The Winners
The Selection Committee for the Peccei and Mikhalevich Scholarships has completed its review of the 2007 nominations. The winner of the Peccei Scholarship is Italian Marta Vicarelli of Columbia University in New York, for her very relevant study of indexed-based climate insurance. The Mikhalevich Scholarship goes to Andries Richter of the Netherlands. An "Honorable Mention" goes to Aron Larsson of Sweden.

Marta is a Ph.D. candidate in sustainable development and research assistant at the Center for Climate Systems Research of Columbia University, New York. Since 2004, she has been a research fellow at the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

During her three month stay in the Risk and Vulnerability Program, Marta completed a study entitled “Integrating Inter-annual Climate Variability Forecasts into Weather-Indexed Crop Insurance.” The study analyzed rainfall-indexed insurance contracts designed for Malawi, Kenya, and Tanzania. Her study was rated by reviewers as "addressing the very relevant issue of index-based insurance, and substantially contributing to the development of methodologies for both analysis and implementation of innovative insurance schemes ... a complex issue that requires a combination of climatic, agronomic, economic and financial expertise ... the research is sufficiently inter-disciplinary and this is its major strength.”

First year Ph.D student Andries Richter from Wageningen University, the Netherlands, received this year's Mikhalevich Award for his work in the Evolution and Ecology Program. His research project and paper looked at one of the most important problems in the social sciences: "The Evolution of Social Norms for Renewable Resource Exploitation."

Andries' report was praised by one external reviewer as “addressing a real social issue by gathering information on ethical attitudes and reputation effects of a form not hitherto gathered.” Another reviewer said that he wished that Adries' paper would be read by “all students of ecology and public administration who are going into government service. Very few contemporary scholars can bridge evolutionary theory, the theory of collective action, and the importance of social norms as presented in social science literature and the policy indications of the study.”

An “Honorable Mention” citation was given to Aron Larsson of Sweden (Mid-Sweden University) for his research work in the Integrated Modeling Environment Program.

About the Awards
The scholarships, which are awarded annually for outstanding work by participants of the IIASA's Young Scientists Summer Program, provide financial support for the winners to return to IIASA for an additional three-month period of research.

The Selection Committee
The Selection Committee was made up of IIASA Director Leen Hordijk, Summer Program Dean Mahendra Shah, Scientific Coordinator Warren Sanderson, and scientific representatives from IIASA programs.

The Selection Criteria
In making its decisions, the committee drew on the following sources of information:

• Written reports prepared by the candidates during their participation in the 2007 summer program. The reports were ranked on:
  • the quality of the research;
  • originality of the research;
  • effectiveness of the approach;
  • and the relevance and impact of the research.
• Memos from supervisors supporting and evaluating their candidates' nomination;
• Evaluations of the candidates' reports by external reviewers.

External Reviewers
Fifteen papers were submitted for consideration. The Selection Committee gratefully acknowledges the evaluations of the reviewers; their input was of great value in the selection process.

Responsible for this page: Barbara Hauser
Last updated: 27 Feb 2008