Awards


IAEA gives several awards to recognize excellence in empirical research on aesthetics and creativity:

These awards honor Fechner, Washburn, Francis, and Baumgarten as much as they honor the recipients of the awards.

Gustav Theodor Fechner Award

For Outstanding Contributions to Empirical Aesthetics


German philosopher and psychologist Gustav Theodor Fechner (1811-1887) founded experimental psychology with his work on psychophysics in the 1860s. With the publication of Vorschule der Aesthetik (Preschool of Aesthetics) in 1876, he initiated the domain of experimental aesthetics.

Hans Jürgen Eysenck, 1996
Robert Francès, 1998
Colin Martindale, 2000
Pavel Machotka, 2002
Diana Deutsch, 2008
Paul Locher, 2012
Lisa F. Smith, 2014
Jeffrey K. Smith, 2016
Gerald C. Cupchik, 2018
Chris McManus, 2021
Helmut Leder, 2024

Margaret Floy Washburn Award

For Outstanding Contribution to Empirical Aesthetics by a Mid-Career Scientist


Margaret Floy Washburn was the first woman to earn a doctoral degree in American psychology in 1894, and the second woman to serve as APA’s (American Psychological Association) President. Her main research interests involved animal behaviour, sensation and perception. Her contributions to empirical aesthetics included studies of individual differences in the strength of aesthetic pleasure, a test of aesthetic judgment, and research on factors that influence the pleasingness of colours.

Marcos Nadal, 2024

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten Award

For Outstanding Contributions of Young Scientists


German philosopher Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714-1762) first used the term “aesthetics” in its modern sense in 1750, thereby giving a name to large areas of study within philosophy and scientific psychology.

Andras Farkas, 2002
Helmut Leder, 2002
Thomas Jacobsen, 2008
Aaron Kozbelt, 2008
Marcos Nadal, 2014
Martin Tröndle, 2014
Matthew Pelowski, 2016
Pablo Tinio, 2016
Beatriz Calvo-Merino, 2018
Rebecca Chamberlain, 2022
Eva Specker, 2024
Nicole Ruta, 2024

Robert Francès Award

For Most Outstanding Student Research Contribution


Robert Francès (1919-2012) was one of the founders of IAEA in 1965. His research focused on psychology of aesthetics and psychology of music.

Shih-Ting Huang, 2010
Benjamin van Buren, 2010
Yi-wan Lu, 2012
Fabien Greb, 2014
Teresa Pegors, 2014
Odette da Silva, 2014
Francesco Walker, 2016
Michelle Oraa Ali, 2016
Gemma Schino, 2024
Dominik Welke, 2024
Giacomo Bignardi, 2024
Surabhi S. Nath, 2024

Sir Francis Galton Award

(discontinued in 2023)


Dean Keith Simonton, 1996
Hans Jürgen Eysenck, 1998
Ravenna Helson, 2000
Nathan Kogan, 2002
Robert Sternberg, 2008