Saturday, May 17, 2025, 12:45 – 2:30 pm EDT, Palm/Sabal/Sawgrass
Organizers: Anya Hurlbert (Newcastle University); Shin’ya Nishida (Kyoto University); Rich Krauzlis (Salk Institute); Jes Parker (University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
Moderator: Anya Hurlbert (Newcastle University)
Speakers: Yuko Yotsumoto (University of Tokyo); Reuben Rideaux (University of Sydney); Rosa Lafer-Sousa (University of Wisconsin-Madison); Jenny Bosten (University of Sussex)
This workshop looks at how vision science is done across cultures and countries, recognising and celebrating the fact that VSS is an international community. We aim to explore differences in barriers to collaboration and success, and consider the variety of directives, initiatives and biases that influence the practice of science across different institutions. The discussion will be led by speakers from around the world, including Yuko Yotsumoto from the University of Tokyo, Reuben Rideaux from the University of Sydney, Rosa Lafer-Sousa from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Jenny Bosten from the University of Sussex.
All attendees are warmly invited. We want to hear your views on how differences between individual backgrounds, cultures, and countries influence the practice and profile of science, and how we can collectively make a stronger, more cohesive and impactful community.
Refreshments and light lunch will be available.
Yoko Yotsumoto, PhD
University of Tokyo, Japan
Yuko Yotsumoto is a Professor in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo and a Director of the UTokyo Institute for Diversity and Adaptation of Human Mind. She received her B.S. and M.S. from the University of Tokyo and earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from Brandeis University in 2005. Following her Ph.D., she conducted postdoctoral research at Boston University and Massachusetts General Hospital before returning to Japan to establish her lab. Her research investigates time and timing perception across timescales from milliseconds to minutes, using psychophysics, neural measurements, and computational modeling. She actively encourages her students to pursue international careers, and many graduates from her lab have gone on to conduct academic research around the world.
Reuben Rideaux, PhD
University of Sydney, Australia
Reuben Rideaux is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney, and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the University of Queensland’s Brain Institute. Prior to this, he was a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Cambridge and a PhD student at the Australian National University. He combines computational modelling, brain imaging, and psychophysics to study perception and cognition. He has a particular interest in developing new methods for understanding brain function and dysfunction, such as bio-inspired artificial intelligence systems, high resolution functional MR spectroscopy, and neural decoding.
Rosa Lafer-Sousa, PhD
University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Rosa Lafer-Sousa received her B.A. in Neuroscience from Wellesley College in 2009, and her Ph.D. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT under the supervision of Nancy Kanwisher. Her postbaccalaureate and doctoral work with Bevil Conway and Nancy Kanwisher aimed to shed light on the functional architecture of the primate visual system and establish links between neural activity, perception, and behavior, with a focus on color as a model system. Rosa is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at NIMH in the Laboratory of Neuropsychology working with, Dr. Arash Afraz in the Unit on Neurons, Circuits, and Behavior, where she investigates the causal role of mid and high-level visual regions in perception and behavior using optogenetics and electrophysiology in macaques. She will soon join the Department of Psychology at University of Wisconsin-Madison as an Assistant Professor.
Jenny Bosten, PhD
University of Sussex, UK
Jenny Bosten is Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex, specialising in colour vision and individual differences, using neuroimaging, psychophysics and statistical modelling. Her PhD research was with Professor John Mollon in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge on the influence of spatial context on visual perception. She worked as a Research Fellow in Neuroscience at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (2008-2010 and 2012-2014) on the genetics of individual variation in visual traits and as a post-doctoral researcher at UC San Diego in the lab of Professor Donald MacLeod (2010-2012), where she used psychophysics to investigate colour perception and visual adaptation. She holds major funding from the EU and is highly active in the UK and international colour vision societies.
Anya Hurlbert, MD, PhD
Newcastle University, UK
Anya Hurlbert is a VSS Board member, and Professor of Visual Neuroscience at Newcastle University, where she co-founded the former Institute of Neuroscience and now steers the Centre for Transformative Neuroscience. From Texas originally, with Latvian heritage, she holds degrees from US (Princeton, MIT and Harvard) and UK (Cambridge) institutions, in physics, physiology, brain and cognitive sciences, and medicine. Her research interests include colour perception and its role in cognition and behaviour, with applications in imaging, lighting, and visual art, and the use of AI in ophthalmology. Through her work as Dean of Advancement at Newcastle University and in other roles she supports and promotes opportunities in science and education for students, early career researchers and the public, especially those from underserved backgrounds.