The award was established through a motion of the Board of Directors in 2001, and the subsequent definition of the nature of the award:

I move that as a fitting recognition of, and show of appreciation for, Abdel’s outstanding contribution and dedication to TIES, he be honored by our establishment of an annual award or lectureship in his name.

— Francis Philbert

The IASC Development Fund supports young researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students who are IASC members as deemed appropriate by the IASC Executive Committee.

The IASC Young Researcher Travel Fund provides partial travel support to young IASC members from low and middle income countries aged 35 or younger to attend an IASC-sponsored event (such as a conference, workshop, school, or other). Preference will be given to young researchers from these countries who are in financial need and actively participate at the event as a speaker, poster presenter, or in another active role.

The prize is awarded every two years for the best paper on survey research methods submitted by a young statistician from a low and middle income countries or transition country. The Cochran- Hansen Prize consists of books and journal subscriptions in the value of € 500. In addition, the prize winner is invited to present his/her paper at the World Statistics Congress of the ISI. The fund will be used to buy books and to cover awardee’s travel expenses to attend the WSC.

The fund finances the travel and accommodation of young researchers from low and middle income countries (as per the World Bank classification) to attend the Bernoulli-IMS 10th World Congress in Probability and Statistics (12–16 July 2021), including the Pre-meeting for Young Researchers (17–18 July 2021), in Seoul, South Korea.