Giorgia Rita Di Ruggiero

Giorgia Rita Di Ruggiero is from Apulia (Italy) and was born in 1998. She obtained her Bachelor's (2020) and Master's (2022) degrees in Bioengineering at the University of Pavia. During her Bachelor's thesis, she worked on ultrasound images focusing on comparing different beamforming algorithms.

For her Master’s thesis, she worked at the University Hospital of Zurich (USZ) with Prof. Dominik Straumann. Her work was mainly focused on understanding how unilateral vestibular patients perceive translations and rotations in space, simulating those movements using a flight simulator.

In June 2023 she joined the SMS lab as an external PhD student at the Neuroscience Graduate School (ZNZ). She is working in collaboration with the University Hospital of Zurich (USZ) - Neurology Departments with Prof. Straumann to explore the vestibular system's importance in movement control and spatial perception. Her research aims to uncover insights into the complexities of our body’s reflexes, studying a novel reflex connecting the vestibular system and the motion of the upper limbs.