Early Career Award

The BCI Society Early Career Award

After exciting editions of the BCI Society Early Career Award (ECA) in 2020,2021, and 2023 the BCI Society is now pleased to announce ECA 2024. The ECA recognizes an early career scientist for outstanding work that advances the BCI field, in the biological, methodological, and/or translational aspects thereof. More specifically, the ECA 2024 will recognize an individual or individuals who have contributed significantly to i) an understanding of brain structure/function, and/or brain signals related to BCIs, and/or ii) scientific progress of BCI research through development of algorithms, software and/or hardware related to BCIs and/or, iii) BCI application or end-user-oriented research. Nominees must have a history of scholarly work that has advanced the field. The ECA will be presented in early 2025.

Evaluation

Applications will be reviewed by jurors appointed by the BCI Society Awards Committee. The 2024 BCI Society Awards Committee is composed of Donatella Mattia, Mariska Vansteensel, Theresa Vaughan, Dean Krusienski and Matt Fifer.

Please note, this year’s BCI Society Awards Committee and the Jury will have the authority to hand out one, two, or no award, depending on the submitted nominations. Jurors will be requested to consider diversity (including gender, geography, topic of research) when making their recommendation.

Application information

An eligible candidate for the 2024 ECAs:

• Is a member-in-good-standing of the BCI Society;
• Is within 10 years of earning their first terminal degree (MD or PhD). Thus, researchers with less experience, including postdocs, are also eligible. The BCI Society Awards Committee will give special considerations for breaks for parenting leave, medical leave, or military service;
• Must accept the nomination;
• Must agree to provide the Society with the following if s/he wins the award:
  • A picture and a brief biosketch, highlighting contributions to the BCI field;
  • A short talk at the next BCI Meeting (June 2025).

Applications for the Early Career Award must include the following:

• Nomination form, which includes a half-page summary of why this nominee deserves an award;
• An updated CV of the nominee (5 pages max) in the format of the NIH biosketch (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm; ERA Commons number not required). ).  The personal statement should highlight the applicant’s accomplishments and contributions to the BCI field.
• Two letters of recommendation (maximum one page) from people other than the nominator;
• If applicable, an up to one-page summary of the special considerations (such as for military service, parenting leave, or medical leave) that explain why the nominee should be considered for more than ten years after the first terminal degree.

Please use only pdf formatting for these documents.

Important for nominators:

• The nominator must be a regular member of the BCI Society in good standing;
• Self-nominations are allowed;
• Members of the BCI Society Board or Awards Committee may not be nominated;
• Each BCI Society Member may nominate a maximum of two persons.

ECAs will be presented in early 2025.