Rate My Professor Kristen Pammer

Professor Kristen Pammer is a Conjoint Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where she serves as Head of the School of Psychology. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology and a Bachelor of Science with Honours from the University of Wollongong, as well as qualifications in science, psychology, and neuroanatomy from the University of Wollongong and the University of New South Wales. Her expertise lies in applied cognitive psychology, with a focus on visual attention processes in reading, dyslexia, and driving. Utilizing behavioural and brain imaging techniques such as magnetoencephalography (MEG), she has explored cortical frequency dynamics in cognition, posterior parietal cortex roles in spatial coding during reading, and visuo-spatial attention deficits as causal factors in dyslexia. Since 2010, her research has shifted to visual attention failures in driving, differences between expert and novice drivers, motorcycle detection, situational awareness, and human factors in autonomous vehicles. She has led major grants totaling over $5.6 million, including projects on road safety for motorcyclists and cyclists, human-machine interfaces in vehicles, indigenous literacy via virtual reality, and connecting humans with self-driving cars.

Professor Pammer's career includes extensive roles at the Australian National University, such as Lecturer (Levels A, B, and C from 1996 to 2010), Deputy Director of the Research School of Psychology, Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning, and University Education Scholar (2012-2013). She has been a Research Fellow at RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan (2017), Visiting Researcher at Helsinki University of Technology (2004-2005), and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Newcastle University, UK (2000-2003). Her awards include the 2017 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Indigenous Education (ANU), 2010 ANU Top Supervisor Award for postgraduate supervision, 2009 Australian Learning and Teaching Council Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, 2008 ANU Students’ Association Award for Excellence in Teaching, and Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (2013). Key publications feature 'Dyslexia: a deficit in visuo-spatial attention, not in phonological processing' (Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2010), 'Allocating Attention to Detect Motorcycles: The Role of Inattentional Blindness' (Human Factors, 2018), 'Humans vs. machines; motorcyclists and car drivers differ in their opinion and trust of self-drive vehicles' (Transportation Research Part F, 2023), and 'Supervising the self-driving car: Situation awareness and fatigue during highly automated driving' (Accident Analysis & Prevention, 2023). With an h-index of 23 and thousands of citations, her work influences cognitive neuroscience, road safety interventions, and educational practices in psychology.