Dr. Edvard Moser is a Professor of Neuroscience and Director of the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. He is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking research on the neural basis of spatial representation and memory, which has transformed our understanding of how the brain maps the environment.

Dr. Moser’s research, conducted in close collaboration with May-Britt Moser, led to the discovery of grid cells in the entorhinal cortex – neurons that provide a coordinate system for spatial navigation. This finding revealed a fundamental mechanism by which the brain computes location and distance, and was followed by the identification of other specialized cell types, including border cells and speed cells, further establishing the entorhinal cortex as a central hub for spatial cognition.

His team continues to explore the microcircuitry of spatial networks, using advanced electrophysiological and imaging techniques to decode how neural ensembles represent space and memory. Recent projects include the development of lightweight two-photon miniscopes for in vivo brain mapping and the ERC-funded KILONEURONS initiative, which aims to uncover principles of network organization in large neural populations of high-level cortical systems.

Dr. Moser received his PhD in neurophysiology from the University of Oslo, where he studied memory formation in freely moving animals under the mentorship of Dr. Per Andersen. He completed postdoctoral training with Richard Morris in Edinburgh and briefly with John O’Keefe in London, where he learned tetrode recording techniques that would become central to his later discoveries.

He joined NTNU in 1996 as Associate Professor and became Full Professor in 1998. In 2002, he founded the Centre for the Biology of Memory, which evolved into the Kavli Institute in 2007. He also co-directs the Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex at NTNU.

Dr. Moser’s contributions have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2014, which he shared with May-Britt Moser and John O’Keefe. Other honours include the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, the Koerber Prize, the Louis Jeantet Prize, and multiple ERC Advanced Grants.

Beyond his scientific achievements, Dr. Moser is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of neuroscientists and advancing open science through collaborative tool development and data sharing.