The 2012 Cloëtta Foundation Award to Olaf Blanke
© 2012 EPFL
Our warm congratulations to Prof. Olaf Blanke, who was awarded the prestigious Cloëtta Foundation Prize amounting to CHF 50'000.00, in recognition to his whole research on cognitive neuroscience and more specifically on body perception and self consciousness.
Prof. Olaf Blanke is the holder of the Bertarelli Foundation chair in Neuroprosthetics, director of the EPFL Center for Neuroprosthetics, and head of the Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience, at the Brain Mind Institute (EPFL School of Life Sciences).
Practicing neurologist and lecturer at the University Hospital Geneva HUG, Olaf Blanke's research is at the interface of neurology, basic neuroscience, and technological development. This multidisciplinary approach merges on the one hand the expertise related to the phenomena and the major questions in cognitive neurosciences, and on the other hand their investigation by high-end intrumentation and new, innovative methodologies allowing a quantitative analysis in this field. Dr Blanke has carried out a number of pioneering studies on one's own body perception. This research has strongly contributed to the way how cognitive sciences understand nowadays the representation of the Self within a person's consciousness.
The Cloëtta Foundation awards every year a Prize to honor personalities in Switzerland and abroad who have distinguished themselves in a particular way in specific fields of medical research.
The Prize is awarded between September 1 and December 31 of every year. The Board of Foundation is responsible for the adjudication; if necessary, it may consult the opinion of independent experts.