Autism partly genetic and a form of neurodiversity that involves both challenges and strengths. Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen & Dr A. TsompanidisAbout this Event
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and Dr Alexandros Tsompanidis:
Their work provides a crucial foundation for the series’ broader inquiry into how human intelligence develops and varies, and how higher-order cognitive processes underpin learning, perception, innovation, and agency.
The Cambridge Lectures on Art & Intelligence is conceived as a multi-year public inquiry, with the series planned to continue over the next three to five years. Future programmes are expected to bring together a broad range of contributors spanning education leadership, research, cultural practice, and applied fields, building a sustained conversation rather than a one-off event.
The lectures are not framed as a debate about technology. Instead, they offer an inquiry into how human intelligence has evolved through changing image systems, and how it might continue to do so under conditions of rapid technological change.
The Cambridge Lectures on Art and Intelligence are rooted in the ideas that underpin David Hockney’s sustained inquiry into perception, perspective, and the cultural power of images. Across his work and writing, David Hockney has consistently challenged the assumption that there is a single, neutral way of seeing, arguing instead that technologies of vision, from painting and photography to film, television, and now digital systems, actively shape how reality is understood, shared, and governed.The Cambridge Lectures on Art & Intelligence extends this inquiry into a wider public conversation at a time when the continued public presence of his work will form a major exhibition at the Serpentine North.
Sir Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Autism Research Centre, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He is a pioneering figure in autism research, known for formulating influential theories including the mindblindness theory, the prenatal sex steroid theory, and the empathising–systemising model of cognitive differences. Baron-Cohen has published extensively on autism, typical cognitive sex differences, perception, and social cognition, and is the author of several widely read books including Mindblindness, The Essential Difference, Zero Degrees of Empathy, and The Pattern Seekers. He has also developed educational tools such as Mind Reading and The Transporters, which were nominated for BAFTA awards. His work spans basic and applied research on autism diagnosis, neurodevelopment, and cognition, and he has created the first UK clinic for adults with suspected autism, given keynote addresses at global forums, and received major honours including a knighthood for services to autism research and the 2026 Grawemeyer Award in Psychology.
Dr Alex Tsompanidis is an Assistant Research Professor and honorary research associate at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, and a recognised emerging leader in autism science. His research focuses on the roles of the prenatal environment and steroid hormones in neurodevelopment and autism, with particular interest in the placenta-brain axis, evolutionary development, and translational medicine. Tsompanidis completed his PhD at the Autism Research Centre under the supervision of Simon Baron-Cohen and Rosie Holt, receiving a Best Dissertation Award from the International Society for Autism Research. He has been named one of the world’s ‘Top 40 under 40’ autism researchers by Spectrum magazine. Prior to his doctoral work, he studied clinical medicine at the University of Athens, conducted research in pharmacogenomics in collaboration with Harvard University, completed an MSc in human genetics at Imperial College London, and practised as a junior doctor in neurology.
MODO, is the independent Cambridge gallery that specialises solely in the work of David Hockney, we have announced the launch of The Cambridge Lectures on Art & Intelligence, a new public lecture series developed in collaboration with Art and Culture Education CIC (ACE CIC).
Ticket sales from the series support ACE CIC, a not for profit organisation working to address the systemic marginalisation of the arts within education, and to strengthen the conditions in which inventive and expansive thinking can develop. The series has been supported by Cambridge Bid and the Cambidge Arts Festival.
The lectures will take place again in Cambridge in 2027, with further programmes relating to the NOW! The already expansive 2027 Speakers list will be announced following this years series.
The support has been inspiring, thank you!!!!!
Event Venue
MODO, 62 Sidney Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
GBP 27.80
