An expert recognised Australia-wide for research to assist people with disabilities will deliver a free public lecture during a national conference to be hosted by Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Port Macquarie next week.Emeritus Professor Max Coltheart, AM, who was founding Scientific Director of the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, has worked around Australia and in the United Kingdom and Canada in an academic career spanning 50 years.Professor Coltheart will speak on the nature of cognitive science during his public presentation, which is free to the general public. It will start at 4pm on Friday 8 December at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie, in room 2062.The emeritus professor was recognised for his services to people with learning difficulties in 2010 when he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).The 'Cognition on the Coast' Conference, the biennial meeting of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science, will be held on Thursday 7 and Friday 8 December at CSU in Port Macquarie, and is hosted by the CSU School of Psychology.The two-day conference will address such diverse topics as animal cognition, heuristics and biases in emergencies and disasters, cognitive psychology applications for teaching, and much more.Conference convenor and CSU academic Dr Glenn Carruthers said, "We are thrilled to be bringing together researchers from Australia, the US, Israel, Chile, Canada, New Zealand, and Serbia to discuss some of the most exciting and troubling issues in the study of the mind."This is also an exciting opportunity to showcase the high quality work being done in regional universities in Australia."