Application Deadline: April 15, 2026
The Young Investigator award supports emerging researchers in the neuroethology community and is presented at the International Congress of Neuroethology.
The award recognizes doctoral graduate students and early post-doctoral fellows (maximum 5 years post-PhD excluding extensions for eligible breaks, e.g. parent leave, sick leave etc.) who have shown outstanding promise and have made a significant research contribution in any aspect of the field of neuroethology. Our emphasis in these awards is on young investigators that represent the ISN of tomorrow.
Applicants must be ISN members and should submit a brief summary of research achievements to date, detailing the nature of the research questions that have been pursued, as well as an appraisal of the contributions she/he has made to the field and why these contributions are considered to be significant (maximum 3 pages). In addition, a current CV and publication list, and two letters of recommendation from the applicant's scientific mentors or advisors, should also be submitted.
Proposals should be sent as a single PDF file to: isn.ks@kwglobal.com
Recipients receive up to US$1,200 to reimburse travel expenses to the International Congress of Neuroethology. This award will next be considered in 2026.
2024 Young Investigator Award Winners
Inés Sotelo
University of Buenos Aires
Neuroethological aspects of spatial navigation in toads and sleep in mice: a story of two tales
Samuel Fabian
Imperial College London
The aerial dogfighting strategy of dragonflies
Robin Grob
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Multiple compass cues guide Monarch butterflies during migration
Marcel Sayre
Macquarie University
Connectomic mapping of navigational neural circuits in bees, ants and shrimps
2022 Young Investigator Award Winners
Mercedes Bengochea
University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Numerical discrimination in Drosophila melanogaster
Jay Stafstrom
Cornell University, USA
Blink and you'll miss it: Ballistic predatory behavior in the ogre–faced spider
Alexandra Yarger
Imperial College London, UK
Specialized mechanosensors in flying insects
Grace Capshaw
Johns Hopkins University, USA
Bone conduction of sound supports aerial hearing and directional sensitivity in salamanders
2020 Young Investigator Award Winners
Jerome Beetz
University of Würzburg, Germany
Neuroethology of spatial orientation
Pauline Fleischmann
University of Würzburg, Germany
Neuroethology of the Cataglyphis Compass Systems
Angie Salles
Johns Hopkins University, USA
Neural mechanisms of communication and echolocation sound processing in bats
Rickesh Patel
University of Maryland, USA
Path integration in mantis shrimps
2018 Young Investigator Award Winners
Anna
Stöckl
Universität Würzburg, Germany
Spatial summation in hawkmoth lamina monopolar cells
Eva K. Fischer
Stanford University, USA
Tadpole fight club: Neural mechanisms of conspecific juvenile aggression in poison frogs
Lena Veit
University of California at San Francisco, USA
Songbirds can associate arbitrary visual cues with learned song modifications
Nicholas Kathman
Case Western Reserve University, USA
Mechanosensory and visual integration in the fly central complex
2016 Young Investigator Award Winners
Sara Wasserman
UCLA, United States
Multimodal sensory integration underlying decision-making in flying Drosophila.
Arseny Finkelstein
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Optimal population coding by mixed-dimensionality neurons: insights from bat head-direction cells.
Avner Wallach
University of Ottawa, Canada
Representation of whisker self-motion in the early stages of the vibrissal system.
Carola Städele
Illinois State University, United States
Neuromodulators stabilize neural network function over a broad temperature range.
Past Recipients
2014
Nancy Day
University of California, Los Angeles, United States
Neurophysiological changes during song learning in a cortical song nucleus.
Stefan Greif
Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Germany
Sensory ecology of bats.
Simon Sponberg
University of Washington, United State
Anatomical and physiological studies of sky compass orientation in the dung beetle brain.