Headshot of Kenneth Harris.

Kenneth Harris

Professor of quantitative neuroscience
University College London

Kenneth Harris is professor of quantitative neuroscience at University College London. Together with Matteo Carandini, he co-directs the Cortical Processing Laboratory. The aim of the laboratory is to understand the computations performed by neuronal populations in the visual system, the underlying neural circuits and the way these computations lead to perceptual decisions. Current research efforts focus on how cortical populations integrate sensory information with information from within the brain.

Harris received a B.A. and Part III in mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 1993 and a Ph.D. in neural computation from University College London in 1998. He then moved to Rutgers University for postdoctoral work, where he eventually opened a laboratory studying neuronal population activity in the neocortex. He next moved to Imperial College London before joining the faculty at University College London.

Harris received the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in 2005 and the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and an EPSRC Leadership Fellowship in 2010. He was named a Burroughs Wellcome Trust Investigator and a Simons Investigator in 2014.

Explore more from The Transmitter

Stock photo of a group of neurons.

Finding neuroheterogeneity’s sweet spot

Once thought to be detrimental to memory processing, neuronal diversity—at the right ‘Goldilocks’ dose—is a new boon to theoretical neuroscience.

By Natalia Mesa
20 October 2026 | 7 min read
Illustration of an open journal featuring lines of text and small illustrations of eyes and mouths.

COVID-19 and influenza effects in pregnancy; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 19 October.

By Jill Adams
20 October 2026 | 2 min read
Illustration of a person standing in a crumbling room with papers and strings on the wall, a fallen chair, and a lamp.

What to do when traditional mechanistic approaches no longer work

Many complex behaviors have stubbornly resisted mechanistic explanations. Deciphering them will require new approaches—and perhaps a new concept of “understanding.”

By Bence Ölveczky
19 October 2026 | 8 min read