Diversity and Inclusion Award

Neural Engineering Community Award for outstanding contributions to the mission of inclusion and diversity.

Sponsored by EPFL and the University of Pittsburgh.

Candidates: any junior researcher (<7 years from Ph.D.) that are authors of an accepted 4-page or 1-page paper contribution to the NER 2021 conference

Motivation:

Neural Engineering is a highly multi-disciplinary field of study that draws its strength from the synergistic combination of many scientific disciplines such as neuroscience, biology, electrical engineering, medicine, physics, and computer science.

This strength should be reflected in the diversification of backgrounds of the neural engineering community members. For this reason, NER 2021 is committed in promoting the active inclusion of poorly represented minorities and the reduction of inequalities.

When looking at the global breath of NER, an active action for increasing the inclusion can take different forms. Indeed, we know that our members are actively seeking the inclusion of people from diverse ethnic origins, economic backgrounds, gender, and age, yet their efforts are insufficiently recognized by the frantic academic environment.

However, we believe that there is no scientific progress without a diverse and inclusive community; therefore, we think that our community members, especially young investigators in their training, should be rewarded for their outstanding efforts to make our community stronger. This year we decided to acknowledge the efforts from our community with a dedicated award to recognize and amplify these outstanding initiatives.

To apply any young investigators (<7 years from Ph.D.) who is an author of an accepted paper at the NER conference can submit a 1-page essay describing the actions that they have taken to reduce inequalities and increase the diversification of the Neural Engineering community. In more detail, the document should explain the identified issue, the proposed solutions, and the tangible results. Please specify what was the impact of your contribution. The jury will also consider activities done as part of a student group or association.

The three most deserving applications will receive official recognition at the closing ceremony and a monetary reward of $400 each.

Submission deadline: April 28th, 2021
Award announcement: May 6th, 2021