Basic Science of Pain in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Carole Torsney is a Reader at the University of Edinburgh and is based in the Institute for Neuroscience and Cardiovascular Research. She is a member of the Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain and the Simons Foundation Autism Rat Models Consortium. She received her PhD under the supervision of Professor Maria Fitzgerald at University College London. She then did postdoctoral training at Columbia University, New York, before establishing her lab at the University of Edinburgh. Her research investigates the nervous system processing of pain and touch, and how this can differ between the sexes. She is specifically interested in the plasticity that underlies chronic pain conditions and the altered pain and tactile reactivity that manifests in neurodevelopmental disorders.  

Dr Roche is an Associate Professor in Physiology and Co-Director of the Centre for Pain Research at the University of Galway, Ireland. Her research interests focus on enhancing understanding of the neurobiology and pathophysiology underlying pain, mood disorders, autism and their interactions. She has a particular interest sex differences and the role of the neuro-immune, endocannabinoid and opioid systems. Her research Her research has resulted in over 80 research manuscripts, reviews and book chapters and supported by EU, national and industry funding. Dr Roche is currently European Pain Federation EFIC council member and immediate past-president of the Irish Pain Society (2023-2025). Dr Roche has contributed to and lead on several international networks including as scientific coordinator for PAINDIFF and Enlight PainNet and as the Scientific Communications Coordinator for EU-SABV Cost Action. She is an Editorial Board member of several international scientific journals including Frontiers in Pain Research and Neuropharmacology.

David Finn is an Established Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Principal Investigator, and Founding Co-Director of the Centre for Pain Research at the University of Galway, Ireland. Professor Finn graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Biotechnology from the University of Galway and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Bristol, and he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nottingham.  His research focuses on the affective and cognitive dimensions of pain, stress-pain interactions, and neuroinflammatory processes, with an emphasis on the endogenous cannabinoid system. He is Past-President of the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) and of the Irish Pain Society. He has been a member of the Presidential Task Forces for Cannabis, Cannabinoids, and Chronic Pain of both the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) and the European Pain Federation (EFIC), and leader of the Basic Science Work Package for the IASP Task Force. He is a member of the EFIC Working Groups for Translational Pain Research and Pain Research Strategy, the IASP Task Force for Use of Animals in Pain Research, a member of the Scientific Programme Committees for the IASP 2026 and 2024 World Pain Congresses, NeuPSIG 2025, EFIC 2022, and a member of EFIC Council.   Professor Finn is a member of the Editorial Boards of multiple international scientific journals, including Pain, Journal of Psychopharmacology, Frontiers in Neuropharmacology, Frontiers in Pain Research, and the Scandinavian Journal of Pain. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed journal papers and book chapters and frequently lectures at international conferences.