Professor Kami Koldewyn

Professor in Psychology | Dean of Research for the College of Medicine and Health

k.koldewyn@bangor.ac.uk

0000-0003-3588-6449

Professor Kami Koldewyn

View Professor Kami Koldewyn’s profile on the Bangor Research Portal

Kami earned a dual BA degree in Music and Philosophy at Pomona College in California. After several years teaching children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders, she returned to graduate school and completed a PhD in Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis in 2009. She then spent four years as a postdoctoral researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with Nancy Kanwisher. She joined the faculty at Bangor in 2013.

Kami is a Professor in the Department of Psychology in the School of Psychology and Sport Science and is part of the Cognitive Neuroscience research group in the school.

Her research interests include: The development of social perception and social cognition across the lifespan, Autism Spectrum Disorder and other neurodevelopmental disorders that affect social perception and cognition, and the brain bases of social perception and social cognition.

Dean of Research for the College of Medicine and Health

Member of the WGSSS Steering Group and EDI advisory Group

Member of the Bangor Imaging Centre Steering Group

Lab Website: https://sites.google.com/view/devsocialvislab/

Google citations

Room 315

Brigantia Building

Penrallt Road

Bangor

LL57 2AS

email: k.koldewyn@bangor.ac.uk

Telephone: +44(0)1248388581

 

  • PhD: Visual Motion Processing in Autism
    University of California, Davis, 2009
  • BA: Music and Philosophy
    Pomona College, Claremont, California, 1996
  • Professional: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy FHEA

Kami supervises undergraduate and Masters students on projects that encompass a broad range of topics in social perception and social neuroscience.

She is currently supervising four PhD students as first supervisor: Mae Bernard, Laura Jastzrab, Lois Pierce-Jones, and Siwan Roberts. She is 2nd-supervisor for four PhD students: Rebecca Day, Judit Elias Masiques, Deyan Mitev, and Olivia Molina-Nieto,

Her supervision includes one current postdoctoral scholar: Julia Landsiedel

https://sites.google.com/view/devsocialvislab/people 

She teaches a specialist 3rd-year module: Brain Development and Degeneration and contributes guest lectures to several modules at both Undergraduate and Masters level.

Our current research program addresses three intertwined questions:

  1. What is the cognitive and neural architecture of social perception in typical adults?
  2. How does the social perception system arise and change across typical development?
  3. How is social perception and its development altered in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and what are the neural bases of these social differences?

To address these questions, we use a variety of methods, including behavioral and eye-tracking paradigms, visual psychophysics and both structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in individuals with developmental disorders as well as typical children and adults.

 

Many of the current projects in the lab are focused on the perception and understanding of social interactions viewed from a 3rd-person perspective.

Self-funded (inc. agency-funded) projects: Dr. Koldewyn welcomes informal enquiries from prospective PhD students interested in projects related to Social Perception or Social Neuroscience, especially those that are interested in how social perception, or the social brain, changes across development and/or across the life-span. She would also welcome students interested in research relevant to neurodevelopmental disorders that affect social perception and/or social cognition, including particularly Autism and Fragile X syndrome.

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2025

  • Neuroethics

    Neuroscience is advancing rapidly, offering profound insights into the human brain while raising complex ethical questions. Neuroethics sits at the intersection of neuroscience, philosophy, and policy, addressing dilemmas such as cognitive enhancement, brain privacy, and the ethics of neurotechnology. Here, we particularly address how neuroethics applies to neurodegenerative disorders. What are the implications of early diagnosis? How do we balance innovation and treatment with patient autonomy, especially as cognitive decline affects decision-making? What are the societal and moral consequences of genetic screening or neurotechnology for these conditions? Join this Bangor University webinar for an introduction to these complex societal challenges.

    15 Jul 2025

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Speaker)

2023

  • Bangor University Community Day - Psychology stall

    Bangor University Community Day was an event that welcomed the local community to explore the University and learn about its significant contributions to the social, economic, environmental, and cultural life of North Wales and beyond. The event showcased a range of activities. Our department of Psychology participated with a stall, offering various engaging activities for attendees, highlighting some of the department's work.

    14 Oct 2023

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Contributor)

2022

  • BU-IIA Funded Project: Towards a comprehensive BU service for neurocognitive developmental disorders: Developing a screener for social-behavioural difficulties as a route to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessment

    We seek to (1) develop a bilingual screening tool to quickly and accurately identify children with complex needs who are referred to the Miles Dyslexia Centre, allowing them to be immediately referred to an appropriate practitioner for a full assessment; (2) scope the current situation and measure waiting times for local children with social difficulties with a level of precision, taking a look at the impact of the pandemic on both waiting times and how assessments are carried out (e.g., remote assessment, bilingual assessment); (3) build and coordinate a group of researchers, educational practitioners, and clinical practitioners with the aim of moving towards an integrated assessment and care system for children with learning difficulties and ASD. Including clinical practitioners is essential, since a complete assessment would need to be a team effort between community, educational, and clinical (NHS) services. Our longer-term aim is to establish a BU Neurodevelopmental Centre that would not only push forward cutting edge translational neurodevelopmental research, but would also service the needs of children locally and nationally (via remote assessment and intervention) and which we hope will serve as a blueprint for excellence in provision within both “remote” rural areas and bilingual contexts.

    Funding awarded through the Bangor University Innovation and Impact Award (Research Wales Innovation Funding). Value = £46,582

    4 May 2022 – 30 Apr 2023

    Activity: Other (Contributor)

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2014

Social Interaction Perception and the Social Brain Across Typical and Atypical Development - Becoming Social 

ERC Starting Grant: £1,157,461.00

30/03/17 - 30/03/22


Developmental Change in the Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus

Royal Society: £14,929.00

1/11/14 → 31/10/15

 

Person Perception in Typical and Atypical Development

British Academy: £9,681.00

1/10/14 → 30/09/16