11 Nov 2016
WTI researcher wins 2016 International Geneva Award
Wolfgang Alschner, a postdoctoral researcher at the World Trade Institute (WTI), has been awarded this year's International Geneva Award of the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) for a paper published on the Transpacific Partnership Agreement.
The peer-reviewed paper, co-authored with Dimitriy Skougarevskiy of the European University, St Petersburg and the Graduate Institute Geneva, was one of three selected by the award panel for the 5,000 franc prize.
The winning papers convinced by their strong interdisciplinary appeal and direct policy relevance for international organisations, SNIS said.
"We feel particularly honoured by this award, because it recognises the policy-relevance of our computational legal analysis for the international community in Geneva,” said Wolfgang Alschner.
“By combining computer science and law, we can analyse thousands of agreements more efficiently and in more detail than we could ever do by hand. That, in the end, makes not only for interesting research, but it provides very practical guidance for states, investors and other stakeholders to better navigate the increasingly complex spaghetti bowl of trade and investment treaties."
Dr Alschner joined the WTI in 2015 as a post-doctoral researcher in international law working within the NCCR Trade Regulation and as a principal member of the SNIS project “Diffusion of International Law: A Textual Analysis of International Investment Agreements”. His research focuses on the computational analysis of international economic law.
The research results are showcased interactively on the website www.mappinginvestmenttreaties.com.