Role Models in Economics: Inaugural award presented to Margaret (Meg) Meyer
It is with the greatest pleasure that we announce that Professor Margaret (Meg) Meyer (Oxford University) is the recipient of the inaugural edition of the Role Models in Economics Award - the new award through which the EEA intends to recognize colleagues who are both true scholars and outstanding contributors to the public good in the Economics profession.
Professor Meyer is a leading microeconomics theorist who has made several important and lasting contributions to organizational economics and industrial organization (click here for a summary of her scholarly contributions).
When it comes to her contributions to the public good, they share one common thread: “mentor PhD students and nurture the careers of junior colleagues.”
First, “her list of D.Phil. advisees”, writes one of the nominators “would make any advisor envious. She has advised 37 (!) PhD students in her 37 years since graduating from her own PhD program.” Professor Meyer has also been involved in the Nuffield College Postdoctoral Fellows program since 1988. Many Postdocs mentored by her have become highly influential in their fields of expertise.
Second, she has been a founding member of ESSET (the European Summer Symposium in Economic Theory at Gerzensee), which is one of the highest-profile and highest-quality economic theory events in Europe since the early 1990s. Under her leadership, generations of young economists have been invited to participate in this impactful conference.
Third, Professor Meyer has made a point of mentoring and coauthoring with many young scholars before they made a name for themselves, and her mentorship was instrumental to their own success. “Meg is a ‘mensch,’” writes one of the nominators “in that she is always generous with her time and always empowers young scholars by showing a deep interest in their work. Equally important, Meg Meyer has contributed comments to hundreds of working papers of junior scholars. There is hardly anybody else in Europe who shows up as consistently in the acknowledgements of theory papers as she does. She is an absolutely invaluable resource.”
Another letter writer summarizes the reasons why Professor Meyer deserves the award as follows: “Meg is a true scholar, an inspiring educator, and the epitome of a good citizen in academia. She is a walking public good.”
With the award funds (10,000 euros), Professor Meyer will be asked to contribute to an initiative that fosters the careers of PhD students and junior faculty in Europe - one of the fundamental missions of the EEA.
We are much grateful to everyone who submitted nominations for the first edition of the “Role Models in Economics” Award. The list of nominees was impressive, which made our work much harder, but at the same time proved that we have many wonderful “good citizens” among our colleagues in Europe. This is the best news for the future of our profession!
We take this opportunity to wish to everyone a smooth and joyful summer.
The Award Committee members,
Martina Björkman Nyqvist, Maristella Botticini, Thomas Chaney, Florian Scheuer, and Galina Zudenkova