News

We are pleased to announce that Professor Andreas Bartels, head of the Vision & Cognition Lab at the Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), University of Tübingen, has been elected an Academician of the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness (WAAC) in recognition of his systematic contributions to the neural mechanisms of vision and consciousness, and to the roles of feedback and context.

Over many years, Professor Bartels and his collaborators have used neuroimaging and causal-intervention paradigms to reveal the neural hubs linking global–local processing to conscious perception. In the Journal of Neuroscience (2013), they showed that the anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIPS) directly participates in the conscious perception of illusory wholes. In the Journal of Neuroscience (2018), they proposed a “general mechanism of perceptual organization,” demonstrating that posterior parietal cortex acts as a hub for scene segmentation across multiple motion cues, accompanied by decreased responses in early visual cortex—consistent with feedback modulation predicted by predictive coding. At the level of feedback and prediction, the team reported in Cerebral Cortex (2017) that predictive signals in early visual areas (V1–V3) can arise via feedback pathways from higher-level regions. At the level of representation and subjective experience, they showed in the Journal of Neuroscience (2018) that activity patterns in hV4 encode both external color and the behavioral expression of color imagery, bridging stimulus-driven and internally generated color perception. Together, these studies provide cross-level evidence for how context and feedback shape conscious vision, and they offer important reference points for computational modeling of “reportability and global broadcasting” in artificial consciousness systems.

• 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.

We are pleased to announce that David Gamez, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at Middlesex University London and a leading scholar of machine consciousness, has been elected an Academician of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (WAAC) in recognition of his systematic work on machine/artificial consciousness, the measurement and evaluation of consciousness, and its mathematical formalization.

Over the years, Professor Gamez has advanced a research program that makes consciousness measurable through integrated theoretical and empirical approaches: his early review, “Progress in Machine Consciousness” (2008), offered a classic, field-shaping framework for machine consciousness; in Frontiers in Psychology (2014) he proposed a theory-neutral framework for measuring consciousness built around a sequence of definitions–assumptions–metrics; and his monograph Human and Machine Consciousness (2018) further laid out a testable foundation for consciousness science and explored how to make scientific predictions about the consciousness of animals, brain-injured patients, and machines. Together, these contributions provide key methodological tools for evaluating artificial consciousness and cross-system comparisons.

• 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.

We are pleased to announce that James J. Heckman—economist at the University of Chicago, Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor, and Director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development (CEHD)—has been elected an Academician of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (WAAC), in recognition of his foundational work on sample-selection bias correction (the “Heckman correction”), human capital and life-cycle skill formation, and the economic evaluation and policy impact of early childhood education.

Over the years, Professor Heckman has used rigorous econometric methods and long-term follow-ups to illuminate how individual development, family environments, and educational investments shape adult skills and socioeconomic outcomes: methodologically, he proposed and developed the now-standard framework for correcting non-random sample selection, a contribution for which he received the 2000 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences; substantively, he and collaborators advanced the life-cycle skill-formation framework, demonstrating the multiplier effect that early investments exert (“skills beget skills”); and in policy evaluation, his cost–benefit analyses show that high-quality, comprehensive birth-to-five programs can yield about 13% annual social returns, while classic preschool programs deliver approximately 7–10% per year—evidence that has informed education and social policy worldwide.

• 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.

We are pleased to announce that Jean Decety, a social neuroscientist and Irving B. Harris Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, has been elected an Academician of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (WAAC), in recognition of his foundational work in the social neuroscience of empathy, self–other representation, and moral cognition.

Over the years, Prof. Decety has used integrated experimental and theoretical approaches to elucidate the neural mechanisms of human empathy. With collaborators, he advanced a framework that couples bottom-up emotion sharing with top-down regulatory control, emphasizing the necessity of distinguishing self from other during empathic responses. His team’s neuroimaging studies have shown partial overlap between the neural substrates of observing others’ pain and experiencing pain oneself, while also revealing distinct processing when adopting self versus other perspectives. In addition, animal research he co-authored provided evidence that rats display helping behavior toward distressed conspecifics, broadening our understanding of the evolutionary roots and biological bases of empathy.

• 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.

We are pleased to announce that Professor Seeram Ramakrishna, a materials engineering scholar at the National University of Singapore, has been elected an academician of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (WAAC) for his systematic contributions to electrospun nanofibers, the sustainable and circular materials economy, and cross-disciplinary governance of engineering.

