Bernard Rousseau founded the Magic Institute for Mind & Behaviour in 1998, bringing together a small team of cognitive neuroscientists committed to rigorous, collaborative research on the mechanisms of attention and conscious experience. Trained at McGill University and the University of Cambridge, he served as Director for thirteen years, establishing the institute's distinctive ethos of transparency, replicability, and intellectual generosity—principles that remain foundational to its mission today. He stepped back from the directorship in 2011 and took emeritus status, though he continued to mentor students and contribute to discussions about the responsible governance of cognitive science until his retirement in 2015.