We are pleased to announce that Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Physiology & Pharmacology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University / SUNY Downstate Medical Center, has been elected as an Academician of the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness (WAAC), in recognition of her sustained academic contributions to visual neuroscience, oculomotor neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, visual illusions, microsaccades, attention and consciousness, art perception, neuromagic, and eye-movement biomarkers of neurological and ophthalmic diseases. SUNY Downstate’s official faculty page identifies Professor Martinez-Conde as Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Physiology & Pharmacology.
Professor Martinez-Conde has long been dedicated to research on visual neuroscience, oculomotor neuroscience, visual consciousness, attention mechanisms, visual illusions, and translational neuroscience. Her laboratory focuses on the perceptual and neurophysiological effects of eye movements, especially how microsaccades during fixation counteract visual fading and help maintain the visibility of stationary objects. Her work further applies microsaccades, saccadic intrusions, and related eye-movement features to the early diagnosis, differential diagnosis, disease quantification, and treatment-response assessment of neurological and ophthalmic disorders, including progressive supranuclear palsy, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and mild cognitive impairment. SUNY Downstate’s official page also lists the neuroscience of art and illusion, as well as attention and cognition, among her major research directions.
WAAC believes that the development of artificial consciousness requires not only large-scale artificial intelligence models, embodied systems, and engineering implementation, but also systematic support from visual neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, oculomotor control, active perception, attention mechanisms, illusion research, and the modeling of subjective experience. Professor Martinez-Conde’s research shows that visual consciousness is not a passive copy of the external world, but a subjective experience dynamically formed through active sampling, neural adaptation, attentional selection, perceptual inference, and cognitive interpretation. In recognition of her outstanding contributions to microsaccade mechanisms, perceptual stability, visual consciousness, attention and illusion, neuromagic, art perception, clinical eye-movement neuroscience, and science communication, the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness has elected Professor Susana Martinez-Conde as a WAAC Academician. Her impact in science communication has also been internationally recognized, including the Society for Neuroscience 2014 Science Educator Award and the book Sleights of Mind, co-authored with Stephen L. Macknik and Sandra Blakeslee.
- Global Collaboration and Academic Ecosystem
Academicians of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness hail from institutions such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, the University of California, the French Academy of Sciences, the University of Padua, the University of Oxford, the University of Queensland, Columbia University, and the University of Exeter. Honorary Academicians come from a wide range of countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Spain, and China. In addition, leading scientists from prominent research institutes and technology companies—such as Google, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and ZEEKR—also participate.
- About WAAC
The World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (https://www.waac.ac/) is a global academic institution established in Paris in 2025. Its mission is to advance frontier research and international collaboration in artificial consciousness through the integration of science, technology, and philosophy. The Academy publishes open research, policy recommendations, evaluation standards, and more. The current President is Academician Yucong Duan, and the Secretary-General is Dr. Yingbo Li. The Honorary Academician List: On May 3, 2025, WAAC released its first batch of Top 100 Honorary Academicians, recognizing scholars who have made foundational or leading contributions to the theory of artificial consciousness.