Heiligenberg Student Travel Awards


Application Deadline: April 15, 2026

Heiligenberg Student Travel Awards are awarded on International Congress of Neuroethology years to qualified students who wish to present work in the field of neuroethology at national and international scientific meetings.  The award is given in honor of Walter Heiligenberg, who was a distinguished neuroethologist, and a pioneer in the field. Heiligenberg made seminal contributions to understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the jamming avoidance response of weakly electric fish.
Qualifications and Applying
Both the student and the student’s mentor must be ISN members by the deadline of application (to be decided by the selection committee). Applicants must be registered graduate students at a university and must plan on presenting their work at the conference. Priorities will be given to applicants who have demonstrated academic excellence and research potential as evidenced by the abstract of the work to be presented and the recommendation letters. Applicants with demonstrated financial need also will be considered for these awards. Preference will be given to applicants who have not previously received this award.
Applications are no longer being accepted for 2017. The next deadline for applications is April 30, 2018. Results will be announced in time to use the funds for the 2018 Congress in Brisbane, which will be the focus of the 2018 awards, but applicants should take care to observe the regular registration and abstract submission deadlines. 
To apply, fill out the application form below and have letters of recommendation from two ISN members submitted to Terry Leatherman at tleatherman@allenpress.com


Application Guidelines and Eligibility

Both the student and the student’s mentor must be ISN members by the deadline of application (to be decided by the selection committee). Applicants must be registered graduate students at a university, and must plan on presenting their work at the conference. Priorities will be given to applicants who have demonstrated academic excellence and research potential as evidenced by the abstract of the work to be presented and the recommendation letters. Applicants with demonstrated financial need also will be considered for these awards. Preference will be given to applicants who have not previously received this award.
Applications are no longer being accepted for 2017. The next deadline for applications is April 30, 2018. Results will be announced in time to use the funds for the 2018 Congress in Brisbane, which will be the focus of the 2018 awards, but applicants should take care to observe the regular registration and abstract submission deadlines. 
To apply, fill out the application form below and have letters of recommendation from two ISN members submitted to Terry Leatherman at tleatherman@allenpress.com
The applicant must be an ISN member, a registered graduate student at a university and must plan on presenting their work at the conference. Priorities will be given to applicants who have demonstrated academic excellence and research potential as evidenced by the abstract of the work to be presented and the recommendation letters. Applicants with demonstrated financial need also will be considered for these awards. Preference will be given to applicants who have not previously received this award.
Applications are no longer being accepted for 2017. The next deadline for applications is April 30, 2018. Results will be announced in time to use the funds for the 2018 Congress in Brisbane, which will be the focus of the 2018 awards, but applicants should take care to observe the regular registration and abstract submission deadlines. 
To apply, fill out the application form below and have letters of recommendation from two ISN members submitted to Terry Leatherman at tleatherman@allenpress.com
Applications are no longer being accepted for 2017. The next deadline for applications is April 30, 2018. Results will be announced in time to use the funds for the 2018 Congress in Brisbane, which will be the focus of the 2018 awards, but applicants should take care to observe the regular registration and abstract submission deadlines. 
To apply, fill out the application form below and have letters of recommendation from two ISN members submitted to Terry Leatherman at tleatherman@allenpress.com

Both the student and the student’s mentor must be ISN members by the deadline of application (to be decided by the selection committee). Applicants must be registered graduate students at a university, and must plan on presenting their work at the conference. Priorities will be given to applicants who have demonstrated academic excellence and research potential as evidenced by the abstract of the work to be presented and the recommendation letters. Applicants with demonstrated financial need also will be considered for these awards. Preference will be given to applicants who have not previously received this award.
Applications are no longer being accepted for 2017. The next deadline for applications is April 30, 2018. Results will be announced in time to use the funds for the 2018 Congress in Brisbane, which will be the focus of the 2018 awards, but applicants should take care to observe the regular registration and abstract submission deadlines. 
To apply, fill out the application form below and have letters of recommendation from two ISN members submitted to Terry Leatherman at tleatherman@allenpress.com
To apply, fill out the application form below and obtain one letter of recommendation from an academic advisor or mentor. The application form and letters should then be submitted to the ISN Business Office at isn.ks@kwglobal.com (as a single PDF file).

Click here to download an HSTA Application Form. 
Please complete and return the application form and supporting documents by April 30, 2018.
Click here to download an HSTA Application Form.

