Dr Margarita Zachariou is an Associate Scientist at the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics. She holds a BSc in Applied Mathematics from the University of Cyprus and a PhD in Mathematics (focus in Mathematical Neuroscience) from the University of Nottingham. Her research lies in the computational biology area with a strong emphasis on computational neuroscience. In particular, she focuses on developing computational models to integrate information from both genetic and neural data to investigate the link between genes and behaviour, the brain and neurological diseases. She is currently a member of the management committee of the COST action CA18106 “The neural architecture of consciousness”, focusing on the role of cortical neural architecture in consciousness. She is also committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM and has been involved in several initiatives for gender equity in science and related networks and committees. She has been recently appointed as a Cyprus coordinator for the European Women in Mathematics and as the Cyprus ambassador for the international Committee for Women in Mathematics in Cyprus.