Recently, Ye Huiying, a doctoral student from the School of Management and Economics/Energy and Environmental Policy Research Center, won the Mikhalevich Award from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). The award is named after the former chairman of the IIASA council, Vladimir S. Mikhalevich, in honor of his pioneering work in systems analysis and cybernetics, as well as his support and mentorship of young scholars.
Since 1977, IIASA has established the Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP), selecting and supporting 50 doctoral students from around the world each year to conduct three months of exchange and collaborative research at IIASA. At the end of the program, IIASA selects three outstanding research reports from these 50 doctoral students, awarding the authors the Mikhalevich Award, the Levien Award, and the Peccei Award. The selection criteria include research quality, originality, methodological effectiveness, and academic or policy impact, evaluated through internal review, external review, and a committee evaluation. Ye Huiying stood out with her research work "Linking R&D Investment to Emission Reduction Cooperation: Overcoming Free-Riding While Achieving Deep De-carbonization," winning the 2023 Mikhalevich Award. The Levien Award and Peccei Award winners are doctoral students from the International Research Center on Environment and Development (CIRED) in France and Humboldt University in Germany, respectively. The three awardees will continue to receive funding to return to IIASA for three more months of collaborative research.
During their time at IIASA, YSSP participants join different project groups based on their research directions. Each project group comprises 10-40 interdisciplinary team members with diverse backgrounds and training. Under the leadership and organization of project teams and mentors, participants learn and develop new methods and tools, use the latest data to advance their dissertation research, and undertake relevant research projects at IIASA, ultimately producing a scientific research report. Throughout the program, IIASA hosts various exchange activities such as academic poster presentations, systems analysis seminars, and academic reports to enhance participants' scientific understanding of cross-system issues and promote knowledge sharing. Participants have the opportunity to establish connections with IIASA's global network and form long-term collaborative relationships.
Doctoral student Ye Huiying was selected for the 2023 YSSP program through application, preliminary screening, and interviews. She conducted collaborative research at IIASA in Austria from June to September 2023 and participated in the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) annual conference in Cyprus. During her time at Beijing Institute of Technology, she also participated in significant research tasks such as the National Natural Science Foundation's major project "Modeling and Application Research of Climate Economy Complex Systems." She has presented oral academic reports at the American Economic Association (AEA) annual meeting (with a paper acceptance rate of 9%) and the INFORMS annual meeting. Her research results have been reported by the International Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium (IAMC). Ye Huiying was jointly trained at the French Institute of Petroleum and Engines for one year and has received the China Development Research Scholarship. Her doctoral dissertation topic is the application of game theory in global climate policy assessment and mechanism design, supervised by Professor Liao Hua, a recipient of the 2019 National Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project.
The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an interdisciplinary academic international organization based in Austria, enjoying high reputation in the international academic community. IIASA conducts research on global issues such as energy, climate change, food security, water resources, and population, aiming to provide strategies and policy recommendations to address global problems using integrated systems analysis methods. Its research results have significant influence on international organizations and national decision-making. Six Nobel laureates have worked at IIASA, including Crutzen, Nordhaus, and Schelling, who focused on climate change research. IIASA is a pioneering institution in the field of energy and climate economic systems research, making important contributions in system modeling and analysis, data integration, and policy recommendations. The Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) developed by IIASA are the primary reference datasets and scenario benchmarks for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports and many integrated climate economic assessment models. IIASA is an important participant in the UN's IPCC reports, with many researchers serving as lead authors and reviewers. IIASA has developed multiple integrated assessment model tools with lasting international influence, including MESSAGEix, GAINS, GLOBIOM, and CWatM.
The School of Management and Economics/Energy and Environmental Policy Research Center at Beijing Institute of Technology highly values talent cultivation and platform construction. It encourages and supports graduate students to engage in exchange and collaborative research at renowned universities and research institutions abroad. Most doctoral students have over one year of overseas research experience during their studies. In recent years, the center has strengthened its exchange and cooperation with international first-class institutions such as IIASA. Many doctoral students have conducted research visits to IIASA through various projects, with their research results receiving high recognition from peers. This also helps young scholars better start their academic careers.
Appendix: Award Information
[https://iiasa.ac.at/early-career/yssp-young-scientists-summer-program/yssp-awards](https://iiasa.ac.at/early-career/yssp-young-scientists-summer-program/yssp-awards)
