VSAC 2026 Theme: Vision Forward: Perception, Art & Technology

The Visual Science of Art Conference (VSAC) 2026 brings together designers, scientists, artists, engineers, and innovators to explore how visual perception and artistic practice intersect to shape human experience and interaction with the world. The conference examines how insights from perception and art advance our understanding of visual experience and inform creative practice, scientific inquiry, and the development of intuitive and effective technologies. Hosted by the Department of Engineering at King’s College London from August 20–22, 2026, this year’s event highlights design as a critical interface between humans, complex systems, and technologies, showing how artistic and aesthetic approaches can help us understand, model, and enhance perceptual processes.

Submission Guidelines

** Important dates **

Symposia submissions: until April 1, 2026

Talk, Poster and Conversation submissions: until May 1, 2026

Notification of acceptance: May 20, 2026

Early-bird registration: until June 10, 2026

** Symposium Submission Guidelines **

Symposia are ~2 hour sessions centred around a theme. Symposia are a great way to focus on a certain topic, but at the same time to offer a variety of perspectives. Thus, we particularly encourage multidisciplinary groups (also including artists). Symposia will be accepted until April 1^st, 2026.

To submit a symposium, please create a pdf with information below, and send it to the email address VSAC2026@kcl.ac.uk. Please contact us if you have any questions, need advice, or want to briefly pitch an idea.

• Symposium title
• Short summary (100 words)
• Summary (500 words)
• Info about organisers (name, institutes, etc)
• Author names and affiliations
• Talk titles
• Talk abstracts (300 words each)
• Acknowledgements

** Other Types of Submissions**

We have two other possible types of submissions — Presentations, Conversations.  For these, the deadline will be May 1^st, 2026.

• Presentations: As is common, there are two presentation formats: Talk and Poster. If you submit a presentation, please provide a title, 300-word abstract, affiliation, and detailed keywords, as well as your preferred presentation format. You may submit only one presentation as first/presenting author, but you can co-author as many as you wish.
• Conversations: Conversations between artists and scientists deserve a special place in VSAC’s program. Conversations typically report collaborative research; but you could also see this as a mini symposium with two speakers. If the 300-word abstract is too limited, you can use the supplementary material.

List of Topics

We welcome submissions, including but not limited to the themes below, especially those aligned with this year’s focus on design:

• Fundamental research in visual cognition or neuroscience addressing mechanisms of visual experience
• Research in visual perception, empirical aesthetics, or psychology of art, using artworks or aesthetic experience to investigate perceptual processes and inform visual interfaces
• Investigations into perception-driven innovations for healthcare design, mental health, or socially responsive environments
• Empirical research on perceptual phenomena in art and their technological applications for usability, performance, or well-being
• Cross-disciplinary research in machine vision, Vision Language Models (VLMs), and computational modelling and simulation of visual phenomena
• Studies of perceptual mechanisms applied to human-computer interaction, AI, VR/AR, medical imaging, or assistive technologies
• Case studies of perception-informed prototypes in AI, VR/AR, medical devices, or assistive solutions
• Interdisciplinary work exploring how visual science informs ethical, accessible, and sustainable solutions

Venue

The conference will be held at King's College London. Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to VSAC2026@kcl.ac.uk