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IUPS Awards

IUPS is offering lecture awards for established researchers (presented as named lectures at the IUPS congresses) and travel awards primarily for physiologists in an early phase of their career.

Congress Travel Awards

The IUPS funds Travel Awards for those who have limited funds for attending meetings. Applications from early-career investigators (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty/researchers) and those from countries with relatively low GDPs (as listed by the World Bank) are strongly encouraged.

For IUPS2025 the application period has already ended. Further applications are not possible

Julie Chan

Julie Chan Prize

IUPS Julie Chan Prize is for physiologists who have contributed to international mentoringand/or career development.

Professor Julie Chan was the first female President of IUPS where she made a significant contribution to physiology leadership. The executive of IUPS decided to honor her many contributions with a prestigious award in her name. The prize is to recognize those who have helped mentor other physiologists and/or worked to help the professional development of physiologists. Applicants can be from any country/region and any career stage, but the panel will consider the extent of engagement and commitment to support and mentoring of young physiologists.

There will be one prize per year of $1,500.

The winner of the Julie Chan Prize 2024 is

Prof. Noriyuki Koibuchi M.D., Ph.D., Gunma University, Japan

Congratulations!!

More about the winner

Noriyuki Koibuchi

is a Vice President (Medical Education and Evaluation) and Professor and Director, Department of Integrative Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma University.

He obtained M.D. degree from Gunma University School of Medicine in 1985, and Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Endocrinology, Gunma University in 1989. After completing his postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University New York, he became an assistant professor at Dokkyo University School of Medicine, where he was promoted to Associate Professor. Then he became Visiting Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, Boston.

In 2001, he promoted a Professor of Physiology at Gunma University where he currently works. During 3.5 years in the United States and 30 years in Japan as a principal investigator, he mentored more than 40 mentees. Of note, he mentored 18 mentees from abroad including Syria, Indonesia, Iran, Colombia, Nigeria, and China.

 

IUPS International Early-Stage Faculty Prize for recently appointed physiologists

Being a new faculty/staff member physiologist is an exciting but testing time. The IUPS wants to help physiologists, irrespective of where they are based, and the area of physiology they work in, by awarding a prize.

Physiologists within 10 years of completing their PhD and 7 years of faculty appointment, who have made an excellent contribution to their faculty – quality not quantity, are invited to apply.

There will be up to four prizes per year, of $2,500 each.

The winners of the Early-Stage Faculty Prizes 2024 are:

Dr. Ya-Tin Lin

is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate Institute of Metabolism and Obesity Sciences, College of Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan. She leads a research team focusing on the neuronal regulation of metabolism, with an emphasis on the role of neuropeptides in metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes. Her team investigates how the central nervous system modulates metabolic health, aiming to uncover molecular mechanisms that could inspire innovative therapeutic strategies. In addition to her work on obesity and metabolism, she is also interested in studying pain transmission and regulation. Beyond her research, Dr. Lin is deeply committed to mentoring students and fostering the next generation of scientists. She also serves as the Secretary-General of the Chinese Physiological Society (CPS), actively organizing academic events and promoting physiological education and research in Taiwan.

Dr. Konstantinos Palikaras

is Assistant Professor of Experimental Physiology at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in Athens, Greece. He is a molecular biologist who has great experience in energy metabolism, autophagy and ageing. His research focuses on studies of autophagy, mitophagy and cellular homeostasis investigating the role of energy metabolism in neuronal physiology and survival. For his scientific accomplishments, Konstantinos Palikaras has received several notable scientific prizes including ERC Starting Grant (2022) and selected Fellow of the Young Academy of Europe (2024; https://yacadeuro.org/palikaras/).

He is also the recipient of the Cells 2023 Young Investigator Award (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cells/awards/2187) and the “Fotis Kafatos” Award for excellence in biology from Hellenic Society of Bioscientists.

Dr. Lingyan Shi

Her research focuses on advancing imaging technologies to address key challenges in the study of metabolic alterations under physiological and pathological conditions in living organisms. Her scientific contributions include developing the A-POD super resolution SRS nanoscopy, the PRM-SRS hyperspectral multiplex imaging platform, and the DO-SRS metabolic microscopy which paved the way for investigating chemical and biomolecular changes in living systems at subcellular resolution. By offering a label free and non-invasive imaging approach, this metabolic nanoscopy enables a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying physiological processes and disease development such as Alzheimer’s dementia, cancer, and diabetic complications.

Shi has also been deeply committed to mentoring, diversity initiatives, and serving the scientific community through leadership roles in SPIE (Conference Chair), npj Imaging (Associate Editor), and the upcoming Gordon Conference in Switzerland (co-Chair).

Dr. Nilanka Wickramasinghe

is a lecturer in the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Following her MBBS, she obtained her M.Sc. in Human Nutrition and her PhD in gastrointestinal (GI) physiology. She is currently a co-in-charge of the GI physiology research laboratoryat her department and provides the service of performing GI manometry (oesophageal and anorectal), pH impedance studies, and biofeedback therapy for dyssernergic defecation for the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, which is the largest hospital in Sri Lanka.

She has won two President awards in Scientific Research before the age of 30, has a patent & numerous publications in indexed journals, and authored books for both medical students as well as the general public on physiology.

The awards panel will consider candidates working in any area of physiology; their departments need not be identified as physiology departments i.e. candidates can be in departments of biomedical sciences, neuroscience etc. Candidates must be within 10 years of completing their PhD and within 7 years of their faculty appointment (this can be increased by up to 2 years for verified career breaks) and their head of department or institution or equivalent, must affirm the periods taken for career breaks on the application form. Candidates will be judged on their contributions to research, teaching and service to disciplines during their faculty tenure.

