SFNC 2026 Speaker and Program Info
We are thrilled to welcome Helmut Leder, Thalia Goldstein, and Oshin Vartanian as our 2026 invited keynote speakers!
We are working hard to make SfNC2026 an unforgettable experience. This page will be updated as more speakers and sessions are confirmed!
Keynote Speakers and Invited Panelists
Oshin Vartanian
Oshin Vartanian received his PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Maine. He is past-Editor of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts and Empirical Studies of the Arts, and serves on the editorial boards of Creativity Research Journal, Thinking Skills and Creativity, and Journal of Creative Behavior. His co-edited volumes include the Cambridge Handbook of the Neuroscience of Creativity and the Oxford Handbook of Empirical Aesthetics. He is the president of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA). His primary areas of interest include the psychological and neurological bases of aesthetics and creativity, specifically the ways in which the brain supports the creation and appreciation of art in its various forms.
Thalia Goldstein
Helmut Leder
Helmut Leder is full professor of Empirical Visual Aesthetics (in Psychology) at University of Vienna. In 2004, he founded an official research focus in Empirical Aesthetics, which was the first of its kind, and has a leading role various areas of empirical aesthetics (faces, design, art, museum studies, emotion). Helmut Leder was Head of Department (2004-2020) and is the Speaker of the interdisciplinary Research Institution Cognitive Science HUB. Helmut Leder has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers, in various fields of empirical aesthetics and visual perception and has been cited over 20,000 times. From 2014 until 2018 he was the president of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics and organized the biannual international Conference of IAEA 2016 in Vienna. He was visiting Researcher at Sorbonne, Keio University, USC, CUNY, and Fellow at the Italian Academy of Advanced Studies of America at Columbia, Waseda and Keio again. In 2020, he was awarded the Arnheim Award of the APA American Psychological Association, Div. 10, for Outstanding Achievement in Psychology and the Arts, and in 2024 the Fechner Award of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics for Outstanding Contributions to Empirical Aesthetics. He was Action Editor of the British Journal of Psychology (since 2013, until 01.10.2020), and is Editorial Board Member of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts (since 2011); Editorial Board of Empirical Studies of the Arts (since 2006).
Thalia Goldstein is an associate professor and director of the Applied Developmental Psychology program at George Mason University, where she directs the Play, Learning, Arts, and Youth Lab, and co-directed the Mason Arts Research Center (a National Endowment for the Arts Lab) from 2018-2025. Her research focuses on children’s and adolescents’ social and emotional development through engagement with theatre and the arts. Goldstein’s academic work has been published in more than 75 articles and chapters, and funded by The National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and The John Templeton Foundation. Her most recent book is “Why Theatre Education Matters: Understanding its Cognitive, Social, and Emotional Benefits”. She earned her BA from Cornell University, her MA and PhD from Boston College and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University. She was co-editor of the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts from 2017-2025, and was named fellow of the American Psychological Association in 2023.
Anjan Chatterjee
Anjan Chatterjee is a Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture and the founding director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics. He wrote The Aesthetic Brain, and co-edited Neuroethics in Practice, The Roots of Cognitive Neuroscience, and Brain, Beauty, and Art. He has served on editorial boards of several neuroscience, neurology, ethics, and aesthetics journals. He received the Norman Geschwind Prize in Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology from the American Academy of Neurology, the Rudolph Arnheim Prize for contributions to Psychology and the Arts from the American Psychological Association, the Lawrence Forman Award from Haverford College for contributions for the betterment of society, the Leadership in Innovation Award from the Global Wellness Institute, and The Big Sea Award for the Promotion of Aesthetic Beauty
from the Mediterranean Tourism Forum. He was Chair of Neurology at Pennsylvania Hospital, a founding member of the Board of Governors of the Neuroethics Society, the past President of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics and the Behavioral/Cognitive Neurology Society. He serves on the boards of The College of
Physicians of Philadelphia, The Global Wellness Institute, and Philadelphia Fringe Arts, and previously was on the boards of Haverford College, and Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired.