The 2026 Chinese Government Friendship Award ceremony was held with great fanfare on September 30 at the Great Hall of the People, where a total of 50 foreign experts were honored with the award. Academician Nikolaos Logothetis, Co-Director and Senior Researcher at the International Center for Primate Brain Research of the Center of Excellence for Brain Science and Intelligence Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, received this distinction.
Academician Logothetis is a leading scholar in the field of international neuroscience, a Foreign Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and a Member of the German Academy of Sciences. He previously served as Co-Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany. In 2021, he joined the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence at the Chinese Academy of Sciences on a full-time basis and participated in the establishment of the International Center for Primate Brain Research. This initiative became a landmark case of the wholesale recruitment of a world-class international team in China’s basic science sector; earning a feature article in Science magazine and attracting widespread attention from the global academic community.
As the pioneer of simultaneous electrophysiology–fMRI technology, Academician Logothetis was the first to combine electrophysiological techniques with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), elucidating the neural basis of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals and laying a crucial scientific foundation for the accurate interpretation of global fMRI data. He has achieved a series of groundbreaking results in fields such as visual perception and object recognition, binocular competition, consciousness, and sleep and memory consolidation. To date, he has mentored more than 60 outstanding scholars who currently hold professorial positions around the world.
After arriving in China, Academician Logothetis led his team in building a world-class primate research system from the ground up, including non-human primate and rodent research facilities that meet international welfare standards, a multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) platform, and a precision machining workshop. The team developed a globally unique vertical high-field MRI system, filling a gap in China’s capabilities for high-field brain imaging of non-human primates; He spearheaded the publication of Nonhuman Primate Research in the Laboratory: Core Principles and Practical Considerations setting a benchmark for international ethical and experimental standards. He actively promoted international cooperation and exchange, partnering with international brain research organizations to host high-level summer schools for multiple consecutive years and inviting internationally renowned experts to China for academic exchanges. The team continues to advance research on consciousness and cognition, develop multimodal imaging methodologies, and build an interdisciplinary talent pool, providing strong support for China’s major initiatives in brain science and brain-inspired research. Foreign staff members account for nearly 25% of his team, hailing from seven countries, making the team a vivid showcase of Shanghai’s “openness, inclusivity, and internationalization.” Previously, he has received major international academic awards, including Russia’s VYZOV Award for Future Technologies, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Award for International Science and Technology Cooperation Award, the Louis-Jeantet Prize of Medicine, and the Golden Brain Award.
The Chinese Government Friendship Award is a prestigious honor established by the Chinese government to recognize foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China’s reform, opening-up, and modernization efforts, reflecting China’s high regard for international talent and scientific and technological cooperation. Academician Logothetis’s receipt of the Chinese Government Friendship Award not only serves as a high recognition of his outstanding scientific contributions and his role in promoting Sino-foreign scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation, but also serves as a vivid testament to China’s proactive integration of basic research into the global innovation network and Shanghai’s efforts to build itself into a global hub for science, technology, and innovation as well as a talent magnet.