington, USA.
Zhao S, Pearce M, Dick F, Chait M. (2016) "Sensitivity to the statistics of rapid, stochastic tone sequences". UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences Postgraduate Symposium 2016, London, UK. (Highly Commended Award, 2016)
Zhao S, Pearce M, Dick F, Chait M. (2016) "Sensitivity to the statistics of rapid, stochastic tone sequences". UCL-Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Joint Conference, Atsugi, Japan.
Zhao S, Pearce M, Dick F, Chait M. (2015) "Sensitivity to the statistics of rapid, stochastic tone sequences". 7th Mismatch Negativity Conference. Leipzig, Germany. (Travel Award, 2015)
Jones MEH, Curtis N, Zhao S, O'Higgins P, Fagan MJ, Evans SE. (2011) "Modelling cranial joints in a reptile skull". Joint Winter Meeting of Anatomical Societies. Cardiff, Wales, UK
Jones MEH, Curtis N, Zhao S, Fagan MJ, O'Higgins P, Evans SE. (2011) "Sutures and intracranial movements in Sphenodon (Lepidosauria: Rhynchocephalia)". 5th international meeting on Cranio-Cervical Systems. Paris, France
Popular science publications
Zhao S. (2016) "大腦使用指南 (Guide to The Brain)". Beijing: Hunan Science & Technology Press. ISBN: 978-7-5357-9081-1. (Available on Amazon).
Zhao S. (2015) "日常神經科學 (Everyday Neuroscience)" e-book. Beijing: Zhejiang Publishing United Group Digital Media. (Available on Amazon).