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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 470 9337
Email
dirk.deridder@otago.ac.nz
Position
Professor of Neurosurgery
Department
Department of Surgery and Critical Care (Dunedin)
Qualifications
MD PhD
Research summary
Functional imaging guided invasive and non-invasive neuromodulation of phantom percepts and psychological disorders
Clinical

Skull base surgery (vestibular schwannomas, pituitary surgery), microvascular decompression surgery

Research

My research is centered on a Darwinian predictive brain model with Bayesian updating to adapt to an ever changing environment. This model is the basis to understand common pathophysiological mechanisms clustering groups of pathologies, such as thalamocortical dysrhythmias (pain, tinnitus, epilepsy, depression, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia) or obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder (addiction, OCD, eating disorders,...).

This pathophysiological clustering permits to translate knowledge obtained from one disease to other diseases with similar underlying mechanisms, and to develop novel neuromodulation treatments based on it.

Our clinical neuromodulation research is based on the following concept:

  1. All aspects of human normal and pathological behaviour are based on brain activity and connectivity
  2. This activity and connectivity can be visualised by functional imaging techniques (PET, fMRI, EEG, MEG)
  3. Non-invasive neuromodulation techniques (TMS, tDCS, tRNS, tACS, EEGfeedback) can be used to modulate the abnormal activity and connectivity
  4. If this exerts a clinical benefit a permanent electrode can be implanted on the areas that yield clinical benefit with non-invasive techniques.

A third line of scientific interests focuses on the neural correlates of the 'self', how the self is generated in the brain (out of body experiences), its relation to the environment (perception and phantom perception), to others (morality and its pathologies) and god (religion).

Worldwide top ranking in Tinnitus expertise

Professor De Ridder has been ranked top-rated expert worldwide for expertise in Tinnitus as reported in Expertscape Inc:
expertscape.com website

Additional details

Most of my research starts with a philosophical account, predominantly based on Aristotelian thinking.

Publications

Vanneste, S., De Ridder, D., Gallus, S., Husain, F. T., Kleinjung, T., Langguth, B., … Elgoyhen, A. B. (2026). Tinnitus. Nature Reviews Disease Primers, 12(1), 29. doi: 10.1038/s41572-026-00702-0 Journal - Research Article

Falowski, S., & DeRidder, D. (2026). BurstDR and multi-area Burst DR spinal cord stimulation for the treatment of chronic pain: “Less is more”. Pain Management. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/17581869.2026.2663948 Journal - Research Other

Zheng, Y., Parra, R. S., Park, J., Tan, H. T., Reshey, B., Smith, P. F., De Ridder, D., & Reynolds, J. N. J. (2026). Deep brain reconditioning stimulation suppresses tinnitus in a rat model. Scientific Reports. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-49513-z Journal - Research Article

Bialostocki, L., Adhia, D. B., De Ridder, D., Mani, R., & Mathew, J. (2026, March). Brain source localisation following EEG-neurofeedback in individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain exhibiting neuropathic pain-like features. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Pain Society (NZPS) Annual Scientific Meeting, Christchurch, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Yue, Y., Manning, P., De Ridder, D., Hall, M., Adhia, D. B., Ross, S., Alencar da Costa, D., & Deng, J. D. (2026). Machine learning-based identification of abnormal functional connectivity in obesity across different metabolic states. Communications Medicine, 6, 241. doi: 10.1038/s43856-026-01518-5 Journal - Research Article

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