Human visual perception scientist
Anya Christine Hurlbert, also known as Viscountess Ridley (born April 1958), is a British academic who is Professor of Visual Neuroscience and Dean of Advancement at Newcastle University. Her research involves the study of the interaction between colour and light, and how these are interpreted by the human brain.
Early life and education.
Daughter of Dr Robert Boston Hurlbert (1926–2011), chief of the Nucleotide Metabolism section at the U.T. MD Anderson Hospital at Houston, Texas from 1962 to 1985, and Janina (née Patmalnieks), a clinical chemist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Houston, Hurlbert was interested in science from a young age and was supported by her family. As a teenager she was interested in both mathematics and the brain.
She studied at Princeton University, graduating in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in physics. In 1982 she was awarded a Marshall scholarship and took a Part III Diploma in Theoretical Physics followed by an MA in physiology at Cambridge University. She was awarded a doctorate from MIT in 1989 in the area of brain and cognitive sciences and the following year gained an MD from Harvard Medical School. She then moved back to the UK and held a Wellcome Trust Vision Research Fellowship at Oxford University working with Andrew Parker.
Career.
Hurlbert's educational background within physics, medicine and neuroscience led to her appointment as a lecturer at Newcastle University in 1991, later becoming Professor of Visual Neuroscience. In 2003 Hurlbert was acting Head of the Division of Psychology, Brain and Behaviour (Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering) and then interim Head in 2007. She was involved in development of the new School of Psychology in the university's Faculty of Medical Sciences.
In 2004 she was co-founder with Colin Ingram of the Institute of Neuroscience and its co-director until 2014. In 2012 she was involved in founding the Centre for Translational Systems Neuroscience at the university, part-funded by the Wellcome Trust. Among her external roles is as a member of Advisory Council of the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University.
The focus of her research is on human visual perception, specifically how brains create and stabilise colour so that people see colours, often in different ways. This makes use of physics, psychology and neurobiology and she has developed technologies and algorithms to investigate colour constancy and perception. Her research has been applied in several very different areas including some medical conditions, artwork and exhibitions and also quality control of food. Her research group has also studied differing colour preferences among young men and women.
Hurlbert and colleagues participated in discussion about the science behind the 2015 social media event #the dress where people disagreed on whether it was black and royal blue, or white and gold in colour. The Newcastle scientists considered it from the aspect of individual perception of colour constancy.
In July 2022 Hurlbert was appointed as a trustee of the Science Museum Group for a period of 4 years from 1 November 2022 until 31 October 2026.
Awards and honours.
Hurlbert is a member of the Scientific Consultative Group, National Gallery, London and was the scientist trustee of the gallery from 2010 until 2018.
She is a member of the Optoelectronics Committee of the Rank Prize Funds.
She is a member of the advisory board of "Current Biology", the editorial board of "Journal of Vision", and the board of directors of the Vision Sciences Society.
She is a member of the advisory board to the GestaltReVision Methusalem Programme, held by Johan Wagemans at KU Leuven in Belgium.
In 2020 she was the guest in an episode of "The Life Scientific" on BBC Radio 4.
Personal life.
Hurlbert is married to Matt Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley, and they have a son and a daughter.
Selected publications.
Papers, Commentaries, and Articles
Book Chapters
References.
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