Birkbeck’s Dr. Daniel Yon Honored with Experimental Psychology Society Prize
Dr Daniel Yon, Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychological Sciences, has been announced as this year’s winner of the Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) Prize. The annual EPS Prize recognises distinguished, independent and original contributions to experimental psychology made during the early career phase.
Dr Yon studied for his PhD in the Psychology Department at Birkbeck from 2013 to 2018. After taking up a faculty post at Goldsmiths in 2019, he returned to Birkbeck as a Lecturer in 2021, and has recently been promoted to Senior Lecturer.
At Birkbeck he directs The Uncertainty Lab, researching how our brains deal with the different kinds of uncertainty that afflict us as we perceive, learn about and act upon the world around us. This involves running experiments in the lab to see how people behave, building computer models to simulate what’s happening inside their heads, and using techniques like MRI scanning to investigate how these processes unfold in the brain.
Dr Yon said: “I am over the moon to have been awarded the EPS Prize, and it is really lovely to have this recognition for my research. Though of course, it’s not just my research – and none of it would have been possible without the help of the students, colleagues and mentors that I’ve been lucky to work with over the years. I’ve been especially lucky to benefit from the support, mentorship and friendship of many people at Birkbeck over the first decade of my career – and I think the department is a really special place to do science”.
Professor Heather Ferguson, Honorary Secretary of the Experimental Psychology Society, Professor of Psychology and Divisional Director of Research and Innovation at the University of Kent, commented: “The EPS prize is intended to recognise the achievements of experimental psychologists who have made a distinguished research contribution at an early stage of their careers (i.e. within the first six years post-PhD). The EPS Committee considered several exceptional nominations for this award this year, but Daniel’s stood out for the important contributions he has made to the field of experimental psychology, including helping to clarify important theories, rigorously deriving predictions and designing clever experiments to test these. In addition, Daniel was commended for the fantastic role he has played in supporting and championing early career researchers. He’s a fantastic winner and we are delighted that Daniel has accepted this nomination!”
The EPS was founded in 1946. Its role is to facilitate research in experimental psychology, and scientific communication among experimental psychologists and those working in cognate fields.