Professor Allan Snyder

Professor Allan Snyder is a world-renowned neuroscientist and innovator, recognised for his groundbreaking work on the human mind. He received the Marconi Prize in 2001—considered the world’s foremost award in communication and information technology—and his research has been widely featured in Nature, Science, the Economist, The New York Times, and New Scientist.

Director of the Centre for the Mind, Allan holds the Peter Karmel Chair of Science and the Mind at the Australian National University and the 150th Anniversary Chair of Science and the Mind at the University of Sydney. He was previously a John Guggenheim Fellow at Yale School of Medicine and a Royal Society Guest Research Fellow at Cambridge University, and he holds degrees from Harvard, MIT, and University College London.

Allan is known for his audacious and inventive approach, exploring creativity, genius, madness, unconscious skills, and corporate performance. His controversial hypothesis—that everyone possesses extraordinary savant-like abilities—has been showcased in the BBC documentary Fragments of Genius. A compelling and inspiring speaker, Allan blends scientific insight with practical lessons for innovation, high performance, and leadership.