Narender Ramnani, Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London has been awarded with Honorary Membership by the British Neuroscience Association (BNA) - the highest recognition bestowed by the Association.
Honorary Membership is awarded to a very small number of individuals who have made a highly significant contribution to the BNA, as agreed by vote of the Council and Committee.
Professor Narender Ramnani’s award has been made as a mark of appreciation for his support to the BNA over the last 17+ years. On announcing the award, BNA Chief Executive Anne Cooke said:
"We have been privileged and lucky to have Narender give so much of his time, friendship, hard work and loyalty to the Association. We hope that Honorary Membership will provide a small acknowledgment of how much he has brought to the BNA and neuroscience more widely."
Amongst his BNA roles, Narender was Chair of the Programme Organising Committee during the period when the BNA first launched the concept of the BNA 'Festivals of Neuroscience', a unique forum for multiple neuroscience organisations to come together in a shared event. Most recently, Narender has been Trustee for Research Policy, greatly advancing the BNA's ability to advocate for neursocience and influence policy-makers, especially through his active involvement in the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee - something which Narender urged the BNA to join. One example of how this is giving the BNA a voice in Parliament is the 'Brain Gain' event held in October 2021.
An unofficial but important role played by Narender is guiding the BNA into improving its own practices for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), as well as championing EDI more widely across neuroscience. Narender was pivotal in the BNA's introduction of minimum requirements for the number of women speakers at BNA meetings (now consistently 50% of speakers at BNA Festivals); created the 'WISDAT' initative; and has been on the steering group for the BNA's new Scholars Programme for under-represented ethnic groups in neuroscience.
Narender continues to lead the Brain, Action and Cognition Lab with an active programme of research and supervising students at Royal Holloway.
