Mensa Foundation Opens Nominations for $25,000 Prize Honoring Breakthroughs in Intelligence Research

HURST, Texas, Nov. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mensa Foundation, a nonprofit charity dedicated to broadening the understanding of intelligence and fostering intellectual growth across the lifespan, is now accepting nominations for its sixth biennial Mensa Foundation Prize. This award honors groundbreaking discoveries in intelligence, cognitive science, neuroscience, and related fields that elevate our understanding of human intellect.

Endowed by the estate of Kenneth Douglas Thomson, the award is presented biennially by the Mensa Education and Research Foundation and includes a $25,000 prize, further incentivizing the most creative research toward our understanding of human intelligence.

The award honors applied and fundamental discoveries in areas such as brain-related research, creation of tools and mechanisms for advancing such research, or any significant research that leads to an improved understanding of human intelligence, including artificial intelligence. Discoveries must be documented in a major peer-reviewed scientific journal to earn consideration, and nominees will be asked to provide supporting evidence.

In 2017, Dr. David Silver accepted the inaugural Foundation Prize for leading Google's efforts to develop the first computer program to defeat the world's best Go players.

In 2019, Professor Aron K. Barbey won the award for significantly advancing the neuroscience of brain connectivity with his innovative research applying functional magnetic resonance imaging to the mapping of brain lesions and measuring their effects on raw intelligence.

In 2021, statistical geneticist Dr. Danielle Posthuma was presented with the award for her research directly identifying, for the first time, hundreds of human genes highly correlated with variations in intelligence.

In 2023, neuroscientist Dr. R. Douglas Fields was awarded the Mensa Foundation Prize for his research on plasticity and active myelination in brains related to learning and intelligence.

In 2025, neuroscientist Dr. Fredrik Ullén of the Max Planck Institute in Germany was awarded the Mensa Foundation Prize for his work showing that developing expertise, using music practice as the foundation, proportionately increases brain white matter pathways and is directly correlated with intelligence.

Nominations for the Mensa Foundation Prize can be made now through Feb. 28, 2027. An application and prize guidelines can be found at MensaFoundation.org/FoundationPrize.

Selection, made by a committee that includes accomplished Mensans and internationally renowned experts, will be announced in the summer of 2027.

Neither nominees nor nominators need to be members of Mensa to participate.

The Mensa Education and Research Foundation is dedicated to unleashing intelligence for the benefit of humanity. Through research, education, and community engagement, the Foundation fosters intellectual growth across all stages of life and celebrates breakthroughs in intelligence-related fields. Governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees, the Mensa Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization supported by donations from individuals and organizations committed to its mission.

SOURCE Mensa Foundation