Hu Hailan, a professor of neuroscience at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, was awarded the 12th IBRO-Kemali International Prize for research in the field of basic and clinical neurosciences.

In a statement on July 15, the IBRO-Kemali Foundation Prize Committee said Hu was selected in recognition of her impressive work on the fundamental neurobiological mechanisms of emotional and affective behaviors. "Overall, she has an outstanding productivity and a well-established, high profile in systems neuroscience, a rapidly expanding and very competitive field," it said.

This is the first time the prize, which is awarded every two years to an outstanding researcher under the age of 45, has been awarded to a scientist outside Europe or North America since its inception in 1998.

Hu graduated from Peking University in 1996 and the University of California, Berkeley in 2002. She joined Zhejiang University as executive director of the Center for Neuroscience in 2015.