Exceptional young scientists awarded

The Peccei and Mikhalevich awards are given annually for extraordinary papers from the previous year’s YSSP cohort. The Peccei award is named in honor of IIASA alumnus Aurelio Peccei and recognizes policy-related research, while the Mikhalevich award, named for IIASA alumnus Vladimir S. Mikhalevich, is aimed at mathematically and methodologically oriented research. This year, the institute has also introduced an additional IIASA Special YSSP Award to recognize outstanding work by participants.

Candidates are nominated by the program director of the relevant IIASA research program and assessed by a committee comprised of one member from each research program. Each candidate’s paper is evaluated based on its quality, originality, and relevance. The final decision is made by IIASA Director General Albert van Jaarsveld.

In addition to the three award winners, Dipesh Chapagain from University of Bonn in Germany and Hyun-Woo Jo from Korea University, Korea, also received honorable mentions for their research.

Chapagain was jointly associated with the IIASA Advancing Systems Analysis and Population and Just Societies programs where Reinhard Mechler and Samir KC oversaw his study on: "Understanding the role of climate change in disaster mortality: Empirical evidence from Nepal”. Jo was recognized for his study on “Optimization of the IIASA FLAM model to represent forest fires in South Korea”, which was overseen by Andrey Krasovskiy and Florian Kraxner in the Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program.

"The YSSP pushes each one of the participants to produce substantial research that helps them in achieving their PhD objectives,” says Fabian Wagner, Dean of the IIASA Capacity Development and Academic Training Unit. “The work of the award winners stands out in quality and maturity. Congratulations on this fine achievement.”