ASSC

The ASSC William James Prize

for Contributions to the Study of Consciousness

Competition Overview

The William James Prize is awarded for the most outstanding single published contribution to the empirical or philosophical study of consciousness.

The paper must be authored by a graduate student or postdoctoral scholar/researcher who obtained a PhD or other advanced degree within 6 years of the submission deadline. (i.e – Graduated between 2018 – 2024).

The prize will be given for Theoretical and Empirical work in alternate years. Theoretical contributions include philosophical and theoretical/computational submissions. Empirical contributions should report analyses of original data and encompass behavioural, neural and/or clinical submissions. The same committee evaluates the Prize in alternating years and the Prize Committee’s decision on whether a paper is eligible is final.

The 2024 Prize is awarded for Theoretical contributions.

Recent Winners

Elisabeth Parés Pujolràs

20th Edition - Winner 2023

The twentieth William James Prize for Contributions to the Study of Consciousness was awarded to Elisabeth Parés Pujolràs in 2023. Elisabeth's article "Latent awareness: Early conscious access to motor preparation processes is linked to the readiness potential" was published in Neuroimage, in 2019 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116140). The paper proposes a novel method to investigate neural correlates of conscious intention.

Ishan Singhal

19th Edition - Winner 2022

The nineteenth William James Prize for Contributions to the Study of Consciousness was awarded to Ishan Singhal in 2022. Ishan's article "Time and time again: a multi-scale hierarchical framework for time-consciousness and timing of cognition" was published in Neuroscience of Consciousness in 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niab020). The paper proposes a new hierarchical model of time-consciousness that provides a theoretical framework for the phenomenology of temporal experience.

Anat Arzi

18th Edition - Winner 2021

The eighteenth William James Prize for Contributions to the Study of Consciousness was awarded to Anat Arzi in 2021. Anat's article "Olfactory sniffing signals consciousness in unresponsive patients with brain injuries" published in Nature in 2020 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2245-5) was selected as the winning nomination. The paper shows that sniff responses can be used to diagnose the state of consciousness of patients with brain injuries and also robustly predict their future recovery.

New information for the Prize:

To encourage equal opportunity, the eligibility deadline for being nominated for the Prize may be increased to take into account maternity leave or any other leave of absence post-PhD. For female applicants, an 18-months extension for each child born before or after the PhD award will be considered.

Next Submission Deadline

Applications must be submitted before: 31/01/2024

The Prize

Cash award

An award of $1500 (USD) will be given to the winner of the competition.

Plenary address

An invitation to present a plenary address at the ASSC conference. (registration, travel and accomodation paid by ASSC).

Lifetime membership

A lifetime membership in ASSC will be awarded to winner of the competition.

Requirements

  • Nominations, including self nominations, should be submitted via our online application form.
  • The nomination statement should include a brief description as to why the contribution is outstanding, and for co-authored publications, there should be a statement describing the nominee’s role.
  • Information regarding a request for an extension of the deadline for maternity leave or any other leave should be filled in the form.
  • To be considered, the contribution must be published or accepted for publication and be written in English.
  • Electronic copies in PDF format of the contribution and the nominee’s CV (optional) should be attached to the nomination letter.

Prize Committee

Axel Cleeremans

Axel Cleeremans is Professor of Cognitive Psychology and head of the Consciousness, Cognition and Computation (CO3) Group and Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences at Université Libre de Bruxelles

Ryota Kanai

Elisabeth Pacherie

Elisabeth Pacherie is a researcher in philosophy at the Institut Jean Nicod at École Normale Supérieure, Paris.

Joseph LeDoux

Joseph LeDoux is a professor and a member of the Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology at NYU. His work is focused on the brain mechanisms of emotion and memory.

Claire Sergent

2018-2026

Biyu He

2018-2026

Susanna Siegel

Susanna Siegel is the Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University

Interested?

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