Daniel Ansari

Daniel Ansari (born December 26, 1975) is a German-Canadian cognitive neuroscientist and professor specializing in children's cognitive and neural development, with emphasis on numerical and mathematical skills and understanding. He is a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning at Western University, Canada. He was a member of the college of the Royal Society of Canada from 2014 to 2017. He is also a Fellow in the Child and Brain Development Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Ansari received the Boyd McCandless Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association. He was an Advanced Research Fellow of the Klaus J. Jacobs Foundation from 2018 to 2020.

Ansari has authored or co-authored over 140 journal articles and has over 20k citations on Google Scholar with a h-index of 78.

Education
In 1999 Ansari completed his B.A. (Hons) in Psychology from the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences at the University of Sussex.

He earned a Ph.D. from the Neurocognitive Development Unit at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, completed between 1999 and 2003.

During his doctoral studies, he became increasingly interested in neuroscience. He interrupted his PhD for a year to study for an MSc in neuroscience at the University of Oxford.

In 2003, Ansari became an assistant professor of education at Dartmouth College in the education department.

Career
From July 2010 to July 2014, he served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology Institute at Western University. From July 2014 to July 2018, he served as a professor.

Since July 2018, he has been serving as a Professor jointly appointed in the Department of Psychology and the Faculty of Education.

Numerical Cognition Laboratory
For the past 20 years, Ansari has directed The Numerical Cognition Laboratory, a research group focused on understanding numerical processing, mathematical abilities, and the challenges some children face in early numeracy and math. The lab employs behavioral and brain imaging methods to investigate the cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in numerical cognition.

Awards and fellowships
In 2011, Ansari was honored with the Boyd McCandless Early Career Award by the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 7: Developmental Psychology.

In 2012, he was the recipient of the Transforming Education through Neuroscience Award from IMBES and L&B.

He was the president of the International Mind Brain and Education Society from 2016-2018.

In 2018, Ansari received the Marion Welchman International Award from the British Dyslexia Association.

'In 2019, Ansari became Fellow in the Child and Brain Development Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR). From 2018 to 2020 Ansari was a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

In 2020, his contributions to developmental cognitive neuroscience were further recognized with a Tier I Canada Research Chair. He earned the Jacobs Foundation Advanced Research Fellowship, spanning from 2018 to 2020.

In 2015, Ansari also received the NSERC E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship.

In 2022, Ansari was designated as a LEAP Fellow by MIT Solve.