Prof. Dr. Esther Aarts has a BSc and MSc degree in (neuro)biology. As a PhD student in cognitive neuroscience at the Radboud University (Nijmegen, The Netherlands), she studied the role of the anterior cingulate cortex in adjusting cognitive control. In her postdoctoral period, partly at UC Berkeley (US), she focused on the role of dopamine in motivational and cognitive control. Esther returned to the Netherlands in 2012, applying her knowledge of control processes in the brain to eating behaviour. She became Principal Investigator at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, heading the Food & Cognition research group at the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging. Her research focuses on neural mechanisms of eating behavior as well as how the foods we consume impact our brain functioning, using MRI. Her group is currently studying how the gut microbiome and immune system link to brain functioning in health and disease, and how diet and other lifestyle factors might impact human cognition and (eating) behaviour via these peripheral-central links.