06.12.2022
Life of the Association
Christophe Pralong and Olivier Cadot Prizes
An event to present the winning projects of the Christophe Pralong and Olivier Cadot Prizes
Founded fifteen years ago, the Christophe Pralong Prize supports students who want to contribute to alleviating development problems in the world. This prize honors the memory of Christophe Pralong, HEC Lausanne Alumni and former President of the Student Committee (from 1978 to 1980), it is awarded by the Christophe Pralong Association chaired by Ms. Sandra Pralong, wife of Christophe.
More recently, it was the University of Lausanne (through the Faculty of HEC and the International Relations Service) which proposed the addition of the Olivier Cadot Prize in honor of the Professor who passed away in March 2019 and was passionate about development economics.
The two prizes, each endowed with 10,000.- Swiss francs, are intended to support humanitarian, entrepreneurial or even academic projects carried out by students, with the aim of contributing to development efforts in emerging countries.
(link in French)
Three 2022 winning projects
This year, three projects were selected from more than thirty applications. The winning students had the opportunity to present their achievements during an evening presentation held on October 10th 2022 on the HEC Lausanne campus on the occasion of the call for applications to the awarding of the 2023 prizes.
The three winning projects covered subjects as varied as female circumcision, the protection of sacred sites and affordable menstrual protection solutions.
First of all, the Christophe Pralong Prize which supported a project aimed at providing affordable and sustainable solutions to the need for menstrual protection affecting young women in Tanzania. It was awarded to two students, Aurélie Monnier (Bachelor in Business Economics at the Haute Ecole de Gestion du Valais) and Loïc Zen-Ruffinen (Bachelor in Management from the HEC Faculty and Bachelor in Biology at UNIL).
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Then the Olivier Cadot Prize which was shared between two more academic projects. The first, by doctoral student Yasmina Lotfi, who enrolled it as part of her research at the Institute of Psychology at the SSP Faculty of UNIL, offers a study on female circumcision in a Western (Swiss) context and extra-western (Egyptian) context. The second, led by Loïc Merzlic, who is studying for a Master's degree in the foundations and practices of sustainability at the Faculty of Geosciences and the Environment at UNIL, takes us to Latin America, more specifically to Colombia, where he carried out a case study on the project of territorial surveillance and protection of sacred sites in the Embera territories of Chigorodó.
Award-winning projects in 2022
(links in French)
Small project turned giant – the hospital ships of Mercy Ships
The project presentation evening was crowned by a lecture by Nicolas Suter, 1995 HEC Alumni and member of the Board of Mercy Ships. The non-governmental organization founded by Don & Deyon Stephens, deploys hospital ships mainly on the outskirts of Africa in order to provide health solutions that are both punctual and sustainable in the long term.
Applications welcome
This evening ended with the call for applications for the awarding of the 2023 prizes. Applications could be submitted until December 15th 2022 with a view to selection and awarding in the spring of 2023.
(link in French)