We are thrilled to announce that Charlène Aubinet has been awarded the prestigious Early Career Award during the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Belgian Association for Psychological Sciences (BAPS). This recognition highlights her exceptional contributions to the field of psychological sciences, particularly her innovative research on the residual cognitive and language functions of patients recovering from comas.

The decision was not an easy one, as all candidates were exceptionally well-qualified. However, after intense discussion, the jury unanimously agreed that the award should be handed to Charlène Aubinet. The main reason for selecting Charlène Aubinet includes her notable early-career academic rise and impressive research outputs, the high significance and originality of her research findings within the field. She has advanced high-quality research into the residual cognitive and language functions of patients recovering from comas—a research field fraught with significant methodological challenges. Additionally, she has developed improved methods to detect consciousness and language impairments in this specific group of patients, using both behavioral assessments and neuroimaging techniques. These developments are expected to have a lasting impact on her field, which, in the jury’s opinion, fully merits the award.

At the conference, Charlène also presented her work titled “Dissociation of language and consciousness recovery after severe brain injury”. Her presentation was met with great interest and appreciation from the attendees, further underscoring the impact of her research.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Charlène Aubinet for her remarkable achievements and look forward to her future contributions to the field of psychological sciences.