Henrik Ehrsson

Henrik Ehrsson is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, where he began his appointment as an assistant professor in 2006 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London. He holds both a PhD (2001) and an MD (2002) from Karolinska Institutet.

He investigates the cognitive processes and neural mechanisms that allow the brain to distinguish sensory signals from the body from those arising in the external environment, and how self-related sensory signals are combined into a coherent multisensory experience of the physical self through the integration of touch, proprioception, vision, interoception and stored sensory information. This research has significant implications for the development of advanced neuro-prostheses that feel more like real limbs, for strengthening the sense of embodiment of avatars in virtual reality technologies, and for future brain-technology integration. It is also relevant for research into neurological, neuropsychiatric and psychiatric conditions that affect bodily awareness and the sense of self.

Henrik Ehrsson has published over 140 peer-reviewed scientific articles in leading international journals, including Science, Neuron and Nature Communications. His work has been highly influential, with over 15, 000 citations and an H-index of 61 (November 2025). Professor Ehrsson has received several prestigious awards and major research grants, including the Distinguished Professor Grant from the Swedish Research Council (2018), the Göran Gustafson Prize in Medicine awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2017), The Hans Wigzell Prize (2016), as well as two grants from the European Research Council: an ERC Starting Grant (2008) and an ERC Advanced Grant (2018).