{"id":13461,"date":"2025-12-21T19:27:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T19:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/?p=13461"},"modified":"2025-12-21T19:27:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T19:27:39","slug":"%f0%9f%8e%93-xiyue-zhangs-thesis-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/%f0%9f%8e%93-xiyue-zhangs-thesis-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udf93 Xiyue Zhang\u2019s Thesis Defense"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"13461\" class=\"elementor elementor-13461\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-73419f21 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"73419f21\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-45cc7273\" data-id=\"45cc7273\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3caa3655 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3caa3655\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<table><tbody><tr><td width=\"478\"><p>On June 18, Xiyue Zhang, a neuroscience PhD student in the lab, reached a major milestone in her doctoral journey: the thesis defense!<\/p><p>Entitled <em>\u201cThe Effect of Musical Activities on Neurocognitive Aging: Evidence from Behavioural and Brain-Imaging Data\u201d<\/em>, her thesis, submitted in March 2025 for evaluation, offers an innovative exploration of the influence of amateur musical activities on resting-state brain functional connectivity and its links to neurocognitive aging.<\/p><p>Friends, colleagues, and lab members gathered to attend this significant event. The thesis defense is indeed the final step in a doctoral journey that typically spans 3 to 6 years.<\/p><p>Following the positive evaluation of her manuscript by a jury of four professors-researchers, Xiyue presented her work in a clear, rigorous, and accessible manner, demonstrating both the scientific relevance of her findings and her deep mastery of the subject. For nearly two hours, she answered the jury\u2019s questions with precision. The committee was composed of:<\/p><ul><li>Pascale Tremblay, head of the lab and Xiyue\u2019s thesis supervisor<\/li><li>Philippe Albouy, professor at the School of Psychology, Universit\u00e9 Laval<\/li><li>Simon Duchesne, professor in the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Universit\u00e9 Laval<\/li><li>Simona Maria Brambati, professor in the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al<\/li><\/ul><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"819\" class=\"wp-image-12808\" src=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/visuelsoutenance-1024x819.png\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/visuelsoutenance-1024x819.png 1024w, https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/visuelsoutenance-300x240.png 300w, https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/visuelsoutenance-768x614.png 768w, https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/visuelsoutenance-1536x1229.png 1536w, https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/visuelsoutenance-540x432.png 540w, https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/visuelsoutenance-860x688.png 860w, https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/visuelsoutenance-1170x936.png 1170w, https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/visuelsoutenance.png 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><p>The defense concluded with rich and stimulating exchanges with the jury, followed by the announcement of her success after the jury\u2019s closed-door deliberation. The entire team then gathered around a cake to celebrate this decisive milestone.<\/p><p>In the following weeks, Xiyue made the corrections requested by the jury and submitted the final version of her thesis on August 12.<\/p><p>\ud83d\udc4f Congratulations to <strong>Dr. Xiyue Zhang<\/strong> for all the work accomplished throughout her PhD! The entire lab team is extremely proud of you and wishes you success and happiness for the future.<\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/><p><strong>Suggested readings :<\/strong><\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/piccolo-project-in-pictures-part-four-impacts-on-brain-networks\/\">PICCOLO Project in Pictures. Part Four: Impacts on Brain Networks<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/1st-mri-exam-at-the-new-platform-of-the-cervo-brain-research-centre\/\">1st MRI exam at the new platform of the CERVO Brain Research Centre\u00a0\ud83e\udd17<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/new-scientific-article-on-the-impact-of-singing-onbrain-networks\/\">New\u00a0Scientific\u00a0Article on\u00a0the Impact of Singing on Brain\u00a0Networks<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/new-scientific-article-on-the-links-between-musical-activity-practice-and-executive-functions\/\">New Scientific Article on the Links Between Musical Activity Practice and Executive Functions<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/new-scientific-article-about-the-impact-of-singing-on-articulation\/\">New scientific article about the impact of singing on articulation<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/la-pratique-musicale-peut-elle-ameliorer-lecoute-de-conversations-dans-le-bruit\/\">Can musical practice improve listening to conversations in noise?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/pascale-presents-our-work-at-the-neurosciences-and-music-viii-congress-in-helsinki-finland\/\">Pascale presents our work at the \u201cNeurosciences and Music VIII\u201d congress in Helsinki<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/participation-in-the-annual-meeting-of-the-organization-for-human-brain-mapping-ohbm\/\">Participation in the annual meeting of\u00a0the\u00a0Organization for Human Brain Mapping\u00a0(OHBM)<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/alexandres-study-presented-at-the-scientific-day-of-the-quebec-bio-imaging-network-qbin\/\">Alexandre&#8217;s study presented at the Scientific Day of the Quebec Bio-Imaging Network (QBIN)<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/2023-in-review\/\">2023 in review<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/thesis-presentation-of-valerie\/\">Thesis presentation of Val\u00e9rie<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/scientific-article-on-the-benefits-of-choral-singing\/\">Scientific Article on the Benefits of Choral Singing<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/lab-paper-on-aging-and-singing\/\">Lab paper on aging and singing!\u00a0<\/a><\/li><\/ul><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On June 18, Xiyue Zhang, a neuroscience PhD student in the lab, reached a major milestone in her doctoral journey: the thesis defense!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":12806,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[301,302],"tags":[652,606,515,654],"ppma_author":[685,54],"class_list":["post-13461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-research-works","category-lab-members","tag-event","tag-phd","tag-project","tag-thesis"],"authors":[{"term_id":685,"user_id":10,"is_guest":0,"slug":null,"display_name":"Charlie Bri\u00e8re","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20b0bae3cdaa008f41d8a904966bb9c7212829df322200380cb0ce9f7c2c6a04?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""},{"term_id":54,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"admin-pascale","display_name":"Pascale Tremblay","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ea9e5826afc1fd507cc7b89eaca37953ea310ad30088c3920137ab8e86846244?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Tremblay","first_name":"Pascale","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13461"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13484,"href":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13461\/revisions\/13484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13461"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=13461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}