ALBA Network partners with Roche

The ALBA Network is excited to announce a new partnership with Roche, a global leader in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, in the pursuit of a more inclusive and diverse neuroscience community.

For the next three years, Roche will support a new ALBA-Roche Prize, a prestigious award designed to recognise and celebrate excellence in research by outstanding individuals from underrepresented groups in academia. The annual 15,000 EUR prize will be presented at a major neuroscience conference and will focus on early career researchers and those working on brain disease mechanisms.

Zeljka Krsnik, Chair of the ALBA Network and Professor at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, expressed her enthusiasm: “I am thrilled about this collaboration and, very specially, at the potential transformation the ALBA Roche Prize will bring to the careers of gifted early-stage researchers from underrepresented groups in the forthcoming years.”

With this collaboration, Roche will become a Core Partner of the ALBA Network. Roche will also secure a seat on the ALBA Council of Partners, which serves as an advisory board to the ALBA Board of Directors.

Carmen Sandi, ALBA Founder and Professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, highlights the great value of this agreement to ALBA: "ALBA partners with a top pharma leader, reinforcing our influence in the sector. The ALBA-Roche partnership underscores our shared values and amplifies our impact in brain research diversity and inclusion on a global scale.".

About the ALBA Network

The ALBA Network is a growing and highly dynamic movement in the neuroscientific community committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in brain sciences. ALBA engages in a range of globally focused DEI initiatives aimed at counteracting bias, empowering individuals and organisations to embrace equity, and tackling underrepresentation of women, racial and ethnic minorities and members of other disadvantaged groups in (neuro)science and academia. ALBA has a global reach with over 1600 members from 89 countries worldwide, which also reflects its close relationships with its founding partners – the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS), the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) and the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). ALBA is administered by FENS, an international non-profit association that serves as the main organization representing neuroscience in Europe.

More information on the ALBA-Roche Prize to follow soon - stay tuned!