Founded in 1974 by Jacques Freymond, former director of the Institute, and Thierry Barbey, associate at Lombard Odier & Cie, the Association Genève-Asie (AGA) is dedicated to studying social, cultural, economic and political issues in Asia. Maintaining its important ties with the Institute, the Association regularly grants scholarships to Institute students and awards an annual prize to the best master’s thesis in Asian studies. 

The 2025 AGA prize was granted to Samuel Macherel, Master in International History and Politics for his thesis entitled, “The Chinese Threat through Sino-American Normalization and Military Cooperation (1970s-1980s) - Seizing An Opportunity, or Arming the Enemy".

AGA’s scholarships are to finance the fieldwork for a second year master student who is working on Asia as part of their dissertation. For the 2025-2026 academic year, AGA is granting scholarships to master’s students Aloée Mosimann, Safia Sangster, Arianna Devigili, and Rebekah Thwaites. The scholarships will allow the students to do their field work in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, and around South Asia: 

I’m honored to have received the AGA scholarship for my fieldwork in Armenia. This will enable me to conduct my research in the field of migration studies by going directly into the field to meet the people who have experienced exile with its challenges and hopes.

Aloée Mosimann

The AGA scholarship will be pivotal in supporting my research on water governance is South Asia. Conducting field work will help me gain specific insights into everyday practices and decisions that shape structural and embedded resource issues - dynamics that would be hard to understand without on-site presence.

Safia Sangster

 

As a current exchange student in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the AGA scholarship is allowing me to deepen my regional expertise and contribute to knowledge generation on a region that is often overlooked. It is also giving me a foundation for a future career focused on the green energy transition in resource-dependent countries.

Being able to conduct fieldwork in Kazakhstan has been a privilege. Immersing myself in the local context has revealed layers of complexity around development and environmental challenges that academic literature alone cannot capture. The fresh perspectives I am gaining through daily interactions and observations are already shaping my thesis in a meaningful way.

Arianna Devigili

Receiving this scholarship from AGA will transform my thesis experience and significantly lift the quality, relevance and depth of my final product. With this scholarship, I will spend one month in Thailand with small scale fishery communities and the NGOs that work with them to assert their marine tenure systems, enabling those for whom this topic is most relevant to shape the direction of my research.

Rebekah Thwaites