Welcome to the 25th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society!
What a year we have had already! These are challenging times that require an extra measure of devotion and care for our field, our colleagues, and this amazing Society that is our scientific home. We are a truly international society: while 61% of our membership comes from the US, 17% is from Europe and the UK, 10% from Canada, 9% from Asia and 3% from the rest of the world. Vision science is not defined by geographic or political boundaries. This year, and in years to come, if our field is to thrive, it needs to continue this tradition, and each one of us has a part to play in ensuring we succeed.
With these sentiments in mind, we look forward to seeing you at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society. Your Board of Directors, expertly guided and assisted by Meeting Perfect’s Shauney and Jeff Wilson, Shawna Lampkin, and Lynn Flannery, have organized a wonderful program of nearly 1,200 talk and poster presentations, 7 symposia, 13 satellites, 4 workshops, social and outreach events, carefully packed into 5 full days, yet leaving time for all the informal networking and interactions that sparks new collaborations and friendships, and renew existing ones.
In planning this year’s meeting, the Board has tried to be especially responsive to the challenges faced by our members. We deeply regret that some of our colleagues are unable to attend VSS 2025, or may not feel safe doing so, and we have instituted additional, flexible presentation rules for VSS members facing barriers outside of their control.
Special shout-outs go to Board and society members Mike Landy (NYU) and Michael Grubb (Trinity College), who wrote and obtained conference grants. Added to sponsorship from Elsevier/Vision Research, eLife, the Yellott Family Endowment, and donations from individual VSS members, we were able to provide 2025 travel awards for the great majority of trainees who applied! In the same vein, VSS is pleased to provide – once again – Caregiver Grants to applicants to help cover childcare costs while attending the conference.
Also returning this year are two resources overseen by our Student and Postdoctoral Committee (SPC): our own Discord channels to facilitate sharing of information about the conference (accommodation, transportation, hot tips for presenting, quick announcements, dinners, childcare, etc.) and our Communities Table, which you will find near the registration desk. Members of the SPC will be available at the Table throughout the meeting to provide information about our VSS communities: the SPC, Females of Vision et al. (FoVea), the Spark Society, and Visibility, a gathering of LGBTQ+ Vision Scientists and Friends. The Communities Table will also provide information and resources for new participants at VSS, as well as about satellites, workshops and social events being organized to make VSS 2025 the most welcoming and inclusive meeting possible.
By popular demand, and with feedback from last year’s post-meeting survey, we have updated the Guidebook smartphone app for this year’s meeting. This will allow “on the go” access the meeting schedule, which – by the way – no longer includes Wednesday morning programming, again in response to requests from last year’s post-meeting survey.
Congratulations to this year’s VSS awards winners! The 2025 Elsevier/VSS Young Investigator Award is Leyla Isik. The Davida Teller Award goes to Jody Culham and the Ken Nakayama Medal for Excellence in Vision Science goes to J. Anthony Movshon. In celebration of our 25th Anniversary, VSS also decided to bestow four extra-ordinary awards: Hoover Chan, who sadly, passed away in late April, will posthumously receive the 25th Anniversary Lifetime Service Award. Tatiana Pasternak will be honored with the 25th Anniversary Lifetime Achievement Award. Ken Nakayama and Thomas Sanocki will each be recognized with the 25th Anniversary Founders Award. This is a truly extraordinary year, and it is only fitting that we celebrate the special contributions of key figures in our field at the Awards Session (Monday at 12:30 pm). At this ceremony, we will also remember those we have lost in the past year, including Hoover Chan, and our former VSS President Eileen Kowler, for whom a special, Memorial Symposium will be held on Friday at 5:15 pm.
The 2025 Keynote Lecture (Saturday at 7:30 pm) will be given by Dr. Anne Churchland from the Department of Neurobiology in the David Geffen School of Medicine (UCLA), who will share with us her inroads into the intersection of vision and movements in the mammalian brain.
At the Business Meeting (Tuesday at 12:15 pm), we will present VSS’ financial situation, how we have implemented suggestions from the last survey, and our plans for future VSS meetings, including feasibility of holding them at alternate locations within and outside the United States. We hope that you will consider attending, as your input is critical for the Board’s decision-making process.
As always, we would also like to thank our Sponsors and Exhibitors, our abstract reviewers and those taking part in the many committees that keep our unique conference running.
And just in case you worried that VSS might lose its verve for fun, this year sees a return of Demo Night starting at 7:00 pm on Monday, with amazing games and illusions that will stretch your imagination (and visual system’s abilities) to their limits. To cap off our 25th Anniversary meeting, on Tuesday night, for the first time without fear of having to wake up for an 8:00 am session the next day, the conference ends with Visibility, a gathering of LGBTQ+ Vision Scientists and Friends (thanks to Michael Grubb and Alex White!) at 8:30 pm, followed by a revamped Club Vision (thanks to Martin Rolfs and Alex White!), paralleled – for those who enjoy hearing their music over feeling it in their bones – by our newly created Chill Vision (courtesy of MiYoung Kwon!).
Finally, we thank ALL OF YOU for your passion and continued support. Let your words ring out, but let your actions speak even louder! See you at VSS 2025!
Krystel Huxlin
President, VSS Board of Directors, 2025