Winners
The 2026 winners are:
Kenneth Man, United Kingdom
Kenneth will present the Campfire Session CA12 'From big data to causal insight: rethinking neurodevelopmental risk across the lifespan', on Sunday 11 October, from 15.00 to 15.45 CEST, at the 39th ECNP Congress 2026.
Ziv Ben-Zion, Israel
Ziv will present the Campfire Session CA19 'Stress in the brain: toward objective markers and personalised interventions, with insights from AI', on Monday 12 October, from 13.55 to 14.40 CEST, at the 39th ECNP Congress 2026.
The award winners will be honoured with:
- An unrestricted prize of EUR 2,000 and a commemorative certificate to be presented at the ECNP Congress
- An invitation to the ECNP Congress with faculty benefits for travel and hotel
Award talk
The winners will deliver an award talk at the 39th ECNP Congress 2026.
Who is eligible?
- Candidates must be nominated by an ECNP member. Self-nominations by early career ECNP members are allowed.
- Candidates must be between 2-7 years after their terminal (Ph.D. or M.D.) degree with extensions for maternity, paternity, clinical training, and national service or long-term illness.
- Candidates must be residents of a European country* and affiliated with a university, research institute or hospital, and whose research originates primarily in Europe.
*The 46 countries of the Council of Europe, plus Israel.
Selection of the winner(s)
The winners were confirmed by the ECNP Executive Committee on recommendation of the ECNP Award Committee. The award cannot be shared and cannot be won more than once by the same individual.
Previous winners
View below previous ECNP Rising Star Award winners.
| Year | Winners |
| 2025 | Susanne Meinert, Germany |
| 2024 | Cristiana Cruceanu, Sweden Robert McCutcheon, United Kingdom |
| 2023 | Marieke Klein, The Netherlands Juan Pablo Lopez, Sweden |
| 2022 | Liubov Kalinichenko, Germany Nils Opel, Germany |
| 2021 | Covadonga M. Díaz-Caneja, Spain Dominique Endres, Germany |
| 2020 | Martine Hoogman, The Netherlands |