2025-10-30

Prix de Quervain

On 5 September 2025, during the Swiss Polar Day in Zurich, the Prix de Quervain was presented to two young scientists for their outstanding PhD theses. This award is bestowed alternatingly by the Swiss  Commissions for Polar and High Altitude Research (SCPH) and the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch (SKHFJ), for polar and high altitude research, respectively. This year’s topic was on high altitude research and the committee had the privilege to select among 11 excellent nominations. Paraskevi Georgakaki from EPF Lausanne was honored for her research into the role of ice crystals in mixed-phase clouds, and Simon Raphael Schneider from the University of Zurich for his study on the effects of high altitude on people with pulmonary hypertension. More information on the awarded theses is found at https://scnat.ch/en/uuid/i/b65ce394-f0a8-57e9-8e2e-a20e200cee65-When_ice_crystals_cause_snowfall_and_people_with_lung_disease_climb_to_higher_altitudes

Athanasios Nenes (right), the PhD advisor of Paraskevi Georgakaki receives the Prix de Quervain from Urs Baltensperger (president of the Jungfraujoch commission), as Paraskevi could not be present during the ceremony. Title of the thesis: The role of secondary ice production in mixed-phase clouds.
Simon Schneider (right) receives the Prix de Quervain from Urs Baltensperger (president of the Jungfraujoch commission). Title of the thesis: Can patients with pulmonary hypertension travel to high altitude? A physiological basis for better patient counselling.