Brain Researcher Katrin Amunts Receives Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Helmholtz Research Field Information congratulates the Jülich brain researcher, Prof. Katrin Amunts, on being awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, which was presented to her by North Rhine-Westphalia’s Minister of Science Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen at the Ministry of Culture and Science in Düsseldorf on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, for her outstanding commitment to the neurosciences. The internationally renowned researcher is director of the Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine at Forschungszentrum Jülich and of the Cécile and Oskar Vogt Institute for Brain Research at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, as well as speaker of Topic 5: “Decoding Brain Organization and Dysfunction” in Program 1: “Natural, Artificial and Cognitive Information Processing” of the Helmholtz Research Field Information. Her work primarily focuses on developing a three-dimensional brain atlas that will allow the complicated structure and functioning of the brain to be imaged and understood at a microscopic level. (Source: Forschungszentrum Jülich – Press releases)
Katrin Amunts has also been the scientific director of the European flagship Human Brain Project (HBP) since 2016. In the process, she and hundreds of partners are building the novel EBRAINS research infrastructure, which combines neuroscience and the latest technologies. It is available to the entire research community and also provides free access to Amunts’ Brain Atlas.
“Prof. Katrin Amunts is one of the most important brain researchers ever. She has set standards and is a leader in her field. Experts from research and medicine worldwide use her findings in the field of ‘brain mapping’. Her excellent commitment goes far beyond her professional obligations. She also does great things through her commitment to social issues,” says Science Minister Pfeiffer-Poensgen.
With the development of the three-dimensional brain atlas, the neuroscientist has had a significant impact on international research. Amunts is also being honored because she goes beyond her field of research to take on a task of shaping the future and always focuses on the social impact of research. In doing so, the scientist provides effective impulses for ethical reflection and concrete research policy action with a European perspective. She is also being honored for her extensive science communication, in which she makes complex scientific and ethical topics understandable.
Katrin Amunts is active in various committees and networks and is highly recognized both nationally and internationally. Among other things, she was accepted as a full member of the National Academy of Sciences and Engineering (acatech) in 2016. There, her work focuses on the preparation of scientific topics for policy and societal advice. Since 2017, the professor has also been a full member of the Class for Natural Medical Sciences in the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts. From 2012 to 2020, she was one of 26 elected members of the German Ethics Council.
The researcher is also involved in numerous functions for young scientists. In 2015, Business Insider UK named her one of the world’s 50 most important scientists. Most recently, she received the James Bull Medal of the British Society of Neuroradiologists in 2021 and the Hector Science Prize in January 2022.
The original press release can be found at:
Brain Researcher Katrin Amunts Receives Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Localization in the Helmholtz Research Field Information:
Helmholtz Research Field Information, Program 2: Natural, Artificial and Cognitive Information Processing, Topic 5: „Decoding Brain Organization and Dysfunction“
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Katrin Amunts
Director of the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1)
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461/61-4300
E-Mail: k.amunts@fz-juelich.de
Contact for this press release:
Peter Zekert
Press Officer, Human Brain Project
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461 61 96860
E-Mail: press@humanbrainproject.eu