Over many years, Academician Ramakrishna has led his team to advance electrospun nanofibers, building an end-to-end research program that spans methodology through applications. His academic and international impact is widely recognized: he has been elected an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) and a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Engineering Singapore, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and the ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology. In 2024, he received the Chinese Government Friendship Award. In sustainable and circular materials, he has proposed and implemented a “materials–devices–systems” roadmap and evaluation framework—from material intelligence to embodied intelligent systems—providing clear levers for verification and real-world deployment.

• 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.

We are pleased to announce that Professor Fred H. “Rusty” Gage of the Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has been elected an Academician of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (WAAC), in recognition of his foundational contributions to adult neurogenesis and neural plasticity, the effects of physical activity and enriched environments on brain function, and neuronal genomic diversity driven by L1 (LINE-1) retrotransposons.

Over many years, Professor Gage has led a sustained research program in adult neurogenesis. His collaborative work provided direct evidence that the adult human hippocampus continues to generate new neurons and showed that voluntary exercise and environmental enrichment can significantly promote neurogenesis and enhance learning and memory—overturning a long-standing textbook assumption. He has also proposed and substantiated key mechanisms of neuronal genomic mosaicism, revealing the activity of L1 retrotransposons in neural progenitors and neurons and its relationship to diversity in brain function. These advances have provided important underpinnings for understanding the biological basis of consciousness and cognition.

• 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.

We are pleased to announce that Giacomo Rizzolatti, Professor Emeritus of Physiology at the University of Parma and a pioneering figure in mirror-neuron research, has been elected an Academician of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (WAAC), in recognition of his foundational contributions to the discovery and mechanistic elucidation of mirror neurons, action understanding and social cognition, and self–other representation and consciousness.

Over the past decades, Professor Rizzolatti and the “Parma school” have systematically revealed the mirror-neuron mechanism: his team first reported mirror neurons in the macaque ventral premotor cortex (area F5) and proposed their key role in action understanding and imitation; subsequent work helped establish the mirror-neuron system in humans and its broader theoretical framework, advancing research in social cognition and consciousness. In recognition of these advances, he shared The Brain Prize in 2014.

• 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.

We are pleased to announce that Professor Jingnan Liu—Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Professor at Wuhan University (former President of Wuhan University and founding President of Duke Kunshan University)—has been elected a Honorary Academician of the World Academy for Artificial Consciousness (WAAC), in recognition of his systematic and pioneering contributions to geodetic reference frame theory, BeiDou/GNSS high-precision positioning technologies, spatiotemporal intelligence, and core software R&D and major engineering applications.

Over the years, Professor Liu has led sustained efforts in the fundamental theories and key technologies of satellite navigation and positioning: he established China’s first Continuous Operating Reference Stations (CORS) system, oversaw the overall design of the national BeiDou Ground-Based Augmentation System, and spearheaded the first provincial-level BeiDou augmentation system in Hubei Province. His team developed internationally influential precision data-processing software for satellite navigation and multi-constellation precise-orbit determination methods, and conquered critical challenges in high-precision data processing for the heterogeneous BeiDou constellation, providing a solid foundation for the engineering deployment and large-scale application of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.

• 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.

We are pleased to announce that Professor Friedemann Pulvermüller, a professor of language neuroscience at the Free University of Berlin, has been honored with the title of academician of the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness (WAAC) for his groundbreaking research in the fields of language neurobiology, mechanisms of consciousness, and symbolic representation.

Professor Pulvermüller has long been dedicated to uncovering the relationship between language and the brain, proposing the “active perception-action loop” model, which emphasizes that language comprehension relies not only on the neural circuits of perception and action systems but also on the interaction between these circuits. His research has provided significant neuroscientific foundations for the construction of artificial consciousness and has fostered interdisciplinary collaboration and development.

• 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.

We are pleased to announce that Professor Gualtiero Piccinini, a professor of philosophy and a computational philosopher at the University of Missouri, Columbia, has been honored with the title of academician of the World Academy of Artificial Consciousness (WAAC) for his outstanding contributions to the fields of computationalism, neural computation theory, and the study of consciousness mechanisms.

Professor Piccinini has long been dedicated to exploring the relationship between the mind and computation, proposing the “mechanistic explanation of physical computation” theory, which emphasizes that computation is a process of mechanisms in physical systems, rather than merely symbolic manipulation. In research published with his collaborators in the journal Cognitive Science, he argued that neural computation is neither digital computation nor analog computation, but a distinct mechanistic process. His seminal work, Neurocognitive Mechanisms: Explaining Biological Cognition, systematically elaborates on the application of computational theory in biological cognition, offering new perspectives on the neural mechanisms of consciousness.

• 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.