PERSONAL INFORMATION
| Address | Hellbrunner Straße 34 5020 Salzburg Austria +43 (0) 662 – 8044 5143 pavlos.topalidis@plus.ac.at |
| Webpage | www.sleepscience.at |
| Nationality | Greek |
EDUCATION
| Since July 2025 | Research & Development, Medical Science Liaison in sleep². |
| April 2025 | Doctor of Natural Sciences (Dr.rer.nat.) in the field of Cognitive Neuroscience, awarded by the Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg. Doctorate thesis title: “Advancing the quantification of sleep and exploring its role in human cognition”. Supervisors: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Manuel Schabus & Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nathan Weisz. |
| Since February 2025 | Research Associate at Christian Doppler-Klinik – Universitätsklinikum der PMU, Department of Neurology, Sleep Laboratory. |
| October 2019-March 2025 | Student of the Doctoral College “Imaging the Mind” funded by the FWF Austrian Science Fund, University of Salzburg, Austria. |
| October 2019-March 2025 | Ph.D. candidate at the Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCNS) of the University of Salzburg, Austria, in the laboratory for „Sleep and Consciousness Research“. Supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Manuel Schabus. |
| October 2017 – September 2019 | M.Sc. Neuro-Cognitive Psychology, Elite Network of Bavaria Program, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Munich, Germany. Master thesis at Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry on „The relationship between objective sleep and activity measures and symptomatology in a sample of healthy controls and patients with mood and anxiety disorders“. Supervisors: Prof. Paul Sauseng & Dr. Victor Spoormaker. |
| October 2013 – June 2014 | B.Sc. Psychology, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany. Erasmus Scholarship in collaboration with University of Aberdeen, UK, Scotland. |
| September 2012 – June 2016 | B.Sc. (Hons, first class) Psychology, University of Aberdeen, UK. Bachelor thesis topic: „The Visual Influence of Ostracism“. Supervisors: Prof. Neil Macrae & Prof. Arash Sahraie. |
| 2008-2011 | 3rd High School of Katerini, Greece. |
RESEARCH & TEACHING EXPERIENCE
| May 2022 – October 2022 | Research Visit at Yale University, CT, USA. Research Topic: Evidence of hippocampal intracranial-electroencephalography engagement in memory recall and statistical learning of visuo-motor associations. Supervisor: Prof. Nicholas Turk-Browne. |
| October 2023 – June 2024 | Junior Lecturer at University of Salzburg, teaching about Human Cognition and Sleep, as well as Biological Psychology at Bachelor (BSc.) and Masters (MSc.) level. |
| August 2018 – May 2019 | Research Assistant at the faculty of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in collaboration with the German institute of Brain Stimulation (GCBS). Studied cognitive functions of depression and schizophrenia patients, using fMRI and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). Supervisors: Dr. Daniel Keeser & Prof. Frank Padberg. |
| November 2018- July 2019 | Research Assistant at the faculty of General & Experimental Psychology, at LMU. Studied the interplay of bottom-up and top-down processes in a visual search paradigm. Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Hermann Mueller & Dr. Marian Sauter. |
AWARDS & SCHOLARSHIPS
| October 2024 | FWF Science communication grant for “From Brain to Mind: a scientific endeavour of understanding the Mind by studying the brain” project, FWF funding (100.000,000€)-link. |
| September 2024 | Best Poster Award ESRS 2024 for basic human research, Sevilla, Spain: Implicit statistical learning in sleep: a full night E/MEG study using a grammar learning task. |
| September 2024 | Innovation Grant for wearable Optimisation Research (Nukkuaa GmbH -12.000€). FFG – The Austrian Research Promotion Agency. |
| February 2023 | Poster award at Sleep, Cognition and Consciousness Winter Symposium, Werfenweng, Austria. Poster title: Searching for predictive codes during sleep: Preliminary results of a full-night E/MEG study |
| November 2022 | Salzburg University research stay funding (1700€) at Yale University, USA. |
| October 2022 | Shortlisted for best poster award at the 26th European Sleep Research Society Conference, Athens, Greece. Poster Title: Decoding of auditory low-level stimulus properties and higher-order statistics in wakefulness and sleep |
| September 2021 | European Sleep Research Society (ESRS) 3rd Sleep School “Function of Sleep”, first price project presentation award in “Predictive Coding during Sleep”, Vrejus, France. press release |
| October 2013 | ERASMUS scholarship at Justus-Liebig-Universität, Gießen, Germany. |
INTERNSHIPS & TRAININGS
| May 2024 | Sleepstaging Workshop- Peter Anderer, The Siesta Group Schlafanalyse GmbH. |
