Francesca Castaldo

PhD · Theoretical & Computational Neuroscience — Barcelona

I'm usually told my choices were thoughtful — but only years after I made them; and completely crazy and irrational at the moment I announce I intend to. I suppose an outsider's path only looks linear once no one still expects them to become an insider.

I've always felt like a free electron, not bound to any predefined structure — not even the one I'm imposing on myself right now. I rarely knew why I was choosing something, even when it looked like I did. I only knew the path to follow was the one I could see from within, by always looking toward the greater, toward the unknown.

The route — for every reason and none

BSc, Robotic Engineering
MSc, Biomedical Engineering
PhD, Theoretical & Computational Neuroscience

…and a fourth on the way — a PhD in Physics, on the algorithmic thermodynamics of agency.

What I'm after

what it means to be me, or you — us agents, and the non-us world
the oddness of feeling, trapped in a rigid body
collective, emergent phenomena in complex systems
the “unreachability” of ever fully understanding our own models
how agents compress information
the role of feeling in that compression
timescales
whether there is a place for unrepeatable experience — for irreversibility

Now

Co-founder & Director — Barcelona Computational Foundation (BCOM)

Dec 2025 – present Barcelona

Research Program Manager & Senior Researcher — Neuroelectrics Barcelona SLU

Oct 2023 – present Barcelona

Selected publications

Rosetta Stone of Neural Mass Models Castaldo, de Palma Aristides, Clusella, Garcia-Ojalvo, Ruffini — Physics Reports 1189, 2026.
Restoring Oscillatory Dynamics in Alzheimer's Disease: A Laminar Whole-Brain Model of Serotonergic Psychedelic Effects Gendra, Lopez-Solà, Castaldo et al. — Network Neuroscience, 2025 (in press).
Cross-Frequency Coupling as a Neural Substrate for Prediction Error Evaluation Ruffini, Lopez-Solà, Palma, Sanchez-Todo, Vohryzek, Castaldo, Friston — Preprint (bioRxiv), 2025.
Structured Dynamics in the Algorithmic Agent Ruffini, Castaldo, Vohryzek — Entropy 27(1), 90, 2025.
The Algorithmic Agent Perspective and Computational Neuropsychiatry: From Etiology to Advanced Therapy in Major Depressive Disorder Ruffini, Castaldo, Lopez-Solà, Sanchez-Todo, Vohryzek — Entropy 26(11), 953, 2024.
Multichannel tDCS with Advanced Targeting for Major Depressive Disorder: A Tele-Supervised At-Home Pilot Study Ruffini, Salvador, Castaldo et al. — Frontiers in Psychiatry 15, 1427365, 2024.
Multi-modal and Multi-model Interrogation of Large-Scale Functional Brain Networks Castaldo, Páscoa Dos Santos et al. — NeuroImage 277, 120236, 2023.
Dynamic Sensitivity Analysis: Defining Personalised Strategies to Drive Brain State Transitions via Whole-Brain Modelling Vohryzek, Cabral, Castaldo et al. — Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal 21, 335–345, 2022.
Metastable Oscillatory Modes Emerge from Synchronization in the Brain Spacetime Connectome Cabral, Castaldo et al. — Nature Communications Physics 5, 184, 2022.