Professor Janette Atkinson FBA

Summary

Janette Atkinson is a pioneer in research on human development of vision and visual cognition. Janette's PhD was awarded by Cambridge University. She was a Professor and Pro-Provost (International)) at UCL and is now a UCL Emeritus Professor and Visiting Professor in Oxford University. She founded the Visual Development Unit, an interdisciplinary team started in Cambridge, later in UCL and Oxford. Janette's collaborators range across Europe, Asia and USA (including Johns Hopkins, MIT, Cornell, Salk Institute, UCSD). Janette devised one of the first models of visual brain development, identifying markers in the first months of life for functioning visual cortex, underpinning pattern, motion, depth perception and visual attention. Her novel, child-friendly methods have enabled early identification of visual disorders in preterm-born infants and children and those with developmental disorders, including Williams Syndrome, Down Syndrome, and Autism. She identified 'dorsal stream vulnerability' - a cluster of associated deficits in motion perception, attention, spatial actions and numeracy skills, relating these to specific changes in brain development. Janette is a strong supporter of women's academic careers through extensive mentoring and Athena SWAN (first UCL Lead and National Steering Committee). She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Academia Europaea.