I was trained as an experimental psychologist and artist at the University of Belgrade and the University of Novi Sad in Serbia. My doctoral (Ritsumeikan University, 2009–2013) and postdoctoral (Kyoto University, 2013–2015) work in Japan focused on the psychophysics of illusions and neuroscience of aesthetics, sitting at the intersection of vision research and studies of art reception.

My research on the consumption of art focuses on a centuries-old conundrum: what makes paintings aesthetically pleasing—their style or their semantic content? I use machine learning and eye-tracking techniques to explore individual preferences for visual art. The goal of this research is to provide automatic feedback about observers’ aesthetic preferences and predict their future choices, enabling museums, galleries and immersive media to offer personalised curatorial experiences.

I co-lead the development of TRIAD (Towards Translational Inclusive Art & Design), a digital tool informed by vision science to support inclusive art and architectural design. TRIAD uses virtual reality to test how people respond to and interact with art and interior designs during the planning stage, quantifying physiological responses and body movements as indicators of engagement.

Our partners and collaborators have included the Temple Quarter Team, We The Curious, LDA Design, Watershed, Knowle West Media Centre and CAMERA at the University of Bath. Academic collaborators include Professor Ute Leonards, Dr Laszlo Talas, Professor David Bull and Martha Crean. This work has included collaboration around Story Exchange at the University’s Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, which is now an existing space.

My research also examines consumer perceptions of emerging food technologies. Within the Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing Hub (CARMA), I lead work identifying and quantifying the psychological and social factors that shape consumer perceptions of cellular agriculture, particularly cultivated meat. This includes exploring interventions that may help narrow the gap between intentions and actual consumption. I work with Dr Jonathan Beacham and Professor Brian Squire at Bristol, and Dr Neil Stephens at the University of Birmingham.