Please submit following documents until October 15th (deadline) to laura.davies@iups.org:

-> An abbreviated CV (up to five A4 pages) detailing their chronological academic career, highlighting major achievements across research, teaching and service to the disciplines. The achievements could include, but not limited to, a list of publications (peer reviewed papers, book chapters and edited books, underlining the corresponding author, and including the DOI), grants held, research awards received, teaching contributions, teaching awards received, invited and other contributions to meetings, webinars and similar outputs, public engagement and intramural and extramural academic activities.

-> A statement (up to one A4 page) emphasizing the achievements they are most proud of, and how this distinguishes them, as well as an indication of independence in current research, teaching, and service to disciplines.

-> A cover letter formally stating their application, countersigned by their head of department or equivalent and the names and contact details of two potential referees, who have agreed to be named and act as such.


Selection:
Selection will be performed by the IUPS Awards Panel. The members are Drs. Yoshihiro Kubo (chair), Federico Formenti, Andrew Moorhouse, Karin Sipido, Louis Sobrevia, and Linda Chia-Hui Yu.

The application form should be sent to Ms. Laura Davies ( IUPS secretariat) (Email: laura.davies@iups.org ) by the deadline of Sep 30, 2025.

The winners of the Early-Stage Faculty Prizes 2023

were Dr. Rosemary Brown, University of Otago, New Zealand, Dr. Antonios Chatzigeorgiou, University of Athens, Greece, Dr. Thomas A. Jepps, University of Copenhagen, Denmark and Dr. Taylor Dick, University of Queensland, Australia. Congratulations!!

IUPS Named Lectures

There are currently seven “named” lectures which are funded by IUPS and form an integral part of the IUPS congresses. The awardees are selected by the IUPS ExCo and some of the IUPS commitees respectively in agreement with the programme committee. Self nominations are not applicable.

President’s Lecture
The speaker of the president’s lecture is nominated by the president of IUPS to acknowledge the work of an outstanding physiologist by IUPS.

Wallace Fenn

was instrumental in the founding of the IUPS in 1953. He served as Secretary General from 1959 to 1965, and President from 1968 to 1971. He is the editor of History of the International Congresses of Physiological Sciences, 1889-1968. His work on muscle physiology is recognized in the “Fenn Effect”, which is the relation between the energy liberated and the work done during contraction. (text: Denis Noble)

Reference: Rall, J.A. Sense and nonsense about the Fenn effect. Am J Physiol 1982 Jan;242(1):H1-6. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.1982.242.1.H1.

Ernst Knobil

was 1st Vice President of the IUPS from 1997 to 2001. His work provided the basis for current understanding of the female reproductive system. His work enabled the development of the world’s first hormonal contraceptives. (text: Denis Noble)

Reference: Knobil and Neill’s Physiology of Reproduction (Third Edition) Copyright © 2006 Elsevier Inc.

Photo: Med.uth.edu. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://med.uth.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/profile-Ernst-Knobil.jpg> [Accessed 19 August 2020].

Te Pei Feng

is considered one of the founders of modern Chinese neuroscience and physiology. He worked at University College London with the Nobel Prize winner, A V Hill, and also at the Universities of Cambridge (with E D Adrian) and Oxford (with J C Eccles). His research included the physiology of the neuromuscular junction and synaptic plasticity in central nervous system synapses. He became a President of the Chinese Physiological Society. (text: Denis Noble)

Reference: https://www.physiology.org/docs/default-source/archive_tphys/the-physiologist-newsletter-1984-february.pdf?sfvrsn=88aa3fcd_2

Knut Schmidt-Nielsen

was President of the IUPS from 1980 to 1986. He is the founding editor of News in Physiological Sciences (now known as Physiology). He is regarded as the father of comparative physiology and integrative biology. (text: Denis Noble)

Reference: Vogel, S. (2008). “Knut Schmidt-Nielsen. 24 September 1915 — 25 January 2007”. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 54: 319–331. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2008.0010

Photo: Images.the-scientist.com. 2007. Knut Schmidt-Nielsen Dies. [online] Available at: <https://images.the-scientist.com/content/images/articles/52931/52931.jpg> [Accessed 19 August 2020].

Winners of the Knut Schmidt Nielsen award (since 2009)

:2009 – Brian Barnes 

2013 – Barbara Cannon

2017 – Duncan Mitchell

2022 – Roger Seymour

Robert Pitts

helped provide a fundamental understanding of the way the kidneys excreted acidic wastes and thereby maintained the body’s delicate biochemical balance between acidic and alkaline states. He is also known for his work on the organization of the Respiratory Center (the title of his publication in Physiological Reviews) (text: Denis Noble)

Reference: http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/pitts-robert.pdf

August Krogh

is the 1920 Nobel Laureate for Medicine or Physiology for the discovery of the mechanism of regulation of the capillaries in skeletal muscle. He was a pioneer in comparative physiology with publications on The Respiratory Exchange of Animals and Man (1916), Osmotic Regulation in Aquatic animals (1939) and The Comparative Physiology of Respiratory Mechanisms (1941). (text: Denis Noble)

Reference: “August Krogh (1874-1949) the physiologist’s physiologist”. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 199 (7): 496–497. 1967. doi:10.1001/jama.199.7.496. PMID 5335475

Photo: Upload.wikimedia.org. 2020. August Krogh. [online] Available at Wikipedia [Accessed 19 August 2020].

Winners of the August Krogh Award since 1986:

Kjell Johansen (1986)

Else Kay Hoffmann (1989)

Axel Michelsen (1993)

Bengt Saltin (2001)

Roy Edwin Weber (2005)

Tobias Wang (2009)

Patrik Rorsman (2013)

Christian Aalkjaer (2017)

Angela Fago (2023)

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