General activities
The foundation< was recognized as a charitable institution by the French Government by decree on 20th March 1979.
Its headquarters are located 194, rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France.
The objective of the Fyssen Foundation is to encourage “all forms of scientific inquiry into cognitive mechanisms, including thought and reasoning, that underly animal and human behavior; their biological and cultural bases, and phylogenetic and ontogenetic development”.
The Foundation aims to support research which will lead to a more rigorous and precise approach to this fundamental domain, calling upon such disciplines as ethology, paleontology, archaeology, anthropology, psychology, logic and the neurosciences.
The Foundation is named after its founder, Mr. H. Fyssen, a French businessman who has long been interested in the scientific understanding of cognitive problems, and who is responsible for its endowment. After his death in 1982, Mrs A.H. FYSSEN succeeded him at the presidency of the Foundation. She died in 2003. The Fyssen Foundation has developed a programme to support research in the above-mentioned area. This programme includes in particular:
- POST-DOCTORAL STUDY GRANTS, for the training and support of scientists working in fields which coincide with the aims of the Foundation; they will be granted to French scientists going abroad and to foreign scientists wishing to work in French laboratories ;
- RESEARCH GRANTS, in the same conditions, to support scientists in the field or in laboratories, who are working along lines of research corresponding to the objectives of the Foundation ;
- the ORGANIZATION OF ITS OWN SYMPOSIA AND PUBLICATIONS on topics considered as important in fulfilling the aims of the Foundation ;
- the regular publication of the FYSSEN ANNALS which include original articles in the fields supported by the Foundation ;
- an INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC PRIZE, given for a decisive contribution to the progress of knowledge in the fields of research supported by the Foundation. The Prize shall be given each year to a scientist of international reputation.
This programme is based on a guaranteed annual budget which will enable the Fyssen Foundation to make an effective contribution to this important area of research in the future.