Sign in

Victoria Southgate

@vhsouthgate.bsky.social
2K followers 311 following 31 posts

Developmental social cognitive neuroscientist and thalassophile. Prof at the University of Copenhagen. Personal site: www.victoriasouthgate.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
We are looking for a new colleague with expertise in middle-childhood/adolescence developmental science to join us in Copenhagen. Open rank and can be both applied and/or basic science. Please share with relevant colleagues. employment.ku.dk/faculty/?sho...
employment.ku.dk
Call for open-rank academic position in child and adolescent developmental psychology
The position is available from October 1st, 2026, but an earlier or later starting date is also possible.
045
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Sharing a preprint laying out a new theory of the origins of self-awareness. In this theory, our human capacity for self-awareness is an emergent phenomenon arising from the interplay between interoception and ostension, during the first year of life 👶. osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io
OSF
172
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Human cognition is often altercentric, and human infants seem to have an altercentric bias. Is this cognitive stance uniquely human or might it be shared with other species? There are arguments both ways and we explore them in this paper. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
An evolutionary perspective on altercentrism
Putting oneself, mentally, in someone else’s shoes is traditionally considered a late-developing, cognitively demanding skill thought to critically un…
062
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Rhodri Cusack @rhodricusack.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
Ireland launches global talent fund! www.researchireland.ie/funding/glob... If you're a neuroscience professor (assistant/associate/full) and would consider relocating to the vibrant and booming city of Dublin, please get in touch!
38455
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
If you agree with our 5 requests to our universities, please sign 🖊️ the open letter and don’t forget to confirm your email! ☺️🙏 openletter.earth/open-letter-...
• Resist the introduction of AI in our own software systems, from Microsoft to OpenAI to Apple. It is not in our interests to let our processes be corrupted and give away our data to be used to train models that are not only useless to us, but also harmful.

• Ban AI use in the classroom for student assignments, in the same way we ban essay mills and other forms of plagiarism. Students must be protected from de-skilling and allowed space and time to perform their assignments themselves.

• Cease normalising the AI hype and the lies which are prevalent in the technology industry's framing of these technologies. The technologies do not have the advertised capacities and their adoption puts students and academics at risk of violating ethical, legal, scholarly, and scientific standards of reliability, sustainability, and safety.

• Fortify our academic freedom as university staff to enforce these principles and standards in our classrooms and our research as well as on the computer systems we are obliged to use as part of our work. We as academics have the right to our own spaces.

