Dr Usman Afzali is the lead researcher (principal investigator) of the Muslim Diversity Study, currently working as a postdoctoral research fellow and lecturer in the School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing at the University of Canterbury (Christchurch, New Zealand).
In the multi-city longitudinal Muslim Diversity Study, his team and Usman concentrate on investigating the effects of religion on social attitudes, values, resilience, flourishing, meaning-making, overall well-being, and experiences of Muslims in New Zealand. In this capacity, he leads a team of 28 research assistants and numerous collaborators, fostering a collaborative and enriching research environment.
During PhD, he received training in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, with a primary emphasis on memory suppression and utilising brainwave (EEG/ERP) data to examine possession of criminal knowledge. Additionally, his research encompasses contemplative neuroscience, where I aim to explore neural correlates of contemplative practices.
He uses experimental (behavioural as well as neuroscientific) and observational research methods.
Since the end of 2022, he have been using GitHub with RStudio and Quarto to learn, produce, and share code. Occasionally, he uses Matlab and Python too.
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