Winthrop Professor David Badcock

Winthrop Professor David Badcock is a recognised leader in behavioural and cognitive neuroscience, specialising in how people see and how visual performance can indicate changes in brain function. He is also Director of the Human Vision Laboratory at UWA.

Inspired through his undergraduate psychology training and his subsequent study as a Rhodes Scholar in Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, Winthrop Professor Badcock’s research focuses on basic visual processes and disorders of visual processing. His work aims to understand vision, to allow for optimal design of the environment and to create subtle tests to detect disorders.

Winthrop Professor Badcock and his team are investigating how normal vision determines the shape of objects, the motion properties of those objects, self-motion of the observer and the factors limiting optimal performance. In parallel they are investigating the changes in visual performance in people with migraines, glaucoma, autism and schizotypy.

External positions:

• Psychology Foundation of Australia – President
• National Committee for Brain and Mind Sciences (Australian Academy of Science) Chair
• Australasian Society for Experimental Psychology – Registered Public Officer and permanent committee member
• Scientific Advisory Committee of the Ralph and Patricia Sarich Neuroscience Research Institute (SNRI)
• Honorary Professor of Vision Science, The University of Nottingham

Qualifications:

• BA, BA (Hons), D.Phil