The prestigious Lister Institute Research Prize is awarded annually to outstanding scientists in the biomedical sciences, and is awarded to Dr Rebecca Lawson for her research in the field of computational psychiatry.
Dr Lawson joined the Department of Psychology in 2018 as a Royal Society Wellcome Trust Henry Dale Fellow, and in 2019 was appointed as a University Lecturer and Fellow of Clare College. Her research group, the Prediction and Learning Lab, uses computational models, pharmacology and brain imaging to understand how humans learn to build expectations about the world around them, and how these processes might function differently in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.
“When I received the phone call to tell me that I was going to be a Lister Research Prize Fellow I was absolutely thrilled” said Dr Lawson. “The good news came a couple of months into the coronavirus pandemic while we were still in lockdown, and it was nice to have something to celebrate. I am excited about the work that my lab is planning to do the coming years and the Lister Prize funds will support us to take our research in a number of exciting new directions”.
It is hoped that Dr Lawson will be able to formally receive her award from the Chairman and Director of the Lister Institute at a prize winners’ ceremony to be held at the University of Cambridge in early 2021. Professor Mark Johnson, head of the Psychology Department said” We are delighted that Rebecca’s highly innovative and exciting research programme has been acknowledged by this prestigious research prize, and we look forward to the prize winners ceremony next year”.