Dr. Kalina Christoff Hadjiilieva
Professor of Psychology, University of British Columbia
Dr. Christoff Hadjiilieva is a cognitive neuroscientist whose research lab investigates the full spectrum of human thought, from spontaneous mind-wandering and daydreaming to goal-directed reasoning, creativity, introspection, meditation, and their neural bases. Using fMRI, behavioural methods, and theoretical modelling, they develop influential accounts of how large-scale brain networks, including the default, salience, and frontoparietal control systems, interact to shape cognition. Their work on spontaneous thought, boredom, dreams, and psychedelics is widely cited, and they have published extensively in leading journals. Dr. Christoff Hadjiilieva has served as Interim Director of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies and received major distinctions, including the PWIAS Distinguished Scholar in Residence Award and funding from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.
