Trinity PhD Students Attend Prestigious Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting

Posted on: 02 October 2014

Two Trinity PhD Economics students were recently selected to attend the prestigious 5th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences.  Michael Curran and Sara Mitchell were two of a select group of three Irish Research Council Fellows who were chosen to represent Ireland at the event through a multi-stage process. They were among 450 young economists from more than 80 countries around the world.  The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings provide open exchange of economic expertise and inspire cross-cultural and inter-generational encounters between Nobel Laureates and young economists. 

Sara’s research is in ‘Synergies from Geographic Clustering of Creative Workers’ and is being carried out under the supervision of Professor of Economics, John O'Hagan. She was awarded one of the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy’s first Grattan Scholarships, which are awarded to exceptional PhD students who have the potential to become future academic leaders.

Michael is currently undertaking research on ‘Understanding Uncertainty, Volatility & Macroeconomic Performance’ under the supervision of Whately Professor of Political Economy, Philip Lane. Michael is a Foundation Scholar PhD Candidate and a recipient of an Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship.

Around 20,000 young scientists around the world applied for 450 places to attend this prestigious event. Trinity College was invited to submit two nominations to the national selection panel, endorsed by references from the Provost and supervisors. Researchers who were successful at the national stage were nominated by the Irish Research Council to pass to the international selection process conducted by the Lindau Review Panel.

Participants in the Lindau meetings attend master classes held by Nobel Laureates and take part in discussion sessions to exchange experiences and opinions with Laureates and other young scientists. Seventeen Laureates of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel participated in the event, as well as Mario Vargas Llosa, recipient of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.  The meeting opened with a keynote address by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel and Queen Silvia of Sweden gave an address at the closing session. While at the Meetings, Michael and Sara took part in panel discussions on `The Future of Econometrics: Structural Restrictions, Parametric Methods and Big Data', `Strategic Behaviour, Incentives and Mechanism Design' and `How Useful is Economics – How is Economics Useful?'