| March 2023 | Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin e.V. |
| May 2022 | CITI Program: Good Clinical Practice (US FDA focus) – 48879523 – Under requirements set by Yale University. |
| May 2022 | CITI Program: Social-Behavioral-Educational program for Researchers – Basic/Refresher – Under requirements set by Yale University. |
| June 2015 | Trainee psychologist at the Mental Health Centre, Katerini, Greece. Supervisor: Ms Nota Voura, M.Sc. |
| November 2016- August 2017 | Psychologist & Mental Health counsellor at the Hellenic Military Force, Greece (Health Care division). |
PUBLICATIONS
| 2026 | Topalidis, P., Kogler, L., Mitterer, C., Hinterberger, A., Baron, S., Schabus, M., & Horst, R. Beyond the Hype? A Standardised Real-World Evaluation of Consumer Sleep Trackers (CST) in Extracting Sleep (submitted). |
| 2025 | Topalidis, P., Kogler, L., Mitterer, C., Hinterberger, A., Baron, S., Schabus, M., & Horst, R. Beyond the Hype? A Standardised Real-World Evaluation of Consumer Sleep Trackers (CST) in Extracting Sleep. |
| 2025 | Hinterberger, A., Eigl, E. S., Topalidis, P. I., & Schabus, M. (2025). The Effects of a CBT-I Based App-Program on Sleep Quality, Insomnia Severity, Psychological Strain and Quality of Life: A Pilot Study. Nature and Science of Sleep, 2369-2385 |
| 2025 | Kurapov, A., Blechert, J., Hinterberger, A., Topalidis, P., & Schabus, M. (2025). Non-guided, mobile, CBT-I-based sleep intervention in War-torn Ukraine: A feasibility study. PLoS One, 20(5), e0310070. |
| 2025 | Topalidis, P. I., Demarchi, G., Reisinger, L., Schubert, J., Ameen, M. S., Weisz, N., & Schabus, M. (2025). Selective preservation of prediction-related signals in human sleep. Current Biology, 35(9), 2195-2201 |
| 2024 | Hinterberger, A., Eigl, E. S., Schwemlein, R. N., Topalidis, P. I., & Schabus, M. (2024). Investigating the subjective and objective efficacy of a cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT‐I)‐based smartphone app on sleep: A randomised controlled trial. Journal of Sleep Research, 33(4), e14136. |
| 2023b | Topalidis, P. I., Baron, S., Heib, D. P., Eigl, E. S., Hinterberger, A., & Schabus, M. (2023). From Pulses to Sleep Stages: Towards Optimised Sleep Classification Using Heart-Rate Variability. Sensors. |
| 2023 | Eigl, E. S., Hauser, T., Topalidis, P. I., & Schabus, M. (2023). On the efficacy of a CBT-I-based online program for sleep problems: a randomized controlled trial. Clocks & Sleep, 5(4), 590-603. |
| 2023a | Topalidis, P., Heib, D. P., Baron, S., Eigl, E. S., Hinterberger, A., & Schabus, M. (2023). The Virtual Sleep Lab—A Novel Method for Accurate Four-Class Sleep Staging Using Heart-Rate Variability from Low-Cost Wearables. Sensors, 23(5), 2390. |
| 2021 | Topalidis, P., Florea, C., Eigl, E-S., M., Kurapov, A., Leon, C. A. B., & Schabus, M. (2021). Evaluation of a Low-Cost Commercial Actigraph and Its Potential Use in Detecting Cultural Variations in Physical Activity and Sleep. Sensors. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21113774  |
| 2021 | Florea, C., Topalidis, P., Hauser, T., Angerer, M., Kurapov, A., Leon, C. A. B., … & Schabus, M. (2021). Sleep during COVID-19 lockdown: A cross-cultural study investigating job system relevance. Biochemical Pharmacology, 114463. Video Abstract. |
| 2020 | Topalidis, P., Zinchenko, A., Gädeke, J. C., & Föcker, J. (2020). The role of spatial selective attention in the processing of affective prosodies in congenitally blind adults: An ERP study. Brain Research, 146819. |
| 2020 | Pöhlchen, D., Leuchs, L., Binder, F. P., Blaskovich, B., Nantawisarakul, T., Topalidis, P., … & Czisch, M. (2020). No robust differences in fear conditioning between patients with fear-related disorders and healthy controls. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 103610. |
| 2017 | Golubickis, M., Sahraie, A., Hunt, R., Visokomogilski, A., Topalidis, P., & Macrae, N. (2017). The visual influence of ostracism. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(2), 0182-0188. |
| 2015 | Macrae, N., Mitchell, P., Tait, A., McNamara, L., Golubickis, M., Topalidis, P., & Christian, M. (2015). Turning I into me: Imagining your future self. Consciousness and Cognition, 37, 207-213. |
CONFERENCES
| December 2025 | Invited Talk: “Beyond the Hype? Standardised Real-World Evaluation of 8 Consumer Sleep Trackers in more than 50 PSG nights”, (2025, 12) . “Beyond the Lab – The Potential and Applications of Consumer-Grade Wearables in Sleep Research” Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin e.V. (DGSM), Hannover, Germany. |
| September 2024 | Topalidis, P., Hinterberger, A., Eigl, E. S., & Schabus, M. (2024, September). Day-by-day changes in subjective and heart-rate-based sleep parameters over the course of a 6-week digital CBT-I program. In The 27th Conference of the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS) 2024, Sevilla, Spain. |
