Professor Mark Williams

Mark is an Internationally recognised Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience who has worked at top Universities in Australia and overseas including MIT in the USA.

He has been published in top tier international academic journals and been widely featured in the media including the ABC, SkyNews, SBS, The Guardian, New York Times, The Economist and the New Scientist.

Not a typical ‘academic’, Mark comes from a disjointed family background. He hated school and experienced first-hand the challenges of getting ahead in a small town in Victoria. To describe these years as ‘colourful’ is an understatement.

Aged 25, something changed. Mark returned to learning, completed his HSC and began what became a rapid rise to academic achievement, including being awarded both the CJ Martin and the Queen Elisabeth II Fellowships. He became fascinated with how we interact, learn and think. Mark went on to study brain plasticity, attention disorders, autism, prosopagnosia (face blindness), dementia and eating disorders. He has been at the cutting edge of developing computational brain imaging analysis and the adoption of new technologies like virtual reality in research.

He designed and convenes a very successful 1st Year Neuroscience course at University with more than 800 students and works with schools on improving teaching methods, learning outcomes, and student welbeing. His focus is on scientifically proven methods of learning and teaching rather than trends and popular opinions