Dr Beau Lotto is the Founder and CEO of Lab of Misfits Studio, the world’s first neuro-design studio. The lab creates unique real-world ‘experiential-experiments’ that places the public at the centre of the process of discovery. By spanning social and personal boundaries between people, brands and institutions, their aim is to create, expand and apply their insights into what it is to be perceiving human.  By focusing on how the perceptual brain resolves the fundamental challenge of uncertainty, The Lab of Misfits gives audiences and clients the opportunity to see differently…more than this…to embody an ecology of innovation. The Lab of Misfits turns the world into a lab as a way of enabling insights for companies and organisations.

Perception is the foundation of human experience, but few of us understand why we see what we do, much less how. By revealing the startling truths about the brain and its perceptions, Beau Lotto shows that the next big innovation is not a new technology: it is a new way of seeing, how uncertainty and the brain’s need to resolve it is essential for thinking about not only branding and business, but specifically design, leadership and innovation.

Beau is one of the few speakers to have given two TED talks, which have amassed over 5 million views combined. He has also spoken at Google’s Zeitgeist Minds, Wired, G8 and made significant programme contributions to BBC's Horizon, National Geographic Channel and PBS in the US.

In 2017, Beau published his first major book, Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently. He draws on over two decades of pioneering research to explain that our brain didn’t evolve to see the world accurately. It can’t! Visually stunning, with entertaining illustrations and optical illusions throughout, and with clear and comprehensive explanations of the science behind how our perceptions operate, Deviate will revolutionise the way you see yourself, others and the world. With this new understanding of how the brain functions, we can apply these insights to every aspect of life, love and work.  Deviate is not just an illuminating account of the neuroscience of thought, behaviour and creativity: it is a call to action, enlisting readers in their own journey of self-discovery.

Beau is also the Founder and CEO of a US Augmented Reality tech start-up, which has several patents.

TRACES

Traces is digital AR platform that blends the physical and the digital. Combining augmented reality, geo-tagging and digital messaging, Traces brings together brands, people and the content together in the real world, the potential impact of Traces on Enterprise is immense. More information on Traces can be found at www.traces.io.

MEEGO

MEEGO is an app that lets float your ‘animal spirit’ in AR, telling the world who you are right now. MEEGOs follow you wherever you go, and are visible in AR by anyone nearby. When you find another MEEGO, say hi with a comment or read other people's comments … or save their MEEGO into your Tribe and carry on the conversation via messaging. MEEGO is a wholly new way to see, not only who is around you more playfully and more meaningfully. 

Richard Gregory was a polymath, a great interdisciplinary thinker, a leading University of Bristol academic, and an inspiration behind the formation of Bristol Vision Institute. This lecture is held in his memory. 

Richard’s passions included visual perception and understanding visual illusions. He is well known for his explanation of the Café Wall Illusion. Richard’s achievements were recently recognised by the City of Bristol through the award of a Blue Plaque which is mounted on the Workhouse Kitchen above the Cafe Wall Illusion in Bristol at the bottom of St Michaels Hill.

Over the years, we have had the pleasure of hosting speakers from Newcastle University, NASA Ames Research Centre, University of California, Silverback Films, Aardman Animations and the BBC Research and Development department.

Further information on previous Richard Gregory Memorial Lectures can be found HERE. 

Bristol Vision Institute (BVI) is a world leader in interdisciplinary vision research; it was formed in 2008 based on its strength across disciplines. It brings together some 170 associates from Engineering, Computer Science, Biological Sciences, Psychology, Ophthalmology, History of Art, Film and Television and Medicine with the aim of addressing grand challenges in vision research.

BVI’s annual lectures and regular seminars showcase the interdisciplinary nature of its work to a wide audience to promote understanding of the visual mechanisms and processes evolved in humans and other animals, and their translation to innovations in technology, medicine and the creative arts.