Neurologist and Clinical Professor at the Centre du Cerveau at the CHU de Liège, Director of Research at the FNRS, Steven Laureys managed, until early 2020, the Coma Science Group which he created in 2014 within the GIGA Consciousness center of the University of Liège.
Most of his research is devoted to the study of alterations of consciousness in severely cerebral patients (coma, vegetative state/unresponsive awakening, minimal state of consciousness, locked-in syndrome), as well as during anaesthesia, sleep, meditation and in a hypnotic state.
Steven Laureys is the author of more than 450 scientific articles, some of which were published in the most prestigious journals, such as Science, Lancet, PNAS and Nature Review Neuroscience. In 2005, he published a book called “The Boundaries of Consciousness”. A second book (“The neurology of consciousness”) was published in 2008.
In 2015, he wrote the book “Un si brillant cerveau – les états limites de conscience” (Editions Odile Jacob) and in 2019 “Meditation is good for the brain” (Editions Odile Jacob), books for the general public, both best-sellers.
Winner of numerous scientific awards, including the Francqui Prize (2017) – the most prestigious Belgian scientific prize – and the Generet Prize (2019), Steven Laureys is undoubtedly one of the world’s leading experts on the problem of altered states of consciousness.
Director of FNRS Research
Clinical Professor, Department of Neurology, CHU Sart Tilman
Chair of the European Neurological Society Subcommittee on disorders of consciousness (2008-)
International Brain Injury Association, Board of Governors (2010-)
Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, President-Elect (2015)
Member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Diseases of the Nervous System Working Group (2011-)
