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In a few weeks’ time, a research poster exploring how prior experiences can influence human perception will hang at the Cognitive Science Society’s annual conference in Montreal, but its first author won’t be there to present it. Marina Dubova, a Russian cognitive sciences undergraduate and soon-to-be PhD student at Saint Petersburg State University, was recently informed that her application for a visitor visa to attend the conference was denied.
According to Dubova, immigration officials didn’t think it was credible that she’d leave the country after the conference, citing limited employment prospects in Russia and her financial status, among other reasons. This was despite having provided her letter of invitation to the conference, her research, and a receipt for the $205 she had paid in conference registration fees, she says.
Dubova tells The Scientist she was unfairly denied a visa because she’s from Russia, considered a developing ...