• Sustain critical thinking on AI and promote critical engagement with technology on a firm academic footing. Scholarly discussion must be free from the conflicts of interest caused by industry funding, and reasoned resistance must always be an option.
7262119
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
luciecharlesneuro.bsky.social @luciecharlesneuro.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
A big thank you again to Athena Demertzi and Emmanuel Stamatakis for organising a wonderful ASSC conference @assc28.bsky.social @theassc.bsky.social! See you all in Chile next year @assc2026.bsky.social !
0275
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Jan Engelmann @janengelmann.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
This paper really is developmental science at its best. Empirically convincing and theoretically rich. Shows once again that we cannot assume that the adult state is the default state.
0113
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Sharing our new paper published today in Nature Communications. In my view, this is our clearest demonstration to date that something profoundly changes in how infants encode the world around them before and after the emergence of self-representation. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The self-reference memory bias is preceded by an other-reference bias in infancy - Nature Communications
A classic feature of human memory is that we remember information better when it refers to ourselves. Here, the authors show that before the emergence of self-concept, infants instead remember informa...
16926
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · 05/07/2025
👶Do babies read minds? @vhsouthgate.bsky.social at the University of Copenhagen challenges the idea that infants mentalise. Instead they may be “altercentric”, focused on what others pay attention to. 👉 buff.ly/My4EpbB 🎧 buff.ly/9j5ZeF8 #TheoryOfMind #FrontierResearch #EU2025DK @eu2025dk
073
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Berna Devezer @devezer.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
"Nosek also wants academia to create clear career paths for people doing replication studies—it should be something that university bosses admire and want to promote." Also NO. This is someone's pet theory for how science works, not actually how science works.
3499
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
🚨 Postdoc Opportunity!!! The Toronto Early Cognition Lab (@UofT) is hiring a postdoc to study early optimism in infants & young children. Work w/ multi-method approach, amazing undergrads & grads. Start: Fall 2025 or later. Details: jessica.sommerville@utoronto.ca RTs appreciated 💫
04547
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
This @erc.europa.eu Advanced Grant will test a novel mechanistic model of how human infants might acquire a concept of a self. We’ll investigate the interaction between interoception and ostension, not only in the lab but in infants in both Vanuatu and Japan! www.linkedin.com/posts/univer...
linkedin.com
I dag modtager fire KU-forskere hver et Advanced Grant fra European Research Council (ERC)! | Københavns Universitet - University of Copenhagen
I dag modtager fire KU-forskere hver et Advanced Grant fra European Research Council (ERC)! 🥳 De fire forskere er: Professor Christian Rostbøll, Institut for Statskundskab Projekt: Moralizing Politic...
0131
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Really stimulating interdisciplinary discussion meeting at the Royal Society in London. I shared some developmental data and new theoretical ideas on the origin of the self and heard some excellent talks.
020
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Jonathan F. Kominsky @jfkominsky.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
🚨Postdoc opportunity🚨 We're looking for a postdoc to work on EEG and fNIRS projects with 3-18-month-old infants, looking at whether/how/when infants represent affordances: careers.ceu.edu/job-invite/8... Part of the @simonsfoundation.org SCENE project: www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/04/24/s...
careers.ceu.edu
Post-doctoral Researcher (f/m/d)
Post-doctoral Researcher (f/m/d)
14832
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Choose Europe for Science: ERC welcomes new budget for 'super grants'. Might be a particularly interesting opportunity for US researchers thinking of relocating to Europe 🇪🇺
erc.europa.eu
Choose Europe for Science: ERC welcomes new budget for 'super grants'
The Scientific Council of the European Research Council welcomes the offer of substantial additional budget from the European Commission for the development of a new ERC funding instrument offering la...
030
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
This is what you call two different readouts of the same meeting. Go Denmark, Go Greenland!
The post by Marco Rubio
Met with Danish Foreign Minister Rasmussen in Brussels today to talk about the defense priorities shared by our two nations. We discussed the importance of increasing burden sharing within NATO and addressing threats to the Alliance.
A post by Lars Løkke Rasmussen

