Scientific career
Mirella Manfredi earned her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Milan-Bicocca, during which she completed a research stay at the University of California, San Diego.
After completing her PhD, she conducted research at Mackenzie University in São Paulo (Brazil) and, from 2018 to 2024, at the Department of Psychology at the University of Zurich.
Since 2025, she has been the recipient of an SNSF Starting Grant and serves as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (KJPP) at the University of Zurich, where she leads the Neurodiversity & Cognition Lab.
Her research focuses on the neurocognitive foundations of humor, particularly on how autistic and neurotypical adolescents and adults process humorous and positive information.
Her lab adopts a multidisciplinary, multimodal approach aligned with the neurodiversity paradigm, which views autism as a natural variation of human development. The goal is to enhance the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral resources of individuals on the autism spectrum – particularly their sense of humor.
Current positions
2025 - present
SNSF Assistant Professor of Neurodiversity and Cognition
Department of Child and Psychiatry at the University of Zurich, Switzerland
Previous positions
2024- 2025
Postdoctoral research fellow, Cheers Lab at Unidistance, Brig, Switzerland
2020-2023
Postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Developmental Psychology: University of Zurich (Switzerland).
09.2018 – 06.2020
Postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Developmental Psychology: University of Zurich (Switzerland), founded by Forschungskredit Postdoc Grant.
05.2015 – 12.2017
Postdoctoral fellow at Cognitive and Social Neuroscience Laboratory, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo (Brazil), funded by FAPESP.
07.2013 – 07.2014
Visiting scholar at Kutas’ Lab, Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego (USA).
01.2011 – 02.2015
PhD Candidate. Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan (Italy).
Education
2011 – 2015
Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, Linguistics and Cognitive Neuroscience. University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy),
2006 – 2008
M.S. (summa cum laude) in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience. University of Padova, Italy.
Fellowships and Awards
- Starting Grant (2025-2030) granted by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
- Postdoctoral fellowship for two years (2018-2020) granted by Forschungskredit Postdoctoral fellowship (University of Zurich).
- Full Postdoctoral fellowship for two years (2015-2017) granted by FAPESP (São Paulo research foundation).
- Italian Psychophysiology Association: Young Researchers’ Award 2012-best scientific contribution presented at XX SIPF national congress November 22-24, Venice, Italy