Divyangana Rakesh
Lecturer and Researcher at King's College London interested in environmental influences on brain and behaviour development; garden variety socialist and photographer 📸 from 🇮🇳
- Excited to share this new paper from my lab led by Jiayi Zheng (Jenny) showing how higher sleep duration, lower screen time, and participation in extracurricular activities promotes cognitive development during adolescence. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
- Reposted by Divyangana Rakeshnew preprint out! in this review/perspective paper, we synthesize research across network neuroscience, social neuroscience, and neuroecology to characterize how brain network organization varies across interpersonal social experience. osf.io/preprints/ps...
- Link to a recent paper I forgot to share on bluesky! We investigated links between SES, changes in within-network connectivity, and academic outcomes in the ABCD study. Out in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience @fluxsociety.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by Divyangana RakeshA study in Nature Mental Health uses data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development cohort study to evaluate the relationship between state-level income inequality, brain structure and function, and mental health in young people. go.nature.com/4872wyh 🧪
- Read coverage on our article on macroeconomic income inequality, the brain, and mental health in @theguardian.com: www.theguardian.com/science/2025... www.nature.com/articles/s44...
- New paper in Nature Mental Health where we show that macroeconomic income inequality is associated with brain structure and function over and above individual-level SES and other state-level factors. These alterations may serve as pathways to mental health problems. www.nature.com/articles/s44...
- Reposted by Divyangana RakeshNew #article from Rakesh et al: Economic Inequality and Mental Health: Causality, Mechanisms, and Interventions TL;DR: Economic inequality worsens mental health by increasing interpersonal social comparison and undermining the social capital of communities www.annualreviews.org/docserver/fu...
- Reposted by Divyangana Rakesh“Our findings suggest that structural income inequality is associated with neurobiological differences, even after accounting for absolute income and poverty. These brain differences, in turn, help explain links to adverse mental health outcomes.” www.nature.com/articles/s44...
- Reposted by Divyangana RakeshLiving in an unequal society, regardless of individual wealth, can lead to structural changes in the brains of children. #ScienceatKings #PopulationHealth
- Reposted by Divyangana RakeshImportant work on inequality changing children’s brain structure from @divyangana.bsky.social and colleagues. Best ways to reduce inequality: 1. Fair pay agreements for every sector 2. Abolish two child benefit cap, for universal social security 3. Fair tax. www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
- Reposted by Divyangana Rakesh📢 We are hiring! 📢 For our @wellcometrust.bsky.social grant on information gathering biases in #OCD and #Schizophrenia, we are looking for a Postdoc in Computational Modelling, supervised by Peter Dayan and myself. Interested? See all the details in the job advert here: devcompsy.org/wp-content/u...
- Reposted by Divyangana RakeshWe’ve paved over everything and then wonder why people are anxious, angry, and disconnected. Asphalt addiction is real and ample green space is the bare minimum for a healthy city.
- Reposted by Divyangana Rakesh🚨 New preprint alert! 🚨 We used machine learning to examine how early life adversity ⚠️ is associated with the adolescent brain 🧠 in the ABCD Study across 7 adversity dimensions and 3 timepoints. 👉https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.11.659188v1
- Reposted by Divyangana RakeshCheck out our team's latest work on how early life adversity maps onto brain structure in youth, led by @kabro.bsky.social! Details below ⬇️
- Reposted by Divyangana RakeshPhD studentship available in developmental cognitive neuroscience, in Cambridge - please publicise. Open to women candidates, as the student will be based at Newnham College.
- Funded PhD opportunity with @sjblakemore.bsky.social and I, at Cambridge. We are looking for someone interested in developmental science, to start in the coming academic year. Please share it with anyone you think might be interested (see details attached 😁). drive.google.com/file/d/1RIvg...
- Reposted by Divyangana Rakesh*New preprint* on ND and co-occurring mental health problems from my lab, led by Chiara Caserini! Using longitudinal data from ABCD we asked: What drives poor mental health outcomes in children with high ND traits? Here's brief summary 🧠🌳🏡 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1.... 1/n
- "Although growing up in poverty carries many risks, some children defy the odds & demonstrate positive cognitive outcomes." This blog explores how to foster #Resilience in disadvantaged contexts. Read the full blog here: www.acamh.org/blog/why-do-...
- Excited to share our new paper where we show on links between #greenspace exposure, brain development over time, and mental health and academic outcomes, now published in Biological Psychiatry. Led by Qingyang Li! @kingsioppn.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by Divyangana RakeshWhy are young girls, who begin puberty ahead of their same-age, same-sex peers, at an increased risk of depression and anxiety? Dr @divyangana.bsky.social outlines her research on this subject for the @bbrfoundation.bsky.social #AcademicSky #PsychSky bbrfoundation.org/content/chil...
- An article on our recent work led by @niamhmacsweeney.bsky.social bbrfoundation.org/content/chil...
- Check out our 🚨 Annual Research Review 🚨 published in JCPP on the mediators and moderators of the link between SES and cognitive function, language ability, and academic achievement (a systematic review of 136 studies): acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
- 🚨 HIRING 🚨 a Postdoctoral Associate in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience @kingsioppn.bsky.social My group's research aims to understand how social and physical environments impact brain and behaviour development. Application window closes in three days! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLX655/p...
- 🚨 HIRING 🚨 a Postdoctoal Associate in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience @kingsioppn.bsky.social. My group's research aims to understand how social and physical environments impact brain and behaviour development. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLX655/p... Accepting applications until the 15th of March!
- Reposted by Divyangana Rakesh
🚨New paper out in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 🚨 In this pre-registered study, we examined the role of pubertal development in the association between trauma exposure and internalising symptoms in female youth using ABCD data: acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... - Reposted by Divyangana RakeshCongratulations to @divyangana.bsky.social, who has been named an @psychscience.bsky.social APS Rising Star, a designation presented to outstanding APS Members in the earlier stages of their research career whose innovative work has advanced the field! Dr Rakesh's research:
- POSTDOC POSITION at @kingsioppn.bsky.social The postdoc will work on an @ukri.org funded project on disadvantage, the pace of neurodevelopment, and cognitive outcomes using openly available infant and adolescent data. See the job ad here: fluxsociety.org/postdoctoral... Please share and repost 🙏
- In our 🚨 NEW PAPER 🚨 "Beyond the income-achievement gap: The role of individual, family, and environmental factors in cognitive resilience among low-income youth", we used machine learning to characterise predictors of cognitive resilience. acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
- Our models were reliably able to predict resilience but were substantially more accurate for crystallized cognition than for fluid cognition.
- Key predictors included developmental factors such as birthweight and duration of breastfeeding, neighborhood-level factors (e.g., enrollment in advanced placement courses), children's temperament and mental health, physical activity and involvement in extracurricular activities.
- Reposted by Divyangana RakeshHow does low socioeconomic status (SES) impact brain development? Dr @divyangana.bsky.social has been awarded grants by the @bbrfoundation.bsky.social and @ukri.org/MRC to investigate the biological mechanisms behind the impact on cognition and #MentalHealth #MedSky www.kcl.ac.uk/news/dr-divy...
- New paper, and it only took two years 🫠! In this systematic review, we aimed to identify the mediators and moderators in the association of SES with EF, language ability, and academic achievement. Now published as an Annual Research Review in JCPP! acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
- Reposted by Divyangana Rakesh📣 🧠 I’m recruiting 1-2 PhD students interested in disadvantage-related brain development & neuro-immune crosstalk to join my new lab at the University of Georgia. Application deadline is December 1st. Please feel free to contact me with any questions! #neuroskyence #psychscisky #academicsky