2024 Heiligenberg Student Travel Award winners

Abigail Shaughnessy
QBI, University of Queensland

Aditi Mishra
National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR

Aditya Krishna
Johns Hopkins University

Alexandra Gurgis
Case Western Reserve University

Bianca Jaske
University of Würzburg

Giovani Cabrera
Macquarie University

Juan Vásquez
UdelaR – Clemete Estable Institute

Madeleine Snyder
Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence

Martin Jarzyna
Washington University in St. Louis

Neha Rajput
Wayne State University

Ruth Gutjahr
University of Graz

Shouvik Mandal
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research,

Soshi Yoshida
Doshisha University

Sree Subha Ramaswamy
National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR

Stephanie Heyworth
University of Queensland


2023 Heiligenberg Student Travel Award winners

Ronja Bigge
University of Konstanz

Varun Sharma
Georgia Institute of Technology

Catherine Macri
Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier

Jessica Zung
Princeton University

Timothy Schwanitz
Princeton University

2022 Heiligenberg Student Travel Award winners

Billie Goolsby
Stanford University, USA

Stefan Mucha

Humboldt University Berlin, Germany

Amit Rana
Ben Gurion University of Negev, Israel

Mariana Marquez Machorro
McGill University, Canada

Guillermo Valino
Universidad de la República, Uruguay

Agnish Prusty
NCBS Bangalore, India

Jessica Briggs
University of New Hampshire, USA

Giacomo Costalunga
Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Germany

Alena Lemazina
Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Germany

2021 Heiligenberg Student Travel Award winners

Saumya Gupta
University of Washington, USA

Valerio Tettamanti
University of Queensland, Australia

2020 Heiligenberg Student Travel Award winners

Payel Chatterjee

NCBS, Bangalore India

Megan Freiler 
Indiana University, USA

Lily Fogg
University of Queensland, Australia

Lukas Anneser 
Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany

Clarice Diebold 
Johns Hopkins University, USA

Maitri Manjunath 
NCBS, Bangalore India


2019 Heiligenberg Student Travel Award winners


Shubham Rathore
University of Cincinnati, USA

Lukas Weiss
University of Giessen, Germany


2018 Heiligenberg Student Travel Award winners

Andrea Adden
Lund University, Sweden

David Bertsch
Case Western, USA

Alexis Buatois
Universite Paul Sabatier, France

John Currea
Florida International, USA

Tarnir Eliav
Weizmann Institute, Israel

Rachel Feord
University of Cambridge, UK

Susie Hewlett
Macquarie University, Australia

Scarlett Howard
RMIT University, France

Tom Iwanicki
University of Hawaii, USA

Te Jones
Johns Hopkins University, USA

Jinglin Li
Bielefield University, Germany

Marisa McDonald
University of Hawaii, USA

Morgan Newhoff
University of Minnesota, USA

Sarah Pannhausen

Bonn University, Germany

Rickesh Patel
Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Ute Pegel
University of Marburg, Germany

Atticus Pinzon
Lund University, Sweden

Maimon Rose
UC-Berkeley, USA

Natacha Rossi
Universite Paul Sabatier, France

Sergio Rossoni
University of Cambridge, UK

Taylor Rupp
Michigan State University, USA

Tobias Schmid
UC-Berkeley, USA

Jack Supple
University of Cambridge, UK

Amaro Tuninetti
Brown University, USA

Patric Vaelli
Michigan State University, USA

Elud Vinepinsky
Ben Gurion, Israel

Alexandra Yarger
Case Western, USA

2015 Heiligenberg Student Travel Award Winners

Anthony Auletta, Olga Dyakova, Lena Veit

2014 Heiligenberg Student Travel Award Winners

Charlotte Barkan, Olivier Bertrand, Brad Dickerson, Jorg Henninger, Ninad Kothari, Nikos Lessios, Cait Newport, Peter Olsson, Chloe Raderschall, Desmond Ramirez, Patric Vaelli, Byron Van Nest, Ryan York

2013 Heiligenberg Student Travel Award Winners

Bryce Chung, Charuni Gunaratne, Eva Fischer, Jessica Hanson, Kathryn Feller, Jeffery Brown, Rayna Harris, Katrina Schrode, and Paula Pouso

2012 Heiligenberg Student Travel Award Winners

Ysabel Giraldo, Chan Lin, Jean-Michel Mongeau, Annette Stowasser, Marie Suver, and Peter Weir

2011 Heiligenberg Student Travel Award Winners

Eva Fischer, Julieta Molinas, Lauren O'Connell, Sara Mae Stieb, Lucia Zubizarreta


Qualifications and Applying
Both the student and the student’s mentor must be ISN members by the deadline of application (to be decided by the selection committee). Applicants must be registered graduate students at a university, and must plan on presenting their work at the conference. Priorities will be given to applicants who have demonstrated academic excellence and research potential as evidenced by the abstract of the work to be presented and the recommendation letters. Applicants with demonstrated financial need also will be considered for these awards. Preference will be given to applicants who have not previously received this award.
Applications are no longer being accepted for 2017. The next deadline for applications is April 30, 2018. Results will be announced in time to use the funds for the 2018 Congress in Brisbane, which will be the focus of the 2018 awards, but applicants should take care to observe the regular registration and abstract submission deadlines. 
To apply, fill out the application form below and have letters of recommendation from two ISN members submitted to Terry Leatherman at tleatherman@allenpress.com