The Edgar de Picciotto International Prize

The Edgar de Picciotto International Prize was created as a tribute and token of thanks to Mr Edgar de Picciotto. His generous donation of CHF 20 million enabled the Graduate Institute to finance a considerable part of the Student House. Mr de Picciotto and his family have greatly supported and participated in the realisation of the Institute's mission by facilitating the hosting of students from all over the world.

The Edgar de Picciotto International Prize – awarded every two years and worth CHF 100,000 – is intended to reward an internationally renowned academic whose research has contributed to enhancing the understanding of global challenges and whose work has influenced policy-makers.

After Amartya Sen (1998 Nobel Prize in Economics), Saul Friedländer (2008 Pulitzer Prize winer), Paul Krugman (2008 Nobel Prize in Economics), Joan Wallach Scott (Emerita Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University), Saskia Sassen (Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University), Michael Sandel, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Theory at Harvard University, the 2024 Edgar de Picciotto International Prize was awarded to Hilary Charlesworth, Judge at the International Court of Justice and Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne.

The 2024 Edgar de Picciotto International Prize

 

Hilary CHARLESWORTH
Judge at the International Court of Justice and Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne

Hilary Charlesworth is an Australian international lawyer. She has been Judge at the International Court of Justice since November 2021 and Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne, as well as Professor Emeritus at the Australian National University. She considerably contributed to the field of international law, particularly in the areas of human rights and the rule of law. She has made pioneering contributions to the study of international law from a feminist perspective.

The 2022 Edgar de Picciotto International Prize

 

Michael SANDEL
Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Theory at Harvard University

Michael Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard University. His latest book, The Tyranny of Merit: Can We Find the Common Good?, was named best book of the year by The Guardian, Bloomberg, New Statesman, The Times Literary Supplement, Le Point (Paris), and New Weekly (Beijing). He has been a Visiting Professor at the Sorbonne and delivered the Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Oxford. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Sandel

The 2020 Edgar de Picciotto International Prize

 

Saskia SASSEN
Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University

Over 20 years of research, Professor Sassen has published eight books and is the editor or co-editor of four books translated into over twenty languages. In addition, she has received many awards and honors, among them, multiple doctor honoris causa, the 2013 Principe de Asturias Prize in the Social Sciences, an election to the Royal Academy of the Sciences of the Netherlands and made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French government. She has also been a committed and influential participant in the public debate, appearing in many journals The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Die Zeit, The Financial Times, among others.

Professor Sassen delivering opening lecture

 

The 2018 Edgar de Picciotto International Prize
 

Joan Wallach SCOTT
Emerita Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University

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 universities.  These distinctions recognise the importance and breadth of her work in the fields of social and intellectual history.

The 2016 Edgar de PicciottO International Prize

 

Paul KRUGMAN
2008 Nobel Prize in Economics

Distinguished Professor of Economics at City University of New York (CUNY), Paul Krugman studies a wide range of economic issues including income distribution, taxation, macroeconomics and  international economics. In 2008, he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

 

The 2014 Edgar de Picciotto International Prize
 

Saul FRIEDLÄNDER
2008 Pulitzer Prize

Saul Friedländer is a world-renowned historian. He received his PhD from the Graduate Institute and has taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University. Since 1988, he has been Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In addition, he has been honoured with a number of awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 2008, for his work “The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939–1945”.

 

The 2012 Edgar de Picciotto International Prize
 

Amartya SEN
1998 Nobel Prize in Economics

Nobel Memorial Prize Laureate in Economic Sciences 1998 and Professor at Harvard University, Amartya Sen is the author of numerous books, which have been translated into more than 30 languages. His work has focused most notably on the causes of famine, inequality and poverty. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) human development index was developed in part based on his research.

Hilary Charlesworth delivering the Opening Lecture of the 2024 Academic Year "Hopes and Fears for International Law: the work of the International Court of Justice"
Saskia Sassen delivering the Opening Lecture of the 2020 Academic Year "Can Complexity Camouflage Violence"
Joan Wallach Scott delivering the Opening Lecture of the 2018 Academic Year "Gender Equality: Why Is It so Difficult to Achieve?"
Paul Krugman delivering the Opening Lecture of the 2016 Academic Year "What Have We Learnt From the Crisis?"
Saul Friedländer delivering the Opening Lecture of the 2014 Academic Year "History and Memory: Lessons from the Holocaust"