David Roth-Isigkeit, Evelyne Schmid, Bernhard Blumenau

The Academic Platform Switzerland UN, an organisation that promotes cooperation between the Swiss academic community, the UN and Switzerland, awarded two Institute PhD students and one master student for essays on UN related topics at its annual conference in Geneva on 1 December.

Bernhard Blumenau, a German national pursuing a PhD in International History and a teaching assistant in the department, was awarded for his paper "Coping with the Scourge of Mankind: The UN and Terrorism in the 1970s".

Evelyne Schmid, in the PhD in International Law Programme as well as a four-year Davis scholarship holder, Lecturer at Bangor University, and Swiss citizen, was awarded for her essay "Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) after Conflict: The Analysis of the United Nations Committee on ESCR and Potential Synergies with Transitional Justice".

David Roth-Isigkeit, Master in International Affairs student from Germany, received the master category prize for his work “Die General Comments des Menschenrechtsausschusses der Vereinten Nationen - ein Beitrag zur Analyse der Rechtsentwicklung im Völkerrecht” (The General Comments of the Human Rights Committee - an analysis of legal development in public international law).

The Academic Platform Switzerland UN Award aims to foster innovation and excellence in research on issues related to international relations, the international system, international organisations and relations between Switzerland and the United Nations. The prize rewards the outstanding work of young researchers who combine originality, quality and scientific methods on a topic related to the platform’s focus. The platform's scientific secretariat is based at the Graduate Institute.