Petr Aven
He was a YSSP member in 1977, then principal researcher at IIASA for almost three years on the methodology of socioeconomic comparisons, comparative economics, and economic reforms in centrally planned economies.
Ogonek magazine described Aven as one of the few Russian economists who can explain the most sophisticated economic concepts and phenomena in
simple and understandable language. Though deliberately distancing himself publicly from politics, Aven is regarded as a highly influential man—one of Russia’s “freshmen” billionaires, according to
Pravda.
On YSSP, he says: “I participated in the first experimental YSSP program in 1975 and was there for the second time in 1977. For all (four) Russians, this time at IIASA was extremely interesting and helpful—it was not just IIASA but “the West.” YSSP gave me a lot of information about the proper organization of scientific work, and
a serious stimulus to come back, which I did 15 years later.”
In 2011, the Petr Aven Fellowship was established within IIASA's Annual Fund to support a young scientists from a Russia or a developing country participate in the YSSP Program over the next ten years. More