QS Academic Excellence Scholarship: 2016’s Winner

We’re delighted to announce that the winner of this year’s QS Scholarship for Academic Excellence is Simon Gsponer, a graduate of Switzerland’s University of Zurich who is now preparing to study an MSc in Management Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in the UK.

Awarded annually, the QS Academic Excellence Scholarship is worth US$10,000, providing support for a student embarking on a master’s or PhD course anywhere in the world. Applicants are assessed based on their academic achievements to date, as well as the potential they show to make a contribution within academia or another area.

Simon, who completed his bachelor’s degree in business and economics, has previously taken part in the Swiss-European Mobility Program to study a semester abroad at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Spain. He says his long-term aim is “to become a tech entrepreneur and combine all of my skills to contribute to social betterment.”

From academia to big pharma

Having completed his thesis on the topic Preferences for Redistribution and the Acceptance of Inequality, Simon is now keen to pursue further study in this area. Specifically, he’s keen to investigate an enigma related to the decision to accept economic inequality, explaining: “While research on redistributive preferences has accomplished a lot in terms of quantifying the extent of economic inequity that exists and the level of inequality people deem acceptable, no study could, to the best of my knowledge, explain the discrepancy between these two quantities.” Simon aims to explore this topic from a behavioral perspective, and hopes to publish his findings in an academic journal.

In the longer term, Simon hopes to use his knowledge and skills to positively impact on the distribution of power within the pharmaceutical industry. He argues that this sector – as “the only branch of healthcare that is not based on considerations of the common good, but on bare-knuckled capitalism” – is of paramount importance for the future of the world’s living standards and costs.

He outlines his future plans: “Pharmaceutical firms have raised prices of various drugs dramatically over the past few years, which can be mainly explained by the producer-dominated market structure. Therefore, I want to globalize the current, national distribution of drugs in an entrepreneurial venture, which would weaken the bargaining power of pharmaceutical companies and thus redress this worsening problem.”

Advice for other scholarship applicants

On receiving the QS Academic Excellence Scholarship, Simon says he is happy to be relieved from some of the financial burdens of studying a master’s degree, so that he can now worry less about money and focus on achieving his goals. Furthermore, he believes that this achievement validates the hard work he has undertaken so far, inspiring him to continue working to fulfil his aspirations: “This nomination vindicates my decision to take risks in life and my attempt to continuously tackle more demanding challenges.”

Noting that scholarship seekers unfortunately outnumber the scholarships available, Simon recommends that others should avoid simply churning out as many applications as possible, and instead adopt a more focused approach. He says: “Apply for only a few scholarship positions, yet invest as much effort as necessary to leave a unique, long-lasting impression. Luck favors the bold; ergo, scholarships are awarded to people that stand out of the crowd, and not to the ones that hide behind hackneyed statements.”