Prof Ingvars Birznieks is a sensory neurophysiologist interested in sensory information encoding mechanisms. He received his PhD training at Umeå University in Sweden and the University of Melbourne. After his postdoc studies, he was offered a position of senior research officer at NeuRA to contribute to the large scale cross-organisational project supported by Australian Government Special Research Initiative “Thinking Systems” – the project bringing together neuroscientists, biomedical engineers and roboticists. He established his own research network centred around the studies on neuronal information encoding mechanisms in the somatosensory system, dexterity of human hand and sensory system of the feet. His current focus is on cross-disciplinary projects linking neuroscience, clinical neurology, and biomedical engineering. His fundamental research has been linked with applications in haptics, robotics, design of artificial tactile sensors, and sound rendering in cochlear implants.