Since 2016, the fNIRS Early Investigator Award recognizes noteworthy contributions made to fNIRS by a member at an early career stage. The award includes a certificate and a cash prize. Nominations are evaluated by the Award Committee, with the final selection made by the SfNIRS Board of Directors.
The award will be announced at the fNIRS 2026 meeting, and the awardee will give a presentation during the awards ceremony session.
At a glance
- Nomination deadline, 15 June, 2026
- Self nominations, not permitted
- Nominator, must be a Society for fNIRS member
- Selection, Award Committee, final selection by SfNIRS Board of Directors
Important, nominations with an incomplete package will not be considered.
Past recipients
- 2016, Rob Cooper, University College London
- 2018, Kaja Jasińska, University of Toronto
- 2021, Wesley Baker, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- 2022, Alexander von Lühmann, Boston University
- 2024, Androu Abdalmalak, Toronto Metropolitan University
Terms of the award
- A candidate must have an advanced degree (for example PhD, MSc, MD) or be working towards an advanced degree.
- A candidate must not be more than six (full time equivalent) years post the award of their advanced degree.
- The candidate must provide evidence of sustained activity in fNIRS research (as demonstrated by their curriculum vitae and publication list).
- The candidate must be a member of the Society for fNIRS.
- The candidate must submit one or more abstracts to fNIRS 2026 as a lead author.
- We expect the candidate to participate in the Society for fNIRS conference in the year of their nomination and give an invited talk as part of the award acceptance process.
- A candidate who is unsuccessful in any given year may be re nominated in a subsequent year, provided the candidate meets the award criteria in the year of nomination.
Nomination
The candidate must be nominated (self nomination is not allowed) and the nominator must be a member of the Society for fNIRS.
A full nomination package must contain:
- A nomination letter.
- A two page curriculum vitae demonstrating the candidate’s accomplishments.
- A list of the candidate’s publications.
- An additional letter of support.
- A copy of the candidate’s submitted abstract or abstracts.
Important, nominations with an incomplete package will not be considered.
Questions
If you have questions about eligibility or nomination materials, please contact awards@fnirs.org.
Submit a nomination
Please do name the files with the following convention or we won’t be able to process your nomination:
Early_<surname>_<name>_<NominationLetter | CV | SupportLetter | Abstracts>.<docx | pdf>
e.g.
Early_Smith_John_CV.pdf