| September 2024 | Topalidis, P., Wislowska, M., Weisz, N., & Schabus, M. (2024, September). Implicit statistical learning in sleep: an overnight MEG/EEG study using a grammar learning auditory task. In The 27th Conference of the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS) 2024, Sevilla, Spain. |
| June 2024 | Topalidis, P. I., Reisinger, L., Shubert, J., Ameen, M. S., Weisz, N., & Schabus, M. (2024). Feature-specific anticipatory processing fades during human sleep, Salzburg Mind Brain Annual Meeting (SAMBA) |
| April 2024 | Topalidis, P., Eigl, E. S., Hinterberger, A., & Schabus, M. (2024, 06). The effects of a 6-week single-blind digital CBT-I program on daily subjective and objective sleep parameters. In 38th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) 2024 (SLEEP 2024). |
| December 2023 | Topalidis, I., P., Eigl, E., Hinterberger A., & Schabus, M. (2023,12). Preliminary results of a 6-week single-blind online CBT-I program on daily subjective and objective sleep parameters, Deutsche Gesellschaft fürSchlafforschung und Schlafmedizin e.V. (DGSM), Berlin, Germany. |
| October 2023 | Topalidis, P., Malgorzata, W., Weisz, N., Schabus, M. (2023,10). Neural signals of predictive codes in sleep: implicit grammar learning in a full night E/MEG study. World Sleep Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. |
| October 2023 | Topalidis, P., Heib, D., Baron, S., Eigl, E., Hinterberger, A., & Schabus, M (2023,10). From Pulses to Sleep Stages: using Heart-Rate Variability from Low-Cost Wearable Devices for Accurate four-class sleep stage classification. World Sleep Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. |
| July 2023 | Topalidis, P., Malgorzata, W., Weisz, N., Schabus, M. (2023,02). The brain implicitly distinguishes random from predictable syllables during an auditory statistical learning task. Does the same happen during sleep? Salzburg Mind-Brain Annual Meeting, Salzburg, Austria. |
| June 2023 | Topalidis, P., Heib, D., Baron, S., Eigl, E., Hinterberger, A., & Schabus, M (2023,06). The Virtual Sleep Lab: A Novel Method for Accurate Four-Class Sleep Staging Using Heart-Rate Variability from Low-Cost Wearables. ASRA conference (Österreichische Gesellschaft für Schlafmedizin und Schlafforschung), Linz, Austria. |
| February 2023 | Topalidis, P., Malgorzata, W., Weisz, N., Schabus, M. (2023,02). The brain distinguishes random from predictable syllables during implicit grammar learning. To what extent does An E/MEG study. Winter Symposium, Werfenweng, Austria |
| October 2022 | Topalidis, P., Reisinger, L., Schubert, J., Weisz, N., & Schabus, M. (2022, 10). Decoding of auditory low-level stimulus properties and higher-order statistics in wakefullness and sleep. 26th conference of the European Sleep Research Society, Athens, Greece |
| July 2022 | Topalidis, P., Reisinger, L, Schubert, J., Weisz, N., & Schabus, M. (2022, 03). Processing of random and predictable tone sequences in wakefulness and sleep. World Sleep Conference, Rome, Italy. |
| July 2022 | Topalidis, P., Reisinger, L., & Schabus, M. (2021, 07). Decoding of higher-order auditory sequence statistics during sleep: pilot results. Salzburg Annual Brain Meeting (SAMBA). Online event. |
| September 2020 | Topalidis, P., Ameen, M., Hauser, T., Heib, D., & Schabus, M. (2020, 07). Investigating top-down processing from wakefulness to sleep: behavioural results of a novel auditory paradigm in wakefulness. 25th conference of the European Sleep Research Society. Online Event. |
| November 2019 | Topalidis, P., Ameen, M., Hauser, T., Heib, D., & Schabus M. (2019,11) Generating predictions during sleep: Investigating top-down processing during sleep, Neuroscience Day, Salzburg, Austria. |
| April 2018 | Topalidis, P., Schenk, T., Röder, B., & Föcker, J. (2018, 05). Is the processing of affective prosody influenced by spatial attention in congenitally blind individuals? 4th Conference of Visual Search and Selective Attetnion (VSSA), Ammersee, Germany. |
METHODS & SOFTWARE SKILLS
| Data Acquisition | Encephalography (EEG); Polysomnography (PSG); Magnetoencephalography (MEG); Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI); Reaction times/Behavioural Data; Intracranial EEG; Actigraphy |
| Data Processing | Brainstorm (Beginner); EEGlab (Beginner); Fieldtrip (Advanced). |
| Data Analysis | Event-related Potentials (ERPs); Time-Frequency Analysis; Multilevel Pattern Analysis (MVPA); Data cleaning; Data manipulation; |
| Programming Languages | Matlab (Advanced); R (Advanced); Python (Beginner), SQL (Beginner) |
| Experimental Control | Psychotoolbox-Matlab (Beginner) |
| Scientific Reporting | RMarkdown; Reproducible science articles package. |
RESEARCH INTEREST
|