Awards and Initiatives

NETWORK

Recognizing outstanding achievements

The Bernstein Network regularly honors outstanding achievements in the field of computational neuroscience with two scientific awards. They are presented in the course of the Bernstein Conference and address established scientists on the one hand and outstanding young scientists from all over the world on the other.

Valentin Braitenberg Award

The Valentin Braitenberg Award recognizes the impact of its recipient’s research on neuroscience and is therefore given to established researchers. The prize is awarded only upon nomination. The Valentin Braitenberg Award is financially supported by the “Autonome Provinz Bozen Südtirol”, the home of its namesake.

Brains for Brains Award

The Brains for Brains Award was established by the network in 2010 to support outstanding young scientists. As a travel grant, it enables the respective awardees from all over the world to get to know the German research possibilities in computational neuroscience.

Promoting young scientists

Excellence thrives on young talent! That is why the network actively creates opportunities for early-career researchers to present their work to the scientific community and to build meaningful professional connections from the outset. It is committed to giving young scientists visibility and space to grow — both within major events such as the Bernstein Conference and through financial support for external early-career initiatives. In addition, the network supports emerging researchers through structured funding and training formats designed to broaden their expertise and open up new perspectives in computational neuroscience.

Bernstein SmartSteps. Featuring Early Career Scientists

In 2021, the Bernstein SmartSteps series provided a unique career platform for selected early career scientists of the Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience to present their research to the scientific public. Over the course of the year, the best presentation was rewarded with a special coaching to promote the young scientists’ careers.

SmartStart Joint Training Program in Computational Neuroscience

The Bernstein Network and the VolkswagenStiftung offered the SmartStart Training Program from 2016 to 2022. This one-year pre-doc program supported young researchers from various disciplines in complementing their previous studies with concepts, theories, and techniques from computational neuroscience. SmartStart 1 ran parallel to the last year of master’s studies. SmartStart 2 ran full-time after completion of a master’s degree.