ProfessorMac Shine

I am a Level 3 Supervisor in the Neuroscience Theme at the University of Sydney, with a strong commitment to training the next generation of systems neuroscientists. I was an inaugural creator of NEUR3006, the University's advanced undergraduate course in neuroimaging, and continue to lecture in the course, introducing students to the conceptual and technical foundations of functional MRI, brain connectivity analysis, and the broader systems neuroscience framework that motivates modern neuroimaging research. My goal in teaching is not simply to convey methods, but to cultivate the kind of mechanistic thinking that connects empirical observations to biological and computational theory — the same epistemological stance that drives research in my lab.

At the postgraduate level, I supervise a large and active cohort of PhD, Honours, and Masters students within the Faculty of Medicine and Health. Supervision in the Shine Lab is deliberately integrative: students are embedded in a collaborative environment that spans neuroimaging, computational modelling, and neurobiology, and are encouraged to develop both technical depth and theoretical breadth. I place particular emphasis on helping students identify the kinds of questions that are both scientifically important and tractable — a skill I consider as fundamental as any analytical technique.

I have a number of ongoing projects that would benefit from the involvement of motivated students at any level. These span questions in cognitive neuroscience, neuromodulation, computational brain modelling, and translational research in Parkinson's disease and dementia. If you are interested in joining the lab or discussing potential projects, please don't hesitate to get in touch.