PRESENTS
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the Macquarie University land, the Wallumattagal clan of the Dharug nation, whose cultures and customs have nurtured and continue to nurture this land, since time immemorial. We respect Elders, past, present, and emerging
All the venues for the summit are located within a 10-minute walk from Macquarie University Station. This includes the Art Gallery, where the summit will be launched with a reception at 1pm on June 2nd, and the 01MD-121 lecture theatre, where all presentations will take place. Click the links for directions from the station.
For visitors coming from overseas, the train station at Sydney International Airport is located beneath the terminal. As you enter the arrivals hall, turn right and walk to the end of the terminal, then take the escalators down to the train station. Board the train from platform 1 and exit the train once you're at Central Station. Within Central Station, walk to platform 26 and catch the metro to Macquarie University Station.
SCHEDULE
Reception at MQ Art Gallery on Tuesday 1pmAll presentations in
1MD -121 Lecture theatreConnect to Wi-Fi - Network Name: Macquarie Events. Passcode: didu2026
Tuesday, June 2nd
| Time | Speaker | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 - 1:45pm | Reception at Macquarie University Art Gallery | - |
| 2 - 3pm | Plenary Speaker: Josep Call | The Quest for Cumulative Culture in Nonhuman Animals |
| Focus on Emerging Research | Chair: Chris Reid | |
| 3 - 3:15pm | Lisa Fontana | Evolutionary drivers and neuroanatomical correlates of complex cognition in parrots |
| 3:15 - 3:30pm | Frederick Rodrigues | Hearing Other Worlds: Sonifying Sensory Perception Across Species |
| 3:30 - 3:45pm | Holly O'Neil | Visual "Translations" and Storytelling with the More-than-Human |
| 3:45 - 4pm | Scarlett Howard | Insights into ecological relevant and irrelevant intelligence from the study of eusocial and non-eusocial bees |
| 4 - 4:30pm | Darius Parvizi-Wayne | What active inference still can't do: The (frame) problem that just won't go away |
| 5pm | Pizza at Ubar |
Wednesday, June 3rd
| Time | Speaker | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 7:30 - 8:30am | Plenary Speaker: Melanie Mitchell (Virtual talk - Live from Princeton) | Six Principles For Evaluating Cognitive Capabilities in AI Models |
| 8:30 - 8:50am | Break | - |
| 8:50 - 10am | Plenary Speaker: Peter Godfrey-Smith | Animal Consciousness: Evidence, Models, and Clues |
| 10 - 10:25am | Break | - |
| Mind & Cultures | Chair: Greg Downey | |
| 10:30 - 11am | Camilla Di Biase-Dyson | Archaeological 'access points' to ancient ways of thinking |
| 11 - 11:15am | Madeline Jenkins-Smith | Can we access and understand emotions from the ancient past? |
| 11:15 - 11:45am | Paul Mason | Kinds of Diversity: Degeneracy, Pluripotentiality, and the Trappings of Normality |
| 11:45 - 12pm | Laura McLauchlan | Thinking with the Enemy: Conceptual and Practical Ecologies of Engaging Incomprehensible Others |
| 12 - 12:55pm | Lunch | - |
| Listening, Learning, & Communication | Chair: Hoda Mostafavi | |
| 1 - 1:30pm | Penny Van Bergen | Cognition, intelligence, and individual differences represented in Australian school policy and teacher training |
| 1:30 - 2pm | Matt Bower | Advancing Creative Technologies Education in a Generative AI World |
| 2 - 2:30pm | Anina Rich | Decoding experiences: Synaesthesia and beyond |
| 2:30 - 3pm | David McAlpine | From Penguins to Parties: diversity in the listening brain |
Thursday, June 4th
| Time | Speaker | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 8:50 - 10am | Plenary Speaker: Madeleine Beekman | The Problem Solving Brain: From Slime Moulds to Humans |
| 10 - 10:25am | Break | - |
| Kinds of Minds | Chair: Chris Reid | |
| 10:30 - 11am | Bruno van Swinderen | Tracking pattern recognition and predictions in the fly brain |
| 11 - 11:30am | Lucy Aplin | How cognition and sociality interact to enhance adaptability in birds |
| 11:30 - 11:45am | Chris Reid | Mechanisms of Collective Intelligence - lessons from ant colonies |
| 11:45 - 12pm | Eamonn Wooster | Predator-prey interactions and cognitive evolution |
| 12 - 12:15pm | Louise Tosetto | Hidden in plain sight: using movement as a form of protection in humbug damselfish |
| 12:15 - 12:30pm | Pamela Lyon | Coherence: How living systems persist, adapt and make sense of their world |
| 12:30 - 1:25pm | Lunch | - |
| Decision Intelligence | Chair: Roger Moser | |
| 1:30 - 2pm | Roger Moser | Making sense of "Decision Intelligence" from a Corporate, Societal and Political Perspective |
| 2 - 2:15pm | Rhenu Bhuller | Understanding the Decision Architectures of Investors and Scientific Entrepreneurs in the Biotech Sector: Conceptual Framework and Empirical Study |
| 2:15 - 2:30pm | Roberto Donat | From Complex to Complicated: How Executives leverage Mental Models and LLMs to understand their Decision Context |
| 2:30 - 2:45pm | Shreshth Anand | The Power of LLMs to reduce the Cognitive Load of Executives: Early Insights from Applying the Business Model Pattern Decomposer_GPT |
| 2:45 - 3pm | Roger Moser | Wrap-up, Discussion and Outlook |
| 3 - 3:25pm | Break | - |
| Cognition | Chair: David Kaplan | |
| 3:30 - 4pm | Colin Klein | Why are there top-down influences on pain? |
| 4 - 4:30pm | Vince Polito | Altered States of Consciousness and Alternate Models of Self |
| 4:30 - 5pm | Matthew Crossley | How Brains Turn Practice into Automatic Skill |