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  • DataCamp | Subject Matter Expert & Applied AI Engineer - 2024

    • AI agent pipelines in Python using LangChain and LangGraph as a Subject Matter Expert. Customising pipelines for AI agents with tool creation, AI control logic, and implementing safeguards against LLM hallucinations. Customising implementation using OpenAI. Deployed the AI agents live in production to over 3000 DataCamp subscribers.

  • Insmed | Generative AI Engineer & Consultant - 2023

    • Building Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) powered chatbot applications using LangChain and customising large language models for bioinformatics/medtech use cases. Prototype built on AWS cloud.

  • Blicx, Ltd. | Data Science & Machine Learning Consultant - 2020

    • Created machine-learning web app using PyCaret and Streamlit (both Python) to predict videogame recommendation likelihood using gaming attitudes data. Used machine learning feature importance measures to identify behaviours that drive game recommendation amongst players. Work commissioned by major esports game publisher to model future gaming habits as a way to double market share.

  • Postdoctoral Researcher, The UnLocke Project - 2017-19

    • Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, London, UK
      Managed implementation of randomised control trial for maths and science learning across 90 participating primary schools in the UK involving 6,500 pupils.

  • PhD in Experimental Psychology / Cognitive Neuroscience - 2013-17

    • Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, UK
      Used fMRI and support-vector based machine-learning to identify patterns of brain activity related to sensorimotor experience during observational learning. Conducted 3 studies with adolescent and young adult subjects to investigate how visual and sensorimotor cortices indexed acquired whole-body movement experience during passive observation. See published work below.

  • Research Coordinator - 2011-13

    • Laboratory of Motor Learning and Neural Plasticity, Montreal, Canada

      Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada Coordinated student training and data collection/analysis for multiple training studies featuring functional neuroimaging (fMRI) and motion capture. Managed software licensing.

  • Software

    • LangChain, LangGraph, Docker, AWS, Python, LangChain, Jupyter, Keras, Tensorflow, Scikit-Learn

    • Vector Databases: Qdrant, Weaviate

  • Talks

    • Decoding the Brain - Soapbox Science, Cardiff, 2016

      A public talk introducing neuroimaging techniques, including pattern analysis, and how these tools inform our understanding of the human brain.

    • A Facelift for Science Journalism - TEDxDawsonCollege, Montreal, 2013

      Proposes an alternative model for science engagement based on a deeper understanding of scientific methodology and statistical issues.

    • What if we could control the brain? - TEDxYouth@Winchester, Dubai, 2012

      Part of an independent TEDxYouth event entitled “The Power of Ideas”. Aimed at generating curiosity in neuroscience among teenage audiences.

  • Publications

    • 2018

      • Sumanapala, D., Walbrin, J., Kirsch, L., & Cross, E. (2018). Neurodevelopmental perspectives on dance learning: Insights from early adolescence and young adulthood. Progress in Brain Research, 237, 243-277. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.03.010 PDF

      • Kirsch, L., Diersch, N., Sumanapala, D., & Cross, E. (2018). Dance training shapes action perception and its neural implementation within the young and older adult brain. Neural Plasticity. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/5459106 PDF

    • 2017

      • (Book Chapter) Sumanapala, D. and Cross, E., 2017. Learning Complex Actions Through Physical vs. Observational Experience: Implications and Applications for Dance and Other Performing Arts. In: P. Hansen and B. Bläsing, ed., Performing the Remembered Present: The Cognition of Memory in Dance, Theatre and Music, 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury, pp.133-151. PDF

      • Sumanapala, D., Fish, L., Jones, A., & Cross, E. (2017). Have I grooved to this before? Discriminating practised and observed actions in a novel context. Acta Psychologica, 175, 42-49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2017.02.008 PDF

  • Conferences

    • EARLI SIG 22 Education Conference, London, 2018

      Poster: Inhibitory control in maths and science learning among primary school children: an fMRI study

    • Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Geneva, Switzerland, 2016

      Poster: Sensitivity of premotor and parietal cortices to stimulus familiarity during action observation