A prize to be awarded to a mid-career researcher, defined as someone with more than 10 years of experience after the PhD or in employment, who has made an important contribution to research areas aligned with Hukum Chandra’s work, namely survey sampling, small area estimation, official statistics, spatial analysis applied to official and survey statistics, and agricultural statistics. The definition of a mid-career researcher in this call aims to recognise researchers whose career stage is close to Dr Chandra’s career trajectory. The prize is open to applicants from all regions of the world. A PhD degree is not an essential criterion for the award. The prize will be awarded every other year by the IASS Prize Committee, in collaboration with the IASS Executive Committee. The recipient of the Hukum Chandra Memorial Prize will receive an honorarium of 500 euros and will be invited to present a special webinar, including a discussion, as part of the IASS Webinar Series.
Application process
Applicants are required to submit an extended abstract of up to five pages (including references), on which the webinar will be based. This must comprise original work that is either unpublished or published. The extended abstract must be written in English and include a clear statement of the problem, the proposed method(s), and a summary of the key results. If the work is based on a published paper, the paper should be included as part of the application. Each submission must also be accompanied by a short CV (maximum two pages).
The CV, extended abstract, and paper (if available) must be submitted to the Chair of the IASS Prize Committee, Robert Clark ([email protected]), by 23:59 GMT on 22 May 2026. The decision will be communicated by the end of July, and the webinar will be scheduled for October 2026.
The submissions will be reviewed by the IASS Prize Committee appointed by the IASS Executive Committee. The decision of the Committee will be final.
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Dr. Hukum Chandra has over 23 years of experience in research, teaching, training and consultancy in statistics. At present he is working as National Fellow & Principal Scientist at Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi, India. He did Ph.D. in Social Statistics from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom and Post Doctorate Research from University of Wollongong, Australia. He works on diverse areas of methodological and applied problems in statistics, including survey design and estimation methods; small area estimation; bootstrap methods; disaggregate level estimation and analysis of agricultural, socio-economic and health indicators; spatial models for survey data and statistical methods for improvement in agricultural and livestock statistics. He has worked as Expert and International Consultant of Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations in Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Italy. He has worked as Expert Member in various committees in different institutions and ministries in India. He has contributed to nearly 25 research projects and published more than 125 research papers and 04 books, several technical bulletins, project reports, book chapter, working papers and training and teaching reference manuals. He has supervised 04 to PhD students. He is also contributing in volunteer academic activities like Associate Editors, Guest Editors and reviewers of various scientific journals, Member of Scientific committee and Convener of different national and international conferences.
Dr. Chandra is elected member of International Statistical Institute, The Netherlands, Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India, and Fellow of Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics. He has worked as Council Member of International Association of Survey Statisticians and Joint Secretary of the Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics, New Delhi. He is Joint Secretary of the Society of Statistics, Computer and Application, India.
He is recipient of National Award in Statistics by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Govt of India, Cochran-Hansen Award by International Association of Survey Statisticians, ICAR-National Fellow Award, Young Researcher/Student Award of the American Statistical Association, Lal Bahadur Shastri Outstanding Young Scientist Award of ICAR, Recognition Award of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Professor P.V. Sukhatme Gold Medal Award and Dr. D.N. Lal Memorial Award of Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics. He is recipient of Commonwealth Scholarship offered by Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in United Kingdom.
