The Jeremy Coller Foundation in partnership with Tel Aviv University is pleased to announce the Coller-Dolittle Prize for Two-way Inter-species Communication.
Inspired by the Turing test, the Coller Dolittle challenge calls on the scientific community to develop an algorithm for communication with non-human organisms.
Submissions for the 2027 Challenge are now open
Cracking the Chimpanzee Code
Catherine Crockford, France and Ivory Coast
Photo by: Liran Samuni/Tai Chimpanzee Project
Cracking the “language” of zebra finches: a journey into their mental life
Julie Elie, USA
Ultrasonic signals support a large-scale communication landscape in wild mice
Nicolas Mathevon, France
Extensive compositionality in the vocal system of bonobos
Mélissa Berthet
Martin Surbeck and Simon Townsend, Germany and USA
Meet the finalists
The Coller-Dolittle Prize committee has decided to award Dr. Irene Pepperberg with a special prize of $10,000 in recognition of her lifetime achievements
Two-Way Symbolic Communication with Grey Parrots
Irene Pepperberg, USA
The Coller Dolittle prize is a multi-year challenge with an annual prize recognizing significant scientific research that supports the aim of Interspecies Communication.
For the successful team that cracks the code of Interspecies Communication, a Major Prize of either a USD10 million equity investment or a USD500,000 cash prize will be awarded.
An annual prize of USD100,000 will be awarded to a successful applicant(s). The referees reserve the option to split the prize among 2 winners.
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The first annual prize will be awarded in 2027 for recent scientific work that follows the following criteria:
Using a non-invasive approach to communicate with or decipher an organism’s communication.
Demonstration of communication in more than one context (e.g., alarm, mating, foraging) using the organism’s endogenous communication signals preferably in an interactive and autonomous way.
Demonstrating a measurable response of the organism to the signals broadcasted to it.
The prize is given for work already performed not for future planned work!
Researchers are welcome to submit published papers.
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Guidelines for submission:
applications should be written in the format of a scientific publication. Applications should be up to 5 pages long (font 11, 1.5 line spacing) including all parts except for references. The data used in the study must be made available in a public repository.
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Submissions for the 2027 Challenge are now open
The deadline for submission is August 31, 2026 (by noon CET)
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