Meet the keynote speakers

Understanding the social brain: The potential application of psychophysiology in dementia
Dr Fiona Kumfor holds a Masters of Clinical Neuropsychology (Macquarie University) and a PhD in Neuroscience (University of New South Wales). She is currently an NHMRC Career Development Fellow (2019-2023), Associate Professor in the School of Psychology and registered Clinical Neuropsychologist with AHPRA. Combining her clinical training in neuropsychology and research expertise in cognitive neuroscience her work investigates social cognition in clinical syndromes with a focus on dementia, and aims to improve diagnosis and prognosis of dementia, while also informing neurobiological models of complex human behaviours.

Emotion, perception, the brain & the body
Professor Johnstone completed a BSc in Physics (Western Australia), postgraduate research in cognitive science and psychology (Western Australia & Geneva, Switzerland), postdoctoral research in cognitive neuroscience (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA), and was Head of Brain Imaging (Reading, UK). His interests include the neural basis of cognition and emotion, in particular the role of cognitive and attentional processes in regulating emotion, brain-body interactions underlying emotional processes, and emotion regulation in healthy populations as well as in psychopathology, pain disorders and addiction. He is also an enthusiastic supporter of interdisciplinary, open and collaborative science.

Strengthening the extinction of human fear
After receiving his PhD in psychology from Justus Liebig Universität, Giessen, Germany, Prof Lipp joined The University of Queensland’s School of Psychology in 1991 and moved to Curtin University in Perth in 2014. He joined QUT’s School of Psychology and Counselling as a Professor in 2020. His research, both basic and applied, is concerned with emotion, attention and their interaction. In particular, it is concerned with the manner in which emotionally salient stimuli are processed and how emotional responses such as likes, dislikes or fears are acquired, maintained and reduced.