Fran is an MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Lisbon, who graduated with an Excellent distinction. He went on to complete an apprenticeship in Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health (AIM), also graduating with an Excellent grade, and was awarded the British Association of Psychopharmacology Summer Internship in 2025. Following his apprenticeship, Fran took up a research assistant position at the Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health (AIM) Lab at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience (IoPPN).

At the AIM Lab, Fran focuses on the application of Explainable AI methodologies that integrate electronic health records with clinical and neuroimaging data to better understand the overlap between mood and psychotic disorders. His research is driven by a commitment to identifying and characterising transdiagnostic biosignatures of psychopathology that cut across traditional diagnostic boundaries, with the aim of supporting the creation of bio-informed therapeutic and care protocols.

In addition, Fran contributes to the conceptual and technical development of the Department of Psychosis Shared Database Initiative (DPSDI), an internal repository designed to provide a deep phenotyping resource of clinical datasets for advancing research into mental health disorders. This open-science initiative aims to promote data standardisation, accessibility, and reproducibility, facilitating collaborative, large-scale research efforts within the Department of Psychosis Studies.

Research Interests

• Transdiagnostic psychiatry
• Psychotic Disorders
• Explainable Artificial intelligence
• Normative Modeling
• Ageing

Key Publications

Peguinho-Sequeira, Francisco et al., Can generative adversarial networks and transfer learning be leveraged to work around general data protection regulations? Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine (MAGMA), Abstract No. 356. https ://doi.org/10.1007/s10334 024-01191-6