Responsibilities
Director of Research, National Centre for Optics, Vision and Eye Care
Head of Lab, Colour Vision & retinal Imaging Laboratory
Principal Investigator, The Southeast Norway Vision and Visuomotor Study (SNOW)
EU Project Partner
EU Project Coordinator
- Horizon Europe XR4Human – The Equitable, Inclusive, and Human-Centered XR
Member of research groups
Competences
Area of interests:
- The functional implications of normal, inherited and age-related structural changes in the eye’s photoreceptor and retinal pigment epithelium cell layer and how this relates to how we see colour, pattern/details, motion and space, as well as sensitivity to light and dark.
- Normal colour vision, deficient colour vision, colour blindness
- Visual optics and the development of the eye and refractive errors (myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism)
- Diurnal and circannual rythms and how this might affect ocular growth
- Retinal dystrophies and genetics
- Live imaging of retinal photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelium cells (AOSLO imaging)
- Virtual and mixed reality (VR/MR/AR)
Teaching areas:
- Visual Perception, Psychophysics, Scientific Methods.
- MSc/MPhil and PhD supervisor.
- PhD supervisors course (train-the-trainer)
CV
ORCID Researcher unique identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3259-7617
Cristin-person-ID: 323642
Rigmor C. Baraas is a Professor of Optometry and Visual Science at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences and Director of Research for the National Centre for Optics, Vision and Eye Care at the University of South-Eastern Norway, Kongsberg, Norway. She heads the Colour Vision and Retinal Imaging laboratory and the I-merse Research Group.
Rigmor studied Optometry and Vision Science at University of Manchester, England. She graduated in 1994, and was subsequently appointed Lecturer in the Department of Optometry at Buskerud University College, Kongsberg, Norway. She received a PhD fellowship in 1998, and returned to Manchester to undertake postgraduate research in the Vision Science Laboratory with Prof. J. J. Kulikowski. She obtained her PhD from the University of Manchester in 2002. She then moved to the Visual and Computational Neuroscience Laboratory and undertook 3-years of postdoctoral research with Professor D. H. Foster funded by a prestigious Wellcome Trust Fellowship. She returned to Norway and what has become the University of South-Eastern Norway in spring 2005 as Associate Professor of Optometry and Visual Sciences. She was promoted to full professor in autumn 2011. Baraas was featured as Visionary of the Quarter on the European Gateway for Vision Research for the first quarter of 2013. She is a member of NOF, OSA, XR4All, ICVS and ARVO. She was the organizer of the 21st Symposium of the International Colour Vision Society and an elected director of the ICVS Board for eight consecutive years. Baraas was an elected member of the Visual Psychophysics (VI) section of the ARVO Annual Meeting Program Committee and chair of the section for 2015-2016. She was a board member of Forum Farge Norway for several years. She is currently Editor-in-chief for Scandinavian Journal of Optometry and Visual Sciences and is on the OSA Technical Group Color (VC) Executive Commitee. She organizes the annual Kongsberg Vision Meeting.
She is the partner in two Horizon 2020 project, ROSiE Fostering responsible open science in Europe and AI-D Artificial Intelligence for Diagnosing Retinal Diseases. She is also the co-coordinator of the Horizon Europe project The Equitable, Inclusive, and Human-Centered XR (XR4Human).
EDUCATION
2016–2017 Developing Doctoral Supervision Diploma, University of South-Eastern Norway.
2016–2017 Research Management Diploma, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark
2008–2009 Practical-Pedagical Diploma in Higher Education, University College of Østfold.
2002–2005 Post Doctor, Computational Neruoscience Laboratory, University of Manchester, UK.
1998–2002 Doctor of Philosophy: Disputation date: 09.12.2002
Supervisor: Janus J. Kulikowski, The Visual Science Laboratory, University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology (UMIST), Manchester, UK
1994–1995 Contact Lens Diploma. Buskerud University College, Department of Optometry, Kongsberg, Norway
1992–1994 Bachelor of Science (Hons), Optometry and Visual Science, University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology (UMIST), Manchester, UK
CURRENT AND PREVIOUS POSITIONS
2011–present Professor
Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Optometry and Visual Science, University College of Southeast Norway.
2019–Present Director of research
National Centre for Optics, Vision and Eye Care, University College of Southeast Norway.
2013–2019 Centre Director
National Centre for Optics, Vision and Eye Care, University College of Southeast Norway.
2014–2017 Prodean for Research
Faculty of Health Sciences, University College of Southeast Norway.
2005–2011 Associate Professor
Department of Optometry and Visual Science, Buskerud University College. Norway
2005–2008 Honorary Visiting Research Associate
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, UK
2002–2005 Post-Doctoral Research Associate (Wellcome Trust Grant)
Supervisor: David H. Foster, Computational Neruoscience Laboratory, University of Manchester, UK.
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
2013 Awarded the Norwegian Association of Optometrist Honorary Gold Medal
2010 Recipient of the Buskerud University College Research Award 2010
2010 Recipient of the Norwegian Optometric Association Innovation Award 2010
MEMBERSHIPS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
2014–present Member of the Norwegian Neuroscience Society (NNS) and Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS)
2005–present Member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
2000–present Member of the Optical Society of America (OSA)
1999–present Member of the International Colour Vision Society (ICVS)
1994–present Member of the Norwegian Association of Optometrists (NOF)
COLLABORATIONS
Maureen Neitz, PhD, Genetics of eye diseases, University of Washington, Department of Ophthalmology, Seattle WA, USA
Joseph Carroll, PhD, Vision research, Department of Ophthalmology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee WI, USA
Alfredo Dubra, PhD, Adaptive optics retinal imaging, Department of Ophthalmology, Stanford University, Stanford CA, USA
Christine F. Wildsoet, Myopia, University of California Berkeley School og Optometry, Berkeley, CA, USA
Michael Larsen, PhD, Eye disease, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Tor P. Utheim, PhD, Eye disease, Oslo University Hospital, University of Oslo, Norway
Jan Kremers, PhD, Retinal physiology, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Mark Mon-Williams, PhD, Cognitive psychology, Immersive technologies, University of Leeds, UK
Publications
Recent Publications in Peer-Review Journals (for the most updated record please go to http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3259-7617)