Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Conflict researcher wins ‘Swiss Nobel’ prize

two men shaking hands
Benoist prize winner Lars-Erik Cederman (right) shaking hands with Federal Economics, Education and Research Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann © KEYSTONE / PETER SCHNEIDER

Political scientist Lars-Erik Cederman has been awarded this year’s Marcel Benoist prize for his work showing how fairly distributed power and resources reduce the risk of ethnic conflicts. 

Cederman, who teaches at the Federal Institute of Technology, ETH ZurichExternal link, has been exploring the relationship between inequality and conflict. He and his research group have compiled a global data set on ethnic groups, covering their opportunities to share in government power in the period from 1946 to 2017. They recorded inequalities between ethnic groups via expert surveys and satellite images, and then plotted these on a digital map. This data collectionExternal link is now available to politicians, academics and the general public. 

Cederman, who grew up in Sweden and is a dual Swedish-Swiss citizen, has been a professor of international conflict research at ETH Zurich since 2003. He is the first social scientist to win the prize since the economist Ernst Fehr in 2008

The Marcel Benoist Swiss Science PrizeExternal link has been awarded since 1920 to scientists based in Switzerland whose work has had a beneficial impact upon society. Ten prizewinners have subsequently been awarded the Nobel PrizeExternal link.

More
Stocker slicing ice

More

Swiss climate researcher wins coveted prize

This content was published on Switzerland’s top science prize has been awarded to environmental researcher, Thomas Stocker, for his work in demonstrating the reality of climate change.

Read more: Swiss climate researcher wins coveted prize


Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

the term "dog days" derives from the constellation Canis Major, specifically its main star, Sirius. The dog days begin with the first rising of this star, visible from Earth. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that the heat during this period was due to the combined influence of Sirius and the sun.

More

No heat records in sight (yet) despite the ‘dog days’

This content was published on The dog days—traditionally the hottest days of the year—began on Tuesday. However, the weather service Meteonews predicts that Switzerland is unlikely to see new temperature records in the near future.

Read more: No heat records in sight (yet) despite the ‘dog days’

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR