Welcome!
I am a postdoctoral researcher studying how we encode and maintain information in visual working memory for ongoing perception and cognition, in the Awh/Vogel Lab at the University of Chicago. My main focus is on how learning and experience changes how visual information is represented in memory, using those insights to uncover the nature of capacity limits in working memory. However, recently I have been interested in promoting theory development in our field, creating a “theory map” to integrate and contrast current models. I also serve the field by organizing the Working Memory Symposium, a virtual conference that connects the wider field and gives a platform for early-career researchers to speak about their research.
I am passionate about improving science, particularly by empowering early-career researchers to pursue reproducible and open research practices. I serve on the steering committee of ReproducibiliTea, a grassroots initiative to start Open Science communities at local institutions. I am also trying to grow a diamond open-access journal, the Journal for Reproducibility in Neuroscience, as Editor-in-Chief. I was recognized as a “rigor champion” by the NIH NINDS for my advocacy in this space.
I grew up in Sydney, Australia, where I completed my PhD, at the University of Sydney under the supervision of Alex Holcombe and Patrick Goodbourn. I’m a 7-time marathon finisher, espresso coffee enthusiast, and I spent 65,023 minutes listening on Spotify last year.
On this website, you will find my preprints, conference posters, talk slides and blog posts. The best way to keep up-to-date on what I am doing is via my Twitter (@will_ngiam), and feel free to email me at wngiam(at)uchicago(dot)edu.