Bay Area Vision Research Day (BAVRD)
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Bay Area Vision Research Day (BAVRD) is an annual, one-day research conference devoted to bringing the vision research community of the Bay Area together to present and discuss new and exciting findings in the fields of ophthalmology, optometry, biology, neuroscience, visual psychophysics, and computer vision. What distinguishes BAVRD from other conferences was that it is primarily organized and run by graduate students from the Vision Science Graduate Group at the University of California, Berkeley. 2026 marks the 38th annual BAVRD!
BAVRD 2026
Date
September 4, 2026
Date
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM PDT
Location
West Pauley Ballroom,
UC Berkeley Student Union: Martin Luther King Jr. Building
2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94720
Cost
BAVRD is FREE – all are welcome!
Speakers
About the Speakers
Keynote Speaker
Jacque Duncan, MD
University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Duncan's lab focuses on AOSLO imaging of human photoreceptors to discover mechanisms of cone death in inherited retinal degenerations. Her work studies changes in cone structure and function during disease progression and testing the efficacy of treatments that aim to slow progression, clinical trials of treatments and natural history of disease progression in inherited retinal degenerations including AMD, retinitis pigmentosa and Usher syndrome.
Kalanit Grill-Spector, PhD
Stanford University
Dr. Grill-Spector's lab uses functional imaging techniques to visualize the living brain in action and understand how it functions to recognize people, objects and places and develops computational models, as well as topographic deep neural networks to both predict neural responses and elucidate why the visual system is organized the way it is functionally and structurally.
Tawna Roberts, OD, PhD
Stanford University
Dr. Roberts' lab studies vision development in infants and young children as well as binocular vision disorders in adolescents and adults with concussions. Her work focuses on identifying underlying mechanisms that will inform clinical treatment approaches and ultimately lead to the prevention of strabismus, amblyopia, and binocular vision disorders.
Stay tuned for more information on the conference schedule, speakers, and talk titles as we finalize our program.
Registration
Registration is now open! Click the button to register below for free.
DEADLINE TO REGISTER: AUGUST 28, 2026
RegisterLightning Talks & Posters
Lightning talks are 7 minutes long, followed by around 3 minutes of questions from the audience. Authors of selected abstracts have the opportunity to showcase their work in an afternoon poster session following the main talks. All applicants are expected to attend the event in person on the Berkeley campus.
Posters are expected to be 36 inches x 48 inches in landscape format. Tape is provided onsite. At least one author is expected to present the poster during the session. Posters should use large fonts and minimal text, for text to be readable from 5 feet away.
DEADLINE TO SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT: JULY 17, 2026
Submit an AbstractLocation
This year's Bay Area Vision Research Day will be held in-person at the West Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley Student Union: Martin Luther King Jr. Building.