Young researcher from UL BF Živa Alif receives the L’Oréal–UNESCO “For Women in Science” award

Awards Ceremony for Women in Science

L’Oréal-UNESCO "For Women in Science"

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Tag:

  • Raziskovalci v objektivu
  • Research achievements
  • University Office for Research
  • Research
  • UL BF
  • SDG 13

Živa Alif from the Department of Animal Science at the Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana has received the L’Oréal–UNESCO “For Women in Science” award, granted to doctoral candidates in their final year of study for outstanding research achievements. She received the award for her work in the field of social aspects of nature conservation in agriculture.

In her doctoral dissertation, Živa Alif focuses on the use of behavioral approaches to improve agri-environmental policy measures for nature conservation. This is a distinctly interdisciplinary study that combines approaches from psychology and economics to better understand the factors influencing the preservation of landscape features such as hedgerows, extensively managed grasslands, and fallow land. The dissertation also provides recommendations on how to better tailor existing policy measures to farmers’ needs and make them more cost-effective. For a part of her research where she tested behavioral interventions to increase participation in agri-environmental measures using cutting edge methodology, she received the Early Career Researcher Award from the international association REECAP.

Through her work, she aims to build a bridge between agriculture and nature conservation. Conflicts often arise between these two fields due to the complexity and urgency of the situations they both face. On the one hand, farmers often feel cornered by difficult economic conditions, for which they also blame nature conservation policies, as well as by their marginalization within society. On the other hand, the decline in biodiversity is serious enough to require immediate and substantial changes. The goal of her work is therefore to help identify shared solutions for both fields, making nature conservation more acceptable to the agricultural sector, while ensuring that farmers are better economically and socially rewarded for their efforts.

The national L’Oréal–UNESCO “For Women in Science” programme has been implemented in Slovenia since 2006. This year, for the twentieth consecutive time, L’Oréal Adria and the Slovenian National Commission for UNESCO—partners of the national programme—awarded three selected Slovenian researchers a grant of €5,000 each. Živa sees receiving the award as recognition of the quality of her work and the importance of the topic she addresses: “The L’Oréal–UNESCO award confirms the value of my research for both the academic community and wider society. At the same time, it motivates me and provides financial support to further expand my work in the future.”