The winner of the Sir Tony Atkinson Memorial Prize has been announced.
We are pleased to announce the Sir Tony Atkinson Memorial Prize, to be awarded in April 2019 to up to two students reading for a DPhil or MPhil in Economics at the University of Oxford. This award recognises academic excellence and exceptional research potential on topics relevant to global priorities research. Prize winners will be invited to spend Trinity term pursuing a standalone research project at the Global Priorities Institute.
About the prize
Sir Tony Atkinson is remembered as a pioneer of the modern study of inequality within economics. In a time when inequality was a highly neglected topic within academia, he developed the welfare-based measure of inequality known as the Atkinson Index, which is now widely used by governments and development organisations. He also wrote extensively about global inequality, to address this, and proposed policy and coordination tools to alleviate poverty at a global and intergenerational scale. He spent the last part of his career at Oxford as a fellow of Nuffield College where he also served for 11 years as Warden.
In honour of Sir Tony Atkinson, the Global Priorities Institute is offering up to two prizes to students who are currently reading for a DPhil or MPhil in Economics. These will be awarded to students who demonstrate exceptional research potential on topics relevant to global priorities research - that is, broadly, topics which address the question of how agents can use their resources to do as much good as possible.
These prizes will provide:
- an award of £5,000 p.a. for up to 9 terms (starting from Trinity 2019) while enrolled in the academic programme;
- the opportunity to work with GPI researchers on a standalone research project, on a topic relevant to global priorities research, for the duration of Trinity Term; and
- if desired, the opportunity to work in office space at the Global Priorities Institute.
While not mandatory, we expect that most prize winners will also regularly participate in GPI's seminars and work-in-progress groups.
Note that these prizes are awarded in conjunction with the Parfit Memorial Prize, which is offered to students reading for a DPhil or BPhil in Philosophy. A maximum of two Atkinson and Parfit Prizes will be awarded each year, to the best candidates across both Economics and Philosophy.
If you have any questions about the Atkinson Memorial Prize, please contact [email protected].
Eligibility
To be eligible for this award, applicants must be currently reading for a full-time DPhil in Economics or a full-time MPhil in Economics at the University of Oxford.
Prizes will be awarded on the basis of (i) academic excellence, and (ii) the relevance of the applicant's proposed project topic to global priorities research. For non-exhaustive examples of research questions which we consider highly relevant, see our research agenda.
We recommend that applicants obtain approval from their supervisor or advisor before applying, as this prize may entail a substantial time commitment during Trinity term.