The FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence (FKNE) has announced the recruitment of the new 2023 cohort of FENS-Kavli Scholars. Dr Urtė Neniškytė, a neuroscientist at the Vilnius University Life Sciences Center, is among the 15 selected scientists.
In 2014, FENS and the Kavli Foundation announced the FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence: a group of early career, independent neuroscience investigators based in Europe, and chosen for their scientific excellence, originality, and leadership. A new cohort of 15 FENS-Kavli Scholars representing 10 different European countries have now been selected. The new scholars will join 15 other scholars who had been selected to represent the cohort of 2021, forming an active network of 30 scholars based representing 15 different countries. FKNE scholars are selected for 2 X 2-year terms, after which they become members of the growing network of FKNE Alumni.
‘This is an opportunity to meet the best of the best twice a year. It will provide unique opportunities to develop our research. I will be able to work with scientists from a wide range of backgrounds and competences, to discuss, to find common points of contact, to find common interests. I believe that this will be beneficial for my research group, the Department of Neurobiology and Biophysics at Vilnius University, and for the development of neuroscience in Lithuania," Dr Urtė Neniškytė says.
‘The selection of the 2023 cohort was an incredibly hard feat to accomplish, as a testament to the brilliance and talent of the young European neuroscience community. We are proud to announce the candidates that have been selected for the network, who excelled in brilliance and leadership. We are also painfully aware of how many exceptional scientists and leaders were left behind, with whom we hope to closely collaborate in the future” says Prof. Flavio Donato, chair of the 2023 selection committee, Assistant Professor at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, Switzerland, and Chair of the FENS-Kavli Network.
‘The Kavli Foundation is honoured to welcome this remarkable cohort of scholars into the FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence,’ said Amy Bernard, Director of Life Science at The Kavli Foundation. ‘We are inspired by their past accomplishments, and look forward to future transformative contributions in the field of neuroscience.’
The multidisciplinary, international network of FENS-Kavli Scholars is self-organised and aims to improve neuroscience in Europe and beyond through scientific exchange, advocacy, and outreach. FKNE Scholars participate in several meetings per year that allow for lively discussion about a range of topics across Neuroscience, as well as challenges and opportunities for European neuroscientists. They then put their ideas into action, for example through opinion articles and white-paper recommendations to European stakeholders on funding schemes and other key issues, public engagement, establishing conference childcare grants, and through the delivery of special prizes that are awarded during the FENS Forum for exceptional individuals. These prizes are aimed at shining a light on senior investigators who have shown outstanding examples of mentorship, younger scientists who have delivered excellent PhD theses, and for role models who have substantially contributed to the advancement of diversity in neuroscience.