(Morocco, 1975) is an award-winning writer, poet, playwright and curator. His 1996 debut, Bruiloft aan zee (Wedding By the Sea), was an immediate success. His second novel, De langverwachte (The Long-awaited) won him the prestigious 2003 Libris Literature Award. Benali's subjects vary, but sports and the migrant who never really feels at home are recurring themes. He has written novels about his great passion of running, about his travels, and about migrants' cultural identity (Bad Boy). His work has been published internationally. Recent books include the novel Paradijsvogel boven Hoge Woerd (Bird of Paradise over Hoge Woerd, 2022) and Het andere verhaal (The Other Story, 2022), an essay about his research into 75 years of modern Moroccan art.

is a cognitive neuroscientist working at the Brain and Cognition department of the University of Amsterdam and the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging at the Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behavior. He studies the role of consciousness in cognitive control and decision-making using various imaging techniques (EEG, functional/structural MRI, MEG). 'Hopefully, this will eventually contribute to a better understanding of the neural mechanisms and function of consciousness'.
He started his PhD in May 2005 at the University of Amsterdam. In that period, he was part of the Cognitive Neuroscience Group of Victor Lamme and the Amsterdam Center for the study of Adaptive Control in Brain and Behavior (ACACia) of Richard Ridderinkhof. After obtaining his PhD, he started working as a post-doc in Victor Lamme’s Lab (www.cognitiveneuroscience.nl). At the end of 2010 he moved to Paris for two years to work together with Stanislas Dehaene, Lionel Naccache and Laurent Cohen (www.unicog.org), on an NWO Rubicon grant). He recently returned to the Netherlands on an NWO Veni grant.

is senior researcher at Neurensics, a research and advice company for neuro-marketing: design, analysis and reports of custom fMRI neuromarketing studies and products.