Congratulations to Kia Nobre for receiving a lifetime Association for Psychological Science (APS) Mentor Award, which recognises psychology researchers and educators who have shaped the future directions of science by fostering the careers of students and colleagues. This award honours the importance of mentoring in our field as well as the dedication and impact of individuals with a distinguished record of teaching, advising, and encouraging students and colleagues.
Kia set up the Brain & Cognition Lab in 1994. Since then, she has mentored and supervised nearly 50 doctoral students, over 40 postdoctoral fellows and countless (>100) BSc and MSc students.
A common thread throughout the nomination – put forward by her current "lab family" – was that Kia's success as a scientific and personal mentor could be "attributed to her unwavering capacity to care" and her commitment "to making our lives better and easier in whatever ways she can" including: reserving at least one day a week entirely for meeting the lab (not an easy feat for a busy head of department!); her attention to detail that drives all to be better, to think harder and question further at each stage of the experimental process; her unwavering support of her mentees career aspirations; and numerous kindnesses such as her willingness to offer guilt-free parental leave, a loan when a stipend payment was late, taking in students displaced by lost supervisors and, this year, knitting three baby blankets, one for each new parent in her lab.
Kia said, "This award, and especially the nomination made by my research group, means the world to me. My lab is a great source of personal inspiration and joy, with our earnest quest to puzzle out cognition in the brain and our honest conversations about developing as decent and happy humans."