Honest and direct meeting with @SecRubio yesterday. I made it crystal clear that claims and statements about annexing Greenland are not only unacceptable and disrespectful. They amount to a violation of international law.
369142084030
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
Really enjoy CogSci but I will not be traveling to the US until the US resumes normal service.
1130
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Some thoughts on Adolescence and what it reveals about our failure to protect childhood.
open.substack.com
What Adolescence reveals about our society's failure to protect childhood
Netflix’s Adolescence was a brilliantly crafted, yet harrowing look into the causes and consequences of serious crimes committed by children.
020
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Justin Weinberg @dailynous.com · 26/03/2025
"I want to raise my kids in a country that is not tilting towards a fascist dictatorship." Philosopher Jason Stanley is leaving Yale and taking up a position at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
dailynous.com
Stanley from Yale to Toronto - Daily Nous
Jason Stanley, currently professor of philosophy at Yale University, will be moving to the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Professor Stanley is well known...
23664179
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Alex Hall Hall @alexhh.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
I was a middle class, middle of the road, middling person, muddling along. Shocks of Brexit,Trump, Ukraine and Gaza jolted me out of complacency. We must fight for our values every day, never take democracy for granted. I no longer think Bernie and AOC are “radical”; they’re principled and feisty. 👍
630666
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Andy Vitek @avitek.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
I am begging, pleading in fact, for my fellow academics to find some courage and start speaking up. Because you can't just keep your head down and ride out this storm. And even if you could, is that really what you want being a scholar and educator to be?
45813
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
It’ll be social media posts next. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found
France’s research minister said the scientist was traveling to Houston for a conference when his phone was searched
130
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
0323
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Edouard Machery @edouardmachery.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Here is a model for the USA. What are the democratic leaders doing?
1218
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Andrea Junker @strandjunker.com · 08/03/2025
There are times when you must speak, not because you are going to change the opposing side, but because if you do not speak, they have changed you.
226138933555
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Boycott everything Elon: Tesla, Neuralink, X, etc! betakit.com/its-done-its...
betakit.com
“It’s done, it’s gone”: Ontario Premier Doug Ford cancels $100-million Starlink contract in tariff response
Contracts won't be awarded to those who "encourage economic attacks" on Canada, Ford said.
23610
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Please lecture us more about free speech in Europe.
542253579
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Adam Radwanski @aradwanski.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
I’m confused by all the headline references to a “shouting match.” I saw one side shouting and the other side getting shouted over when he tried to talk.
282100581571
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Ned Block @neddo.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
07029
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
🦋 Shadow Dancer 🇨🇦 🌊💙🏳️‍🌈🎶🌈 @shadowdancer73.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Love this from Denmark
4746101479
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
If you still believe, after today‘s UN resolution, that Trump will change his mind, just as soon as the Europeans finally spend more on defence, I can‘t help you. Of course Europe must spend more on defence. But not as a gesture to please Trump. To protect ourselves & stand on our own 2 feet.
241149240
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
UNITED24 Media @united24media.com · 24/02/2025
United for freedom ✊
1123757
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Looking forward to this Royal Society discussion meeting in London on the self. Registration is free! royalsociety.org/science-even...
royalsociety.org
From being to identity: analysis and synthesis of the self | Royal Society
Discussion meeting organised by Professor Tony Prescott, Professor Agnieszka Wykowska, Professor Sarah Garfinkel, and Professor Paul Verschure.
0116
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
I’m George Takei and I approve of this message.
226914326129853
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
The fact that only 2% of professors identify as fascists shows just how insular and out of touch universities have become.
202139285
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Emily G. Jacobs @emilyjacobs.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
WOMEN and FEMALE are red flag words. (Men, male are not on the list). Let that sink in.
57239
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Really enjoyed being part of this symposium at #EWCN2025 in Brassanone (or Brixen) in the beautiful Dolomites, organized by @smfleming.bsky.social.
021
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
New paper reporting work led by @dkampis.bsky.social showing an altercentric bias in 14-month-old infants' memory. Using an ERP measure of semantic mismatch, we show that they remember better the identity of an object as it was seen by someone else, than as it was seen by the infant alone.
sciencedirect.com
Altercentric bias in preverbal infants' encoding of object kind
Human infants may exhibit an altercentric bias, where the perspective of others biases their own cognition. This bias may serve a crucial learning fun…
092
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Dan Quintana @dsquintana.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Our department has just announced a new permanent associate professor position in developmental psychology, come join us at @uio.no! www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...
Qualifications 

Necessary requirements:

Applicants must hold a degree equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree in psychology or equivalent.
Applicants must have a strong research record in Developmental Psychology, demonstrating quality, productivity, impact, dissemination, and innovation. They must have an extensive first-hand experience in observing, interviewing, or testing typical and/or atypical children and/or adolescents. 
Applicants must have a solid undergraduate and/or graduate teaching record in Developmental Psychology, including course organisation, lectures, seminars, supervision, and examinations.
Applicants without a certified University Pedagogy Education are expected to obtain this certification within the first two years of employment. The Department will support this process by covering the costs of the courses at the University of Oslo and recognizing the hours of these courses in the departmental teaching accounting system.
Applicants must have fluent oral and written communication skills in English. Applicants who are not fluent in a Scandinavian language (Norwegian, Swedish, or Danish) will have to learn Norwegian within the first three years of employment to effectively participate in the functions required by the position (documented proficiency: CEFR Independent user Level B2 or equivalent). The Department will support learning Norwegian by covering the cost of the courses at the University of Oslo, reducing teaching and administrative duties, and providing a Norwegian coach.
Applicants must possess relevant personal qualities for the position, including: (i) High motivation for the position, (ii) High teaching and research ambition, and (iii) The ability to work both independently and collaboratively with students, administrative and academic colleagues / collaborators, and leaders.Desired additional qualifications (not necessary but would be an advantage), include one or more of the following:

