Students, Nachiket Midha, Yoonki Lee and Theo Kaiser who recently won the Entente Cordiale University Challenge have presented a framed copy of the King Edward VII Prize to DPIR’s Head of Department, Dave Doyle. 

The award will be displayed in the DPIR offices in Manor Road Building hoping to inspire more students to participate in future competitions. 

The challenge awards excellence for international research and innovative solutions to pressing environmental, political, economic, demographic, technological and other global issues. 

Dave Doyle said: 

"We are incredibly proud of Nachiket, Yoonki and Theo. This is an extraordinary achievement. "The Department is delighted, and immensely grateful, to accept their certificate. We look forward to placing it in a position of prominence in the Department."

Since their win, we spoke to Nachiket, Yoonki and Theo and asked them what does winning this award mean to them:  

The Entente Cordiale University Challenge is inclusive and collaborative. Study groups in each country, made up of three students per team from the same French or British academic institution, can take part in the Challenge from October. After selection of the 10 best written studies in France and the UK at the end of February-March, the finalists are invited to the annual Entente Cordiale Day over April 7th and 8th for a series of prestigious events, an oral presentation before a prominent Grand Jury and a closing gala awarding the work of the 5 best study groups of each country with the Entente Cordiale Day Prizes. 

This prize holds more than just titular value for us. We hope that our policy solutions to combat stubble burning in South Asia are practical, feasible, and implementable. As part of the prize, we are also excited to take our research further through an exclusive internship opportunity at The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. This is genuinely exciting for us since the award is a testament to our commitment to taking our work forward and liaising with the relevant stakeholders to implement these solutions in the near future. 

We hope that our proposed solutions will help draw greater attention to the perennial issue of stubble burning, which continues to affect millions across regions. Participating in this challenge was an incredibly enriching learning experience, and it allowed us to engage deeply with a real-world policy issue that demands urgent and sustained attention. We also hope that more students from the DPIR will take part in future editions of the Entente Cordiale University Challenge. 

Find out more here: Entente Cordiale University Challenge (@ec.university.challenge) • Instagram photos and videos