Young Investigator Awards

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
Neuramechanismocommunicatioanecholocatiosounprocessinibats

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.
Anatomical and physiological studies of sky compass orientation in the dung beetle brain.
Anatomical and physiological studies of sky compass orientation in the dung beetle brain.

Sarah Stamper
Johns Hopkins University, United States
Electrosensory control of social and locomotor behaviors in weakly electric fish

Awards Selection Committee

Other Awards: 

Heiligenberg Student Travel Awards

The Capranica Neuroethology Prize

The Developing Neuroethology Award

Fellow of the International Society for Neuroethology

The Konishi Neuroethology Research Awards