Current roles and responsibilities

• 2023-present: Post-doctoral Research Associate in the CNNP lab, School of Computing, Newcastle University.

Past roles and responsibilities

• 2022-2023: Post-doctoral Research Associate, National Institute of Health and Social Care Research Innovation Observatory, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University.

• 2020-2023: Post-doctoral Research Associate, Populational Health Sciences Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University.

• 2013-2019: PhD Student, Interdisciplinary Computing and Complex BioSystems Group, Newcastle University.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computational Neuroscience, Newcastle University, 2020.

• MRes Biosciences, Newcastle University, 2013.

• BSc Computer Science, University of St Andrews, 2012.

Current research

My current research applies wearable sensor methodology and computational neuroscience to relate day-to-day physiological rhythms to health and disease.

Research Interests

• Computational Neuroscience

• Chronobiological Rhythms

• Measuring Physical Activity and Sleep in Early Life

• Data-driven Modelling of Health Behaviours

Thornton C, Lanyi K, Wilkins G, Potter R, Hunter E, Kolehmainen N, Pearson F Scoping the Priorities and Concerns of Parents: Infodemiology Study of Posts on Mumsnet and Reddit, J Med Internet Res 2023;25:e47849

Kolehmainen, N., Thornton, C., Craw, O., Pearce, M. S., Kudlek, L., Nazarpour, K., Cutler, L., van Sluijs, E., & Rapley, T. (2023). Physical activity in young children across developmental and health states: the ActiveCHILD study. EClinicalMedicine, 60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102008

Thornton CB, Kolehmainen N, Nazarpour K (2023) Using unsupervised machine learning to quantify physical activity from accelerometry in a diverse and rapidly changing population. PLOS Digital Health 2(4): e0000220. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000220

Thornton, C., Hutchings, F., & Kaiser, M. (2019). The virtual electrode recording tool for extracellular potentials (VERTEX) Version 2.0: Modelling in vitro electrical stimulation of brain tissue. Wellcome Open Research, 4. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15058.1

Email: chris.thornton@ncl.ac.uk

Address:

School of Computing

Urban Sciences Building

1 Science Square

Newcastle University

Newcastle upon Tyne

United Kingdom

NE5 5TG

Past teaching

2013-2019: Postgraduate Demonstrator, School of Computing, Newcastle University. 

Supervision

02/2024 –  08/2024 Lead-supervisor, William Milnes, MSc Bioinformatics, Measuring and modelling the association between biological rhythms and real-time assessment of mood in healthy adults.

09/2022 – 09/2024 Co-supervisor, Emily Hunter, NIHR Predoctoral Fellow, Newcastle University, Topic: Developing a mixed methods approach to measuring early-life health behaviours.

10/2022 –08/2023 Lead-supervisor, Ann Dinesh, MPH, Newcastle University, Topic: Exploring the ethics of mining social media for citizen insight.

09/2022 – 04/2023 Co-supervisor, Abi Collins, MSc Biomedical Sciences, Newcastle University, Topic: The Acceptability and Feasibility of Using the Bittium Faros 180 to Assess Cardiac Electrical Function in Children Aged 4-36 Months

01/2023 – 04/2023 Co-supervisor, Lucy Guariento, BSc Biomedical Sciences, Newcastle University, Topic: Remote sensing in young children

07/2022 – 03/2023 Co-supervisor, Mia Burgess, BSc Psychology, Newcastle University, Topic: Using Heart Rate, Interactive Styles and Observable Emotions to Learn About the Experiences of Young Children Participating in a Novel Wearable Research Study.

07/2022 – 03/2023 Co-supervisor, Emily Taylor, BSc Psychology, Newcastle University, Topic: Investigating the Acceptability of Technology that Measures Stress Responses in Young Children.

07/2021 – 03/2022 Co-supervisor, Abi Collins, BSc Biomedical Sciences, Newcastle University, Topic: Trajectories of Intense Physical Activity in Children With and Without Cardiovascular Impairments.

07/2021 – 03/2022 Co-supervisor, Lilly Sutton, BSc Biomedical Sciences, Newcastle University, Topic: The Effect of COVID-19 Lockdowns on the Physical Activity of Under 5s.

01/2019 – 05/2019 Co-supervisor, Owain Thomas, MSc Neuroinformatics, Newcastle University, Topic: Simulation of Neural Activity