Melike Fourie

Dr. Melike Fourie has been fascinated with the brain from an early age, realising that this organ holds the key to our creativity, ambitions and dreams, but also our fears, inhibitions and prejudices. She holds an MSc in cognitive neuropsychology from University College London (2006), and a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Cape Town (2011). Her research interests fall within the domains of social and affective neuroscience, with a specific interest in how the cultural environment and (racial) group membership affect the processes that allow us to see others as human and to empathise with them. Melike is senior researcher leading the neuroscientific investigation of empathy in Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation at Stellenbosch University.