Ferrier Medal and Lecture winner 2021
Professor Daniel Wolpert FMedSci FRS
The Ferrier Medal and Lecture 2021 is awarded to Professor Daniel Wolpert FMedSci FRS for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of how the brain controls movement. Using theoretical and experimental approaches he has elucidated the computational principles underlying skilled motor behaviour.
Professor Wolpert will be awarded a medal and a gift of £2,000 at a future date.
Return to this year's Royal Society medal, award and prize winners.
The award
The lectureship was created in memory of the neurologist and psychologist David Ferrier FRS (PDF), and was first awarded in 1928. It is given on a subject related to the advancement of natural knowledge on the structure and function of the nervous system. The medal is of bronze, is awarded biennially and is accompanied by a gift of £2,000.
Nominations
The call for nominations is now closed. The next round of nominations opens in November 2021.
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Past winners
Professor Ray Dolan FMedSci FRS was awarded the Ferrier Medal in 2019 and presented his lecture Seeing the future: how our brains decide our actions.
Professor Christine Holt FMedSci FRS was awarded the Ferrier Medal in 2017 and presented her lecture Wiring up the brain: How axons navigate.
Professor John O'Keefe FMedSci FRS was awarded the Ferrier Medal in 2013 and presented his lecture NeuroNavigation: how the brain represents the space we live in and finds our way around.
See full list of all past winners of the Ferrier Medal and Lecture.