Three UCL researchers honoured with Leverhulme prizes

Three academics at UCL have been awarded prestigious 2021 Philip Leverhulme Prizes for their internationally recognised work in neuroscience, politics, and earthquake mechanics. Dr Tobias Hauser (UCL Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging), Dr Inken von Borzyskowski (UCL Political Science), and Dr Nicolas Brantut (UCL Earth Sciences) have each been awarded a prize worth £100,000. Each year the Leverhulme Trust gives out 30 such prizes to exceptional researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future careers are exceptionally promising. Chosen from over 400 nominations, the Trust offered five prizes in each of the following subject areas, which change every year: Classics; Earth Sciences; Physics; Politics and International Relations; Psychology; and Visual and Performing Arts. Dr Hauser was awarded a prize in Psychology for his work on experimental psychology and decision neuroscience. He intends to use the award to fund a novel research project investigating what causes spontaneous brain fluctuations. He will develop new methods and approaches to record neurotransmitters inside the brain, and thereby probe their impact on behaviour.