Anna R. Siemer and Jefferson K. Rajah win two prestigious awards at the 2025 International System Dynamics Conference

The System Dynamics Society has named Anna R. Siemer the winner of the prestigious 2025 Donella Meadows Award for her paper “Towards a Sustainable Solar Future: Forecasting Photovoltaic Waste and High-Value Recycling for France.” The paper, part of Anna´s PhD research, was presented at this year’s International System Dynamics Conference and impressed the judges with its combination of methodological rigor and real-world relevance.

Anna´s work models the future trajectory of photovoltaic (PV) waste in France and explores high-value recycling pathways that could support a more circular and sustainable solar industry. By linking technological, policy, and environmental factors in a dynamic framework, her research provides actionable insights for managing solar panel end-of-life challenges, which is an increasingly urgent issue in the global energy transition.

Fellow PhD candidate Jefferson K. Rajah won an honorable mention for his paper “A system dynamics modeling framework for endogenizing human behavior change in global-scale integrated assessment models.” Jefferson´s work advances the modeling of human behavior in climate systems, integrating social norms and risk perception into dietary behavior change within the global FRIDA model. His findings show that including dynamic human behavior can significantly alter climate projections, while also revealing the challenges of sustaining pro-environmental shifts over time.

Both Anna and Jefferson are members of the System Dynamics Group at the University of Bergen, and their recognition at the field’s most competitive international venue highlights the group's longstanding prestige. The Donella Meadows Award (external link), established in 2001, honors outstanding student work in system dynamics and commemorates one of the field’s foundational thinkers. This year’s awards reaffirm the relevance and impact of system dynamics research being done at the University of Bergen, particularly in addressing some of today’s most complex environmental challenges.

The System Dynamics Group wishes to congratulate Anna and Jefferson on their achievements and for further elevating the profile of system dynamics scholarship at the University of Bergen.