Rate My Professor Tim Silk

Professor Tim Silk serves as Professor of Psychology in the School of Psychology, Faculty of Health at Deakin University. A cognitive neuroscientist, he specializes in paediatric neurodevelopmental imaging to understand the brain-behaviour interface. Silk obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology with a focus on neuroimaging from Monash University, completing his degree from 2004 to 2007 while affiliated with the Howard Florey Institute. His career includes prior roles at Monash University and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. Currently based at Deakin's Melbourne Burwood Campus, he leads research within the Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development (SEED).

Silk's research focuses on brain imaging, neurodevelopment, ADHD, and neuroimaging methods. Key investigations explore developmental brain changes during puberty and psychopathology, functional and structural brain network development in children with ADHD, changes in MRI head motion across typical development and ADHD, sleep problems and mental health in ADHD, and sleep-like slow waves mediating attention difficulties in adult ADHD. Prominent publications include 'Brain imaging of the cortex in ADHD: A coordinated analysis of large-scale clinical and population-based samples' (2019, Hoogman et al.), 'A longitudinal analysis of puberty-related cortical gyrification' (2021, Vijayakumar et al.), 'Functional and structural brain network development in children with ADHD: a graph theoretical analysis' (2023, Soman et al.), 'Changes in MRI head motion across development: typical development and ADHD' (2024, Thomson et al.), and 'Pubertal timing mediates the association between threat adversity and psychopathology' (2024, Shaul et al.). His Google Scholar profile records over 8,148 citations. Silk has received funding from the NHMRC Career Development Award, an NHMRC Ideas Grant contributing to $1.5 million in 2025 for health research, and the Ian Scott PhD Scholarship in 2006 from Australian Rotary Health for brain function studies in ADHD. He supervises Masters by Research and PhD students, teaches in psychological research methods, and participates in ENIGMA-Puberty and ENIGMA-Neuroendocrinology working groups, fostering international collaborations.