Have been the recipient of at least one external grant as Principal Investigator (PI)
Experience in conducting basic/fundamental research to understand psychological developmental processes.
Experience in Open Science practices.
Experience in research focusing on prevention and promotion. 
Experience / interest in academic administration.
UiO has developed a matrix for the assessement of qualifications, which exemplifies results/competence, documentation, and reflection for all areas of the competency profile. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with this matrix and make use of it when applying for the position.
12224
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Julien Mayor @julienmayor.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
*** JOB ALERT *** Tenured Associate Professor position in Developmental Psychology at the University of Oslo. www.jobbnorge.no/en/available... Deadline: March 3rd, 2025. Please reach out in DM for details and repost widely! #openscience experience a plus! #DevSci #devpsy
jobbnorge.no
Associate Professor in Developmental Psychology (273166) | University of Oslo
Job title: Associate Professor in Developmental Psychology (273166), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Monday, March 3, 2025
01613
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
Technically I live just outside this utopian neighborhood but I get to enjoy this 5-minute-city and agree that this is what good ‘human’ living looks like. Few cars, beautiful spaces and seeing familiar faces whether it’s swimming and in the sauna, or grocery shopping.
amp.theguardian.com
The five-minute city: inside Denmark’s revolutionary neighbourhood | Denmark | The Guardian
While ambitious urban planners try to make 15-minute cities a reality, the Nordhavn district of Copenhagen has gone one better. What’s life like when everything you need is just a stroll away?
1140
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Now published in Annual Review of Developmental Psychology. This is a review of what we know, and what we don't yet know. In it, I argue that the origins of our self-awareness must lie in interoception, and offer some thoughts on how social interactions might provide a mechanistic link in infancy.
annualreviews.org
The Origins and Emergence of Self-Representation | Annual Reviews
Although a reflective self-awareness is often considered to be the pinnacle of human consciousness, it takes time to develop, and behaviors indicating a conceptual self-representation appear only towa...
1310029
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
About a year ago, I wrote about our lab's adventure in building a novel eye-tracker to give us superior data and novel functionality. Now, we are lucky to have been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept grant so that we can develop it further and see if it has any commercialisation potential 👀
2262
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 15/12/2023
Over the last year, we have been building something new in our lab: dual pupillometry & eye-tracking, led by pioneering post-doc Velisar Manea. Here we are using it to measure infant and caregiver pupil and gaze response simultaneously to the same event. Baby in red, mum in blue.
66610
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Missing The Point @missingthept.bsky.social · 05/10/2023
Every Tweeter arriving at Bluesky
Paddington Bear at train station with people hurrying by, plus sexy ALF.
15985164
Reposted by Victoria Southgate
Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 03/10/2023
Katalin Karikó on the status economy of academia. She’s the hero we don’t deserve. Source: josephnoelwalker.com/147-katalin-...
There is a “centre” where the money, the fame, is; most likely your proposal gets funded because it’s on the most favourable topic. Maybe today, RNA is [most favourable]. If you are working with mRNA, maybe that's the centre there.

And then there are people in the periphery. There is no fame, there is no money, no nothing there. The only thing in the periphery is freedom. You can do what you like to do, what you feel is important.

Here’s what a proposal is: why they should give me money. And they should question that. “She came from university nobody knew about.” “She never had a mentor who was famous.”

And somehow it gravitates always to the same people, same circle. They get published there, they get the money. And that's another explanation: I was not famous enough or didn't have anybody who would support me in a way that somebody that’s a famous and well-established scientist stands behind you and says, “Oh, look at this, it’s good.”
8814403
Victoria Southgate @vhsouthgate.bsky.social · 03/10/2023
Hi #CogSci #PsychSciSky #SciSky! I study the early development of self, and it's role in developing cognition; mainly infants. I'm a professor at the University of Copenhagen where I direct the Centre for Early Childhood Cognition (psychology.ku.dk/ecc-en/).
0246