Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

(Last update: May 2026)

Parisa Sattar  is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Computational and Cognitive Neuroscience at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Cagliari, Italy, where she is affiliated with the Medical Devices and Signal Processing (MeDSP) Laboratory. She contributes to both research and teaching activities within biomedical engineering and neurophysiopathology programs. She obtained her PhD in Neurosciences from the University of Cagliari in 2025, supported by a fully funded national scholarship (PNRR). Her academic training includes an M.E. in Biomedical Engineering from NED University of Engineering and Technology and a B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan.

Her research focuses on electrophysiological signal processing, computational neuroscience, and biomedical data analysis. In particular:

• EEG and ECG signal analysis for cognitive and clinical neuroscience
• Heart rate variability (HRV) and QT variability (QTV) in neurological disorders
• Multimodal phenotyping of REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD)
• Brain–autonomic interactions and sleep physiology
• Computational modelling and statistical analysis of large-scale biomedical datasets
• Machine learning for disease classification and patient stratification

 

EDUCATION

2022–2025 PhD in Neurosciences, University of Cagliari, Italy
2015–2017 M.E. in Biomedical Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan
2011–2015 B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Feb 2025 – Present – Postdoctoral Research Fellow, MeDSP Lab, University of Cagliari, Italy
2022 – 2025 – PhD Researcher, MeDSP Lab, University of Cagliari, Italy
Mar 2024 – Aug 2024 – PhD Trainee, UMIT – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Austria
Jul 2023 – Dec 2023 – PhD Trainee, BSICoS Group, University of Zaragoza, Spain
Dec 2022 – Jun 2023 – PhD Trainee, Micromed, Treviso, Italy
Jun 2019 – Dec 2021 – Research Assistant, Neurocomputation Lab, NED University, Pakistan

 

 

TEACHING ACTIVITY

Teaching experience in Biosignal Processing and Advanced Biosignal Processing laboratory courses at the University of Cagliari.
Involved in supervision of PhD, Master’s, and undergraduate students, supporting experimental design, data analysis, and thesis development.

 

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Developer of the UNICA Sleep HRV Analysis Tool (UNICA-HRV), an open-source MATLAB-based graphical user interface for heart rate variability analysis during sleep, supporting standardized and reproducible research workflows.

 

AFFILIATIONS

Member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)
Member of the Italian National Group of Bioengineering (GNB)
Member of the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC)

 

HONORS AND AWARDS

Research Fellowship – Multimodal Phenotyping of Idiopathic REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, University of Cagliari
Fully funded PhD Scholarship (PNRR Programme), Italy
Co-author of World Bank–funded project on COVID-19 decision support systems
Recipient of Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme, Pakistan
Bronze Standard – International Award for Young People (Duke of Edinburgh Award)

 

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Biomedical signal processing, computational neuroscience, neuroengineering, electrophysiology, and medical data analysis.