Henrik Formoe

Researcher in cognitive neuroscience and machine learning.

I'm particularly interested in vision, perception, memory, and decision-making — in sum, how we experience and process the world around us — and the disruption of these processes by conditions like stroke, dementia, and various mental illnesses.

I'm also passionate about improving research methods and scientific practices. Cutting-edge science demands robust methods, and robust methods enable cutting-edge science.

Across my studies in Japan, Australia, the US, and Norway, I keep coming back to the same question: how humans, animals, and machines extract signal from the world.

Research

• 2025–nowMultimodal Imaging Group · UiOPredictive models for neuroimaging. PI: Prof. Lars Westlye
• Simula Research LaboratoryBenchmarking quantum and classical ML · PI: Prof. Shaukat Ali
• 2025–2026Research Assistant · Oslo University HospitalBRAINMINT project (MRI, EEG, biological samples)
• 2025Cognitive Neurophysiology Group · UiOsEEG data analysis. PI: Prof. Jørgen Sugar

Education

• 2022–2027Cand.Psychol. (Clinical Psychology) · University of OsloThesis: Predicting cognitive and motor outcomes from post-stroke T1 MRI using multi-task learning and conditional SHAP for model explainability. Large-scale stroke cohort (Stroke ENIGMA), collaboration across UiO, UCLA (Prof. Steven Cramer), and USC (Stroke Recovery Working Group).
• Clinical practica · General adult psychiatry (current)Previously: geriatric psychiatry (Oslo University Hospital), municipal outreach services (Uteseksjonen), child & infant psychiatry (Nic Waal Institute)
• 2023–2024Exchange: UCSD (F24) · University of Melbourne (S24) · Akita International University (F23)
• 2025–2027B.Sc. Informatics · University of Oslo
• 2025B.Sc. Cognitive Psychology · University of Oslo
• 2023B.Sc. Art History & Visual Studies · University of Oslo

Grants & Awards

• 2026Neurohackademy Travel Award · University of Washington, Seattle
• Studentstipend · Norwegian Research Council (NFR)NOK 50,000 · Research grant for master's thesis in clinical psychology
• 2025Summer Research Fellowship · UiO:Life ScienceNOK 50,000 · sEEG & visual memory encoding
• Best Popular Science Poster (participants' vote) · UiO:Life Science Summer Research Conference

Projects

• 2026Open MRI Tools (maintainer)A community-driven directory of open-source MRI tools
• Nordic Biobank × NVIDIA Federated Learning Hackathon · Rigshospitalet, CopenhagenFederated meta-analysis of genotype–phenotype association reliability. Paper forthcoming.
• Neurohackademy 2026 · University of WashingtonPanMVPA group: reliability analysis of how shared and individual functional-connectivity patterns develop with more scan time in precision fMRI.NeuroQA group: an open educational resource on neuroimaging quality assurance: supported the team with infrastructure for the website.
• 2025Simula Summer School in Computational Physiology (SSCP) · Oslo & UCSDPaper: Hopfield vs. SDM in pattern completion · Springer 2026 (equal contribution)

Science Communication

• 2026Presentation · Nordic Biobank × NVIDIA Federated Learning Hackathon · Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen
• Presentation · Neurohackademy 2026 · University of WashingtonPanMVPA- and NeuroQA-group
• Lightning talk · Neurohackademy 2026openmritools.com & openimagingtools.com
• 2025Talk · SAP Next-GenCognition, perception and memory
• Poster · UiO:Life Science Conference"Theta signatures of memorable vs forgettable images"
• Science Stand · Technical Museum Oslo"How does our memory work?"
• Advisor's Day · University of Oslo"How can we get more men to study clinical psychology?"

Other

• 2015–nowFreelance Film ProductionTechnical and creative roles in the Norwegian film industry; underwater filming, water tech & safety diver. IMDb
• 2022–2023Chair, Program Committee for Psychology · University of Oslo