The Scientific Awards 2023 of Bodosaki Foundation bring to the fore the work of four young people Greek scientists who are pioneers in the global research arena and have already contributed significantly to the progress of science with their top performances.

The institution of the Scientific Awards, as mentioned in the announcement, highlights, every two years, the work of Greek men and women, by nationality or gender, scientists aged up to 40 years, who are distinguished for their outstanding contribution in the fields of Basic Sciences , of Life Sciences, Applied Sciences and Technology and Social Sciences. The awarding ceremony of the 2023 Scientific Awards of the Bodosaki Foundation will take place on June 28 at Zappeion Megaro.

Bodosaki Foundation Scientific Awards 2023

In the field of Life Sciences and Biomedical Sciences, the 2023 Scientific Prize is awarded to Edward Chouchani of Greek origin, Associate Professor of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Associate Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School. Edward Chouchani, an outstanding scientist in the field of metabolism, focuses on developing technologies to understand how the mechanisms of metabolism regulate physiological processes. The goal of his research is to exploit these newly discovered mechanisms in the development of new therapies for metabolic, inflammatory and metastatic diseases. He has published more than 60 papers on his discoveries in top journals and has co-founded three biotech companies that have raised more than $100 million in funding. For his research achievements, he has won a number of awards, including the Pew Fellowship, the Heidi Helmholtz Diabetes Award, the Biochemical Society Early Career Investigator Award, the Armen H. Tashjian Award for Excellence in Endocrine Research, the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Breakthroughs in Gerontology (BIG) Award and the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise.

In the field of Basic Sciences and in the field of Chemistry, the 2023 Scientific Award is awarded to Konstantinos Vogiatzis, associate professor of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry at the University of Tennessee. The research project of Constantinos Vogiatzis focuses on the development of new computational methods based on quantum chemistry and artificial intelligence to describe chemical processes that promote clean technologies for environmental protection. The ultimate goal is to elucidate the fundamental physical principles governing chemical reactivity, catalysis and adsorption. In 2020 and 2022 he was honored with the Ffrancon Williams Endowed Faculty Award in Chemistry, in 2021 with the OpenEye Outstanding Junior Faculty Award of the American Chemical Society and in 2022 with the CAREER Award of the National Science Foundation of the United States.

In the Social Sciences and the discipline of Economics or Political Science, the Scientific Prize 2023 Prize is awarded to the Greek-born Philipp Strack, Professor of Economics at Yale University. Philipp Strack’s pioneering and particularly broad work belongs to the field of microeconomic theory and mainly studies how people make decisions and interact in dynamic environments. His research is based on economic theory and behavioral economics, and the processes he studies are applicable to a wide range of topics with direct impact on society such as, among others, the effects of overconfidence and other delusions on decision making, the psychological mechanisms behind from bias, the design of cross-grafts, the dynamic pricing of goods, the optimal organization and operation of lockdowns in a pandemic, the design of cryptocurrencies, the optimal taxes to reduce carbon emissions without hurting the poor. His work includes more than 30 publications in distinguished scientific journals in the field of economic science, while since 2023 he is a member of the Econometric Society.

In the field of Applied Sciences/Technology and Applications of Artificial Intelligence Methods and Technologies in Engineering Disciplines, the 2023 Scientific Award is awarded to Vasilios Sirganis, Assistant Professor of Management Science and Technology at Stanford University, Department of Management Science and Technology, Department of Computer Science (by courtesy), James and Anna Marie Spilker Faculty Fellow. His research is in the areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning, game theory and algorithm theory, with the ultimate goal of optimal decision making using data. His work contributes to a wide range of fields including machine learning, econometrics, statistics, learning theory, game theory and mechanism design. With his research group, he works on machine learning and artificial intelligence, focusing on causality discovery and decision making, using big data, with main applications in biomedicine, business administration and online platforms. He has received “Best Paper” awards at leading conferences in his field of expertise: EC, COLT and NeurIPS.

“With the Scientific Awards, the Bodosaki Foundation highlights the Greek spirit that is distinguished in the international scientific arena and honors the scientific achievements of young scientists”, emphasizes the president of the Bodosaki Foundation, Athina Desypri. “The distinctions of young scientists can inspire and open the horizons of scientific development and excellence, to the support of which the Bodosaki Foundation remains permanently committed.”

The institution of the Scientific Awards of the Bodosaki Foundation

The institution of the Scientific Awards is part of the Bodosaki Foundation’s charitable purposes for the promotion of education and the promotion of scientific excellence. Criteria for the awarding of the Bodosaki Scientific Awards are the outstanding performance of the candidates in their scientific field, in which they have to present a complete project, the contribution of the candidates to the intellectual, scientific and economic development of our country, as well as their contribution to international visibility of Greece with their ethos and work. From 1992 until today, the Scientific Awards have been awarded to 61 Greek scientists.