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We are pleased to announce that Cathy Price, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL’s Queen Square Institute of Neurology and a Fellow of the Royal Society, has been elected an academician of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (WAAC) for her foundational contributions to the language network and reading mechanisms, the PLORAS framework for predicting post-stroke language recovery, and the neural basis of conscious comprehension.
Over many years, Professor Price has used large-sample neuroimaging and clinical datasets to reveal organizational principles of the human brain’s language network, and she founded the PLORAS project, pioneering methods that predict aphasia recovery trajectories from a single structural scan combined with clinical variables. Related reviews and methodological papers have systematically summarized key evidence and challenges—for example, “Predicting Language Outcome and Recovery After Stroke” and “The PLORAS Database.” Her earlier highly cited reviews integrated imaging evidence on speech perception, speech production, and reading, providing a robust foundation for network-based mechanisms of conscious understanding.
- Global Collaboration and Academic Ecosystem
Academicians of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness hail from institutions such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, the University of California, the French Academy of Sciences, the University of Padua, the University of Queensland, Columbia University, and the University of Exeter. Honorary Academicians come from a wide range of countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Spain, and China. In addition, leading scientists from prominent research institutes and technology companies—such as Google, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and ZEEKR—also participate.
- About WAAC
The World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (https://www.waac.ac/) is a global academic institution established in Paris in 2025. Its mission is to advance frontier research and international collaboration in artificial consciousness through the integration of science, technology, and philosophy. The Academy publishes open research, policy recommendations, evaluation standards, and more. The current President is Academician Yucong Duan, and the Secretary-General is Dr. Yingbo Li. The Honorary Academician List: On May 3, 2025, WAAC released its first batch of Top 100 Honorary Academicians, recognizing scholars who have made foundational or leading contributions to the theory of artificial consciousness.