About Us
The Sapien Labs Center for Human Brain and Mind is affiliated with KREA University and is housed at the IFMR Society, the parent body of KREA.
is motivated by
Our mission
The curiosity of us all to understand ourselves and our similarities and differences.
An imperative to understand the impact and consequences of our changing environment and technology on the dynamical function of the human brain, particularly in the context of rising mental health concerns and growing inequality.
A belief that the understanding of the brain and mind belongs to us all and that globally inclusive participation is essential.
Meet The Team
-
Tara Thiagarajan, Ph.D.
Founder and Chief Scientist
Tara founded Sapien Labs as a way to bring together diverse disciplines and domains to build deep,..
-
Dr. Shailender Swaminathan
Director, Sapien Labs Centre for Human Brain and Mind at Krea University
Dr. Shailender Swaminathan is the Director of the Sapien Labs Centre for Human Brain and Mind…
-
Dhanya Parameshwaran, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
Dhanya’s combined interest in solving socioeconomic challenges and understanding…
-
Narayan Subramaniyam, Ph.D.
Research Affiliate
Narayan’s focus at Sapien Labs is on developing novel analytical approaches to the EEG signal…
-
Swaeta Singha-Roy
Program Manager, Sapien Labs Centre for Human Brain and Mind at Krea University
Swaeta Singha Roy is Program Manager of the Sapien Labs Centre for Human Brain and Mind…
-
Jennifer Newson, Ph.D.
Advisor
Jennifer came to Sapien Labs out of a curiosity for the workings of the human mind and a desire…
-
Team Tamil Nadu
Field Data Collection Team
Anand A., Arunkumar P., Porchelvi R., Vinitha D
-
Team Delhi/NCR
Field Data Collection Team
Prahalad S., NeeluK., Pushpakala S., Poonam P., Sonam P., Dheeraj K.
Our Founding Story
Sapien Labs was born out of a weekend experiment with shocking results.
In 2014 our founder Dr. Tara Thiagarajan, a PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford, was running a microfinance company called Madura that was working across 25,000 villages and small towns in India. Madura had built a research group that was working to understand drivers of economic outcomes in impoverished communities. A large field team gathered data on ecosystem and individual level variables to identify those that predicted the economic success of both individuals and entire villages.
Over a thousand different variables were sampled across tens of thousands of people, including cognitive metrics. In this process they encountered many unexpected and curious cognitive dimensions and outcomes. The obvious question was – what was going on in their brains?