The Peccei Award was established in 1984 in recognition of Dr. Aurelio Peccei's contribution to the understanding of global problems and his efforts to promote multi-national collaborative research.
The Mikhalevich Award was established in 1995 following the death of Academician Vladimir S. Mikhalevich, a pioneer in cybernetics and mathematical problems, who at that time was Chairman of the IIASA Council.
The selection procedure
The following criteria will be taken into account by external reviewers and the Awards Selection Committee when reviewing the papers:
Quality of the research: For example, is the problem/issue clearly framed and described?; the methodology well executed?; the study grounded in the literature?; the derived conclusions justifiable?
Originality of the research: For example, is the problem framed in a unique way?; the chosen methodology/approach innovative?
Effectiveness of the approach: For example, are the research objectives effectively met?, the problem/ issue effectively approached/solved?; the research appropriately interdisciplinary?
Relevance/impact of the research: For example, does the study advance science or methodology?; is it policy relevant?
Memos from supervisors supporting their candidate: The Selection Committee is usually made up of IIASA director, the YSSP dean, and scientific representatives from IIASA programs.
Dr. Aurelio Peccei
Dr. Aurelio Peccei (1908-1984), perhaps best known as the President of the Club of Rome, enjoyed a distinguished career in industry, conservation, and international affairs. His hallmark was a humanistic approach to the problems confronting the modern world, be they economic, technological, managerial, or political.
Dr. Peccei was a consistent and devoted friend of IIASA, a member of the small group of individuals who inspired the original concept of the Institute and contributed actively to its realization. In his later years, his overwhelming concern was the challenge of finding creative opportunities for young people to influence a shared future. In 1984, the Peccei Award was established in an effort to meet this charge, as well as to recognize Peccei's contribution to multinational collaborative research.
Academician Vladimir S. Mikhalevich
Academician Vladimir S. Mikhalevich (1930-1994) was the Council Member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences at the time of his death. He was associated with the Institute for many years, in a scientific capacity as a member of the System and Decision Sciences Advisory Committee, and administratively, as Chairman of the Governing Council from 1987 to 1992.
Perhaps less known, but equally important, was Academician Mikhalevich's role in the academic world of the former Soviet Union. At a time when it was not popular, he ventured into cybernetics and employed computers for mathematical problems. He not only conducted his own pioneer work, but unfailingly supported young researchers who came to work with him even when they followed new directions of enquiry, which diverged from his own.
2019 Winners
Peccei Award: Felicia Chiang
The 2019 winner of the Peccei Award is Felicia Chiang for her paper entitled
“Concurrent temperature and precipitation shifts in historical and historical natural-only model simulations”
Felicia is a student of a joint M.S.-PhD program in the Civil Engineering department at University of California, Irvine. The topic of her dissertation is “Understanding the Physical Underpinnings of the Observed Amplified Warming of Droughts”. Her main fields of scientific interest include hydroclimate extremes, concurrent and compounding extremes, detection and attribution research, and climate change impacts and projections. Felicia will be returning to the IIASA Water program to continue work on her YSSP study.
IIASA Program: Water (WAT)
IIASA Supervisors: Peter Greve, Yoshihide Wada
Mikhalevich Award: Nicolas Choquette-Levy
The 2019 Mikhalevich Award winner is Nicolas Choquette-Levy for his paper entitled
“The impact of risk sharing mechanisms on smallholder farmer climate adaptation strategies”
Nicolas, originally from Canada, is PhD student in the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy program at Princeton University. His research focuses on how climate risks are influencing rural-urban migration, particularly among smallholder farmers in Nepal and China.
IIASA Program: ASA/RISK/POP
IIASA Supervisors: Matthias Wildemeersch, JoAnne Bayer, Wolfgang Lutz
Honorable Mention: Rory Gibb
One of the Honoray Mentions goes to Rory Gibb from the UK - a doctoral candidate in disease ecology at the Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College London (UCL). His final paper entitled
“Interacting effects of land use, climate and socioeconomic change on Lassa fever in West Africa”
is a result of his YSSP stay at the IIASA Ecosystems and Services Management Program.
IIASA Program: Ecosystems Service and Management (ESM)
IIASA Supervisors: Piero Visconti, Tamas Krisztin
Honorable Mention: Roope Kaaronen
Roope Kaaronen is a doctoral candidate in Environmental Policy at the University of Helsinki. His research interests include environmental behavior and cognition, socio-cognitive aspects of ecological crises, ecological and environmental psychology, complex systems and philosophy of science. His thesis is titled Steps to a Sustainable Mind. During his stay at IIASA's Advanced Systems Analsysis program he produced an excellent paper entitled
“Cultural evolution of sustainable behaviors: pro environmental tipping points in an agent-based model”
IIASA Program: Advanced Sytems Analysis (ASA)
IIASA Supervisor: Nikita Strelkovskii
