Bilge Sayim studied Psychology and Computer Science at Kiel University and at the University of California in San Diego. After a Master thesis on color vision, he joined the Ph.D. Program in Neuroscience at the Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne (EPFL) where he investigated spatial vision in Prof. Michael Herzog's laboratory, and graduated with a dissertation on grouping and Gestalt in visual contextual modulation. Following postdoctoral research with Prof. Patrick Cavanagh in Paris, and Prof. Johan Wagemans at the KU Leuven, he was Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. He is currently head of the Psychophysics of Appearance Laboratory at the Institute of Psychology, University of Bern and research scientist in the SCALab at the Université de Lille, CNRS, France.