Announcement

[DR M THOMAS]

Congratulations, Annette!

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The European Latsis Prize 2002 has been awarded to Professor Annette
Karmiloff-Smith, Head of the Neurocognitive Development Unit at the
Institute of Child Health, University College London, for her outstanding
contribution to the understanding of cognitive and language development in
children with genetic disorders.  The Prize ceremony took place at the
Assembly of the European Science Foundation on 28th November 2002 in
Strasbourg.

The European Latsis Prize, of a value of 100,000 Swiss Francs, is financed
by the Latsis Foundation and awarded by the European Science Foundation to
an individual or group who, in the opinion of their peers, has made the
greatest contribution to a particular field of European research. The
chosen field of the 2002 prize was "Cognitive Sciences".

Already recognised in her early career for her outstanding contribution to
the understanding of the human mind through her studies of normal child
development in several areas of cognition and psycholinguistics, Professor
Karmiloff-Smith switched her main research focus some fifteen years ago to
understanding the nature of language and intelligence in children with
genetic disorders. A particularly original facet of her work is that in
her studies of both normal and atypical development, she has always
embraced several different areas of cognition, using multiple
cross-disciplinary theoretical questions and techniques.

Professor Paolo Legrenzi from the European Latsis prize committee stated:
"The theoretical and empirical contributions of Annette Karmiloff-Smith
are amongst the most important results of the cognitive sciences over the
last thirty years. Her research on multiple areas of cognition and
language, which builds on a wide range of trans-disciplinary techniques,
has made an enormous impact on other researchers within Europe, North
America and the rest of the world."

On receiving the prize, Professor Karmiloff-Smith said, "Although I am of
course delighted personally, this is really a prize for all
developmentalists.  The fact that our field was chosen over adult
cognitive science, adult psycholinguistics, and adult neuroscience is a
real tribute to the developmental approach."