The C.L. de Carvalho-Heineken Prize for Cognitive Sciences and Intelligent Systems honours pioneering work and research excellence in cognition and intelligent systems. The prize encompasses cognitive sciences, neurobiology, artificial intelligence and related fields concerned with cognition and intelligent systems, including both human and machine intelligence.
Every two years, the prize is awarded to a renowned researcher who has made groundbreaking contributions to the field. The prize includes an unrestricted cash prize of EUR 300,000 and a trophy, funded by the Alfred Heineken Fondsen Foundation.
History of the prize
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken established the prize in 2006 in memory of her father Alfred Heineken, who was fascinated by the workings of the human brain. At the time, cognitive science was still a relatively young field, building on a growing body of research into our ability to think, communicate, learn, decide and perceive.
In 2026, the Alfred Heineken Fondsen Foundation renamed the prize the C.L. de Carvalho-Heineken Prize for Cognitive Sciences and Intelligent Systems, broadening its scope to encompass rapidly developing fields such as artificial intelligence and research into both human and machine intelligence.
Notable laureates
Laureates of the C.L. de Carvalho-Heineken Prize for Cognitive Science include some of the world’s leading scientists. Among them are James McClelland, who made fundamental contributions to the use of neural networks to model cognitive processes in the brain; Elizabeth Spelke, who executed pioneering research into the cognitive development of infants; and John Duncan, whose work builds essential bridges between psychology, behaviour, and intelligence on the one hand and neural processes on the other.