Gina Rippon, PhD

“Stereotypes could be straitjackening our flexible, plastic brains. So, yes, challenging them does matter.”

Gina Rippon is a world expert on brain-imaging techniques, and Professor of Cognitive Neuroimaging at the Aston Brain Centre, Aston University, Birmingham UK.

With a background in psychology and physiology, she uses state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques to investigate the links between individual differences in brain activity and individual differences in behaviour.In particular, she has conducted extensive research on the alleged differences between the psychology of males and females.

Her work in this area debunks the myth that there is some kind of intrinsic difference between male and female brains, and that this explains all kinds of gender gaps and gender inequalities – a myth she calls ‘the Brain Problem’. She shows that differences in performance between males and females are actually the result of social factors, and she demonstrates various psychological techniques that can rectify these culturally determined imbalances.