AVA - Tom Troscianko Memorial Award

At the age of 58, Tom Troscianko died in his sleep during the night of 15th November 2011. He was Professor of Psychology in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Bristol and one of the chief editors of the journals Perception and i-Perception. He was a stalwart of the AVA, serving as their secretary on the executive committee since 2003. His initial research interests were in colour vision but these rapidly extended to natural images in general and at the time of his death he was developing them further to the perception of movies. Tom was well known throughout the vision community, particularly in Europe, where his passion for science, travel and companionship merged into one unbounded adventure. A full obituary was published in the journal Perception.

Over a period of thirty years or more, Tom Troscianko became known to the vision community for many things including his firm support for the conference that he loved: the European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). For Tom, the opportunity for making connections between people and science was not limited to the scheduled events of this meeting but also the travelling on either side. These trips were often elaborate and indirect, involving several forms of transport and criss-crossing paths across land and water that introduced him to new countries, people and surroundings. It was Tom’s wish that he might do something to encourage young scientists to approach life with the same spirit of adventure and expedition. Following his untimely death in 2011 he left a legacy to the AVA to support vision science in the best way that the committee saw fit.

To celebrate Tom’s contribution to the field of vision science, and to reflect his wide interests, the Tom Troscianko Award funds attendance at ECVP while encouraging innovative science and interesting travel. A maximum of £2000 may be awarded towards such travel in conjunction with ECVP and subject to agreement by the meeting organizers.

Applications are welcome from early career scientists undertaking a PhD or with a maximum of 5-year post-PhD experience. To be eligible for an award the applicant must visit at least one location (preferably more), in addition to that of the intended ECVP meeting. The additional activities can be for purposes of the candidate’s choosing but they should be of a scientific nature. Examples of visits include but are by no means limited to the following: collecting samples, observing a natural phenomenon, visiting a collection/museum, collecting data, and laboratory visits. The additional visit(s) may be to any location(s), and would normally occur either immediately before, or after, the conference, or both. If the proposal requires unusual access to facilities (including laboratory visits) a letter of agreement from the custodian/lab leader must be attached to the application. While the actual funding will be awarded in advance of the trip, award holders will be invited to receive a (nominal) presentation at the ECVP business meeting and to supply a short written report to be displayed on the AVA’s website.

We are pleased to announce that this award is available for ECVP at Aberdeen this year. Further details below:

The deadline for application is 19th April 2024. Please apply using the form found here and return it to the AVA/ECVP Troscianko Travel Award subcommittee chairman, Tim Meese (t.s.meese@aston.ac.uk), using the subject line: Troscianko Travel Award Application