Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey from 1985 to 2014, Joan Wallach Scott has received a large number of awards, including honorary degrees from Harvard and Princeton. These distinctions recognise the importance and breadth of her work in the fields of social and intellectual history. Professor Scott has challenged the foundations of conventional historical practice, including the nature of historical evidence and historical experience and the role of narrative in the writing of history. She has also done a pioneer work theorising the concept of gender and introducing it as an extremely productive category of historical analysis. Last but not least, she has been an active supporter of academic freedom and gender equality.
On this occasion, Professor Scott delivered the opening lecture of the new academic year entitled : "Gender equality : why is it so difficult to achieve ?" in front of a large audience. In her presentation, Joan Scott explored the many uses of the term Gender and assess its enduring impact. Since its adoption by feminists in the 1970s, the term gender has become widely used to refer to inequalities between women and men. It has also become the target of conservatives who find it a dangerously radical re-visioning of the meanings of the differences of sex.
The Edgar de Picciotto International Prize was created to mark the Institute’s gratitude and recognition to Mr Edgar de Picciotto and his family for their generous contribution to the realisation of the Edgar and Danièle de Picciotto Student House.
Awarded every two years, it is intended to reward an internationally renowned academic whose research has contributed to the understanding of global challenges and whose work has influenced policy-makers. The prize was awarded to Amartya Sen, 1998 winner of the Nobel Prize for economics, Saul Friedländer, Emeritus recipient of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, and Paul Krugman, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics.
Link to the Opening Lecture of the 2018-2019 Academic Year :