Rate My Professor Jan Hemmi

Professor Jan Hemmi is a visual neurobiologist and Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Western Australia. Born and raised in Switzerland, he studied biology at the University of Zürich with a focus on ethology before relocating to Australia in 1994 for his PhD at the Australian National University, where he examined the structure and function of the tammar wallaby's visual system. This research sparked his interest in visual ecology, leading to foundational studies on visual information processing in fiddler crabs. Hemmi progressed through postdoctoral fellowships and research positions at the Australian National University, including as a Swiss National Science Foundation Fellow (1999-2002), Research Fellow (2003-2007), and Group Leader in Visual Neuroethology (2007-2011). In 2012, he joined the University of Western Australia as an ARC Future Fellow in the School of Animal Biology, later advancing to Senior Lecturer (2016-2019), Associate Professor (2019-2024), and Professor since 2019. He heads the Neuroecology Group, chairs the School's Research Committee, coordinates Honours and Masters projects, and serves on the Executive Board and Learning and Teaching Committee.

Hemmi's research investigates the relationship between sensory and visual processing and animal behaviour across a broad range of species, including ants, crabs, crocodiles, lizards, fish, sharks, dunnarts, and deep-sea amphipods. His laboratory develops advanced tools to measure and predict animal vision, employing techniques such as micro-CT imaging, spectrographic imaging, quantitative video analysis, electrophysiology, and multivariate statistical modelling. Current efforts focus on the evolutionary drivers of visual systems in deep-sea environments. Notable publications include 'Burrow surveillance in fiddler crabs I. Description of behaviour' (Journal of Experimental Biology, 2003), 'Counterillumination reduces bites by Great White sharks' (Current Biology, 2024), 'An electrophysiological correlate of sleep in a shark' (Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A, 2024), and 'Combining Unity with machine vision to create low latency, flexible and simple virtual realities' (Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2025). His scholarship has earned over 3,800 citations across 121 publications. Major awards encompass the ARC Future Fellowship (2011-2016, $711,993), Fellowship in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science (2008-2011), and Swiss National Science Foundation advanced and prospective researcher fellowships (1999-2002).