PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Dominique Makowski

Dominique Makowski is a psychologist at the University of Sussex whose research examines how people perceive reality, from COVID-19 fake news to AI-generated faces and affective responses to AI. After training in clinical neuropsychology in France, he earned a psychology PhD at the University of Paris on fictional reappraisal and created the NeuroKit physiological-signal toolbox in 2017. He went on to publish the psycho R package in 2018, initiate the easystats R collection with Daniel Lüdecke in 2019, release NeuroKit2 in 2021, and win Sussex's 2024 Openness in Research Award. At Sussex, he leads the Reality Bending Lab, where his 2025 work showed that attractive faces are less likely to be judged as artificially generated.

Born
1991

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. By 2017

    A Paris PhD and NeuroKit

    After training as a clinical neuropsychologist in France, he earns a psychology PhD at the University of Paris on the neurocognitive underpinnings of emotion regulation through fictional reappraisal. As a PhD side project in 2017, he creates the first version of the NeuroKit physiological-signal toolbox.

  2. February 2018

    The psycho R package

    In February 2018, he publishes a paper in the Journal of Open Source Software presenting psycho, an R package for psychological science. The package converts the output of common statistical models into APA-formatted sentences for manuscripts.

  3. 2019

    Starting the easystats project

    In 2019, Makowski contacts software developer Daniel Lüdecke to collaborate on easystats, a collection of R packages that facilitates data science for users without a statistical or computer science background.

  4. 2020

    COVID-19 fake news and a prize

    In September 2020, he coauthors a Clinical Brain Lab paper with Lau Zen Juen, Tam Pham, and Annabel Chen on psychological determinants of susceptibility to COVID-19 fake news. In November 2020, his 2019 paper on the phenomenal, bodily, and brain correlates of fictional reappraisal wins a Psychonomic Society Best Article Award carrying a $1,000 prize.

  5. 2021

    The NeuroKit2 Python toolbox

    In 2021, he publishes NeuroKit2, a Python toolbox for neurophysiological signal processing that takes ECG, PPG, EDA, EMG, RSP, and EEG recordings from raw data to cleaned features through one interface.

  6. 2023–2024

    SIPS and Sussex openness awards

    The easystats collection of R packages wins a Mission Award from the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS) in 2023, and NeuroKit receives a SIPS Commendation Award in 2024. In June 2024, he wins the Openness in Research Award, carrying a £1,000 prize, at the University of Sussex's Research Culture Awards.

  7. 2025

    Judging AI-generated faces

    In 2025, his study finds that attractive faces are less likely to be judged as artificially generated. In July 2025, he gives a seminar at the Singapore University of Technology and Design on the anti-AI bias and its impact on emotions, perceived attractiveness, and sexual arousal.

  8. As of October 2026

    Leading the Reality Bending Lab

    He is an assistant professor at the University of Sussex, where he leads the Reality Bending Lab to study the perception and experience of reality. In June 2026, he and Marco Sperduti of the University of Rome Tor Vergata organize the symposium Artificial Emotion: Affective Responses and Interaction with Artificial Intelligence at ESCAN 2026.

Career

  1. NowUniversity of SussexAssistant Professor of Psychology
  2. 2019–2020Nanyang Technological UniversityResearch Fellow

Education

  1. 2017University of ParisPhD in Psychology

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Sussex. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Sussex. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of Sussex. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Sussex. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Dominique Makowski yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. HASS Human-Centred AI Seminar - Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) sutd.edu.sg. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. NeuroKit - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Journal of Open Source Software: The psycho Package: an Efficient and Publishing-Oriented Workflow for Psychological Science joss.theoj.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. The psycho Package: an Efficient and Publishing-Oriented Workflow for Psychological Science — Reality Bending Lab realitybendinglab.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Easystats - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Psychological Determinants of the Susceptibility to Fake News amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic | The Clinical Brain Lab clinicalbrain.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. Best Article Award, Psychonomic Society — Reality Bending Lab realitybendinglab.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. NeuroKit2: A Python toolbox for neurophysiological signal processing — Reality Bending Lab realitybendinglab.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. easystats wins a SIPS Mission Award — Reality Bending Lab realitybendinglab.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  10. Openness in Research Award, Sussex Research Culture Awards — Reality Bending Lab realitybendinglab.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  11. Too beautiful to be fake: Attractive faces are less likely to be judged as artificially generated — Reality Bending Lab realitybendinglab.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  12. Dominique Makowski — Reality Bending Lab realitybendinglab.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  13. Artificial Emotion: Our Symposium at ESCAN 2026 — Reality Bending Lab realitybendinglab.com. Checked 22 October 2026.