Swiss MFSA Award for Spatial Analysis
In order to support and promote spatial analysis, as well as its application to any research field (basic and applied research), the foundation created the Swiss MFSA Award for Spatial Analysis.
This biennial CHF 2'000.- Award was created to reward a student whose Master thesis will resort to spatial analysis in an original and innovative way, applied to any research field (health, transportation, biology, economics, etc.). Any professor or responsible supervisor carrying out duties in a Swiss High School (Universities, Federal Institutes of Technology, Universities of Applied Science) can make the decision to submit a Master thesis to the Swiss MFSA Award for Spatial Analysis. In a short cover letter, the supervisor will have to present the work and the main reasons why he thinks it is worth being nominated for the Swiss MFSA Award for Spatial Analysis.
The deadline to submit a Master thesis is the first of september of every odd-numbered year (2009, 2011, 2013, etc.). Master theses finished and accepted by the responsible host institution during the two years preceding next deadline can be submitted.
Three (3) printed manuscripts and one (1) electronic version (PDF) of the Master thesis have to be submitted and transmitted to MFSA before the deadline mentioned here above. The postal address is:
Prix MFSA
c/o MICROGIS SA
Rte des Jordils 40
1025 St-Sulpice
The electronic document has to be sent to : info(at)mfsa.ch within the same deadline. Please also join the cover letter as a separate PDF.
The recipient will receive the award during a meeting organized jointly by the host institution and MFSA. A MFSA representative will participate to the ceremony award.
Submitted Master theses will be evaluated by a review board constituted of three (3) persons, two (2) experts nominated by the executive committee out of MFSA scientific board , and one (1) member of the executive committee.
Supervisors of Master theses submitted cannot be nominated in the review board.
The review board may decide not to attribute the award. In this case, the corresponding prize money may be granted during a subsequent session when more than one award would be distributed.
Download official eligibility criteria and other rules related to this award (in french)
MFSA Supplemental Research Fellowship Award (with AAG, USA)
MFSA established in 2008 a partnership with the Marble Fund for Geographic Science and the Association of American Geographers (AAG) to propose a Research Fellowship Award to complete the Marble-Boyle Undergraduate Achievement Awards in Geographic Science with an international experience opportunity.
Selection for the MFSA Research Fellowship
Competition for this award is restricted to those individuals who receive the Marble-Boyle awards. At the time each Marble-Boyle awardee is notified of their selection they will be asked if they wish to compete for the MFSA Supplemental Research Fellowship. If they respond positively, they will then have thirty (30) days in which to submit a short discussion of the research work that he or she would be interested in undertaking during their stay in Lausanne. The proposed research project must lie at the intersection of geographic science and computer science and should be feasible to bring to a conclusion within the period of residence in Lausanne.
The research proposal must follow the same physical format and submission procedure as were used for the original Marble-Boyle Award application. The research proposal should include a title page with no more than five (5) additional pages of discussion and supporting materials. Based upon these proposals, and the materials already submitted for the Marble-Boyle Awards, MFSA may select one or more individuals to receive the MFSA Research Fellowship.
More information: http://www.aag.org/Grantsawards/marble_boyle.htm and http://www.aag.org/Grantsawards/mfsa.htm
First Awardee 2009 (inaugural recipient)
Joanna Merson is an Undergraduate Geomatics Student at the University of Victoria. She has linked computer science and geography while working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, where she developed process for converting police vehicle GPS receiver data into static maps and animations for use by non-GIS professionals. Joanna was an ESRI Intern for the summer of 2009.
During her stay in Lausanne, Joanna did a fantastic job and migrated the print atlas Le Valais: Cartoscopie d'un espace régional written by Micheline Cosinschi (Payot, 1994) into an updatable thematic web atlas. She also wrote a technical document about the used webmapping technology GéoClip Tips: Suggestions to aide creating your first GéoClip atlas.
Next april, Joanna will present a poster at the annual conference of the Association of American geographers (AAG) entitled Migrating the print atlas Le Valais: Cartoscopie d'un espace régional into an updatable thematic web atlas (view abstract detail).
Finally, Joanna Merson wrote a paper to be submitted to the Professional Geographer explaining the particular task to transform a static print set of thematic maps into a dynamic and interactive webmapping application.
