About

Dr. Joel Frohlich is an incoming junior group leader (February 2026) studying fetal neuroscience at the IDM/fMEG Center of the Helmholtz Center Munich at the University of Tübingen. Before moving to Germany, he studied consciousness in the laboratory of Dr. Martin Monti at UCLA. Joel received his PhD in neuroscience from UCLA in 2018 while working working in the laboratory of Dr. Shafali Jeste.

Joel's current research uses magnetoencephalography or MEG to study fetal and infant development. His latest findings in this area were recently published in Nature Mental Health (February 2024) and featured in a cover story for Der Spiegel (March 16 2024). Through a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant, he was awarded 1.5 million euros in 2025 to study fetal sensory-driven cognition with MEG as principal investigator of the FETAL-MIND project.

The path to scientific understanding is long and winding. Teaching others about science through writing is a great passion in Joel's life. Joel’s science writing for a general audience has appeared on the websites of publications such as The Atlantic, Psychology Today, Aeon, and Motherboard. From 2017 to 2019, he was Editor-in-Chief at the neuroscience education website Knowing Neurons. In 2016, Joel was jointly awarded the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Next Generation Award, which recognizes “outstanding contributions to public communication, outreach, and education about neuroscience,” for his contributions to Knowing Neurons.

Joel is passionate about using neuroscience to understand consciousness. Besides his academic position at the University of Tübingen, he also serves as a research consultant at the Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies in Santa Monica, California. Outside of academic research, his broader interests include photography, meditation, floating tanks, astronomy, and travel.