The Prosper.Net-Scopus Young Scientist Award in Sustainable Development is given annually to young scientists or researchers, based in the Asia-Pacific region, who have made significant contributions in the area of Sustainable Development. The award is open to those researchers who are under the age of 40 and are engaged in graduate education and research activities that emphasise sustainable development.

For 2010, awards were given in each of four areas: Energy, Water, Agriculture & Food Security, and Economics, Business, & Management.

There were five winners this year. The winners and runners-up presented their research at a symposium held at Tongji University, Shanghai, China, on 5 July 2010, and were honoured with awards the same day.

The list of winners and runners-up follows.

CATEGORY: BUSINESS, ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT
Winner: Zhou Peng
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), China
Research area: Benchmarking energy and environmental performance for a low-carbon future

CATEGORY: AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY
Winner 1: Chin Ping Tan
Department of Food Technology of the Universiti Putra Malaysia
Research area: Production of healthful lipids from the oil palm

Winner 2: Zhengqiang Jiang
China Agricultural University
Research Area: Enzymes, particularly xylanases, with industrial application in food preservation

Runner up: Markus Riegler
Centre for Plants and the Environment, University of Western Sydney
Research area: Lessons learned from insects applicable to the sustainability of agro and forest ecosystems

CATEGORY: ENERGY
Winner: S. Venkata Mohan
Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) Tarnaka, Hyderabad
Research area: Using waste or waste water to generate clean bio fuels

First runner up: Zahangiralam
Department of Biotechnology Engineering Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur
Research area: Bioenergy, particularly the production of bioethanol from fruit and plant based waste, and biodiesel from palm oil sludge.

Second runner up: Cesare Soci
School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Research area: Third generation solar cells

CATEGORY: WATER
Winner: Bingcai Pan
School of the Environment, Nanjing University, China
Research area: Development of polymer-based adsorbents

First runner up: Vimal Chandra Srivastava
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
Research area: Treatment of industrial wastes

Second runner up: Sheng Guo-Ping
Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China
Research area: Biological municipal wastewater treatment, particularly the technique of using aerobic granules in treatment

Winners are chosen on the basis of 3 criteria: number of citations, number and quality of publications and patents, and documented social impact. They receive a cash award and are offered a fellowship from the International Bureau of the German Ministry of Education which provides travel and living expenses to spend up to a year collaborating with any research group of the recipient’s choosing in Germany.

More information on ProSPER.Net...

For more information
ProSPER.Net-Scopus Awards Secretariat
ysa@ias.unu.edu

OR

Aurea Tanaka
ESD Programme, UNU-IAS
tanaka@ias.unu.edu