Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship

for Sustainable Transport and Energy Efficiency

The “Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship for Sustainable Transport and Energy Efficiency” targets supporting the momentum of Lee Schipper’s contribution to the enrichment of the international policy dialogue in the fields of sustainable transport and energy efficiency. Lee Schipper, international physicist, researcher, musician and co-founder of EMBARQ (today the Urban Mobility program of the World Resources Institute (WRI) Ross Center for Sustainable Cities) inspired and shaped the thinking of a generation of students and professionals. VREF has supported the Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship since 2018.

In the spotlight

2026 Applications are Open

Applications are now open for the 2026 Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship for Sustainable Transport and Energy Efficiency, and this year, the scholarship is expanding to provide US$12,500 to up to five extraordinary young scholars to advance transformative research in efficient and sustainable transport and energy, including:

Two international scholars
One African scholar
One international scholar researching sustainable freight transport or logistics
One African scholar researching sustainable freight transport or logistics

Deadline for expressions of interest is April 17, 2026.

Looking for an opportunity to catalyze efficient, sustainable transport? The Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship wants to help you transform ideas into reality.

Applications are now open for the 2026 Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship for Sustainable Transport and Energy Efficiency. The Scholarship is provided jointly by the Schipper Family, Volvo Research and Education Foundations (VREF), the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, and the Kuehne Climate Center. This year, the scholarship is expanding to provide US$12,500 to up to five extraordinary young scholars to advance transformative research in efficient and sustainable transport and energy, including:

Two international scholars
One African scholar
One international scholar researching sustainable freight transport or logistics
One African scholar researching sustainable freight transport or logistics

Dr. Leon J. Schipper (“Lee” or “Mr. Meter”) was a co-founder of the predecessor to WRI’s Urban Mobility Program (EMBARQ), who dedicated his professional life to the efficient use of energy in mobility. An international physicist, researcher, and studied musician, Lee was a giant in the field of energy efficiency. This scholarship celebrates his vision and the bold way he challenged conventional wisdom.

The 2025 scholars Ignacio Tiznado Aitken, Shreya Banerjee, and Mienke Knipe will present their research at the Transforming Transportation conference in March 2026.

About the Scholarship

The Scholarship aims to expand contributions to research and policy dialogue about sustainable transport and energy efficiency. It prioritizes “iconoclastic” contributions that yield clear, transformative outputs and drive measurable change. Proposals relating to different aspects of policy dialogue are welcome, including data collection and quality, diagnosis through data analysis (qualitative and quantitative), policy analysis and evaluation, and interdisciplinary and international comparative analysis.

Who’s Eligible?

The scholarship is open to young researchers, defined as individuals with five or fewer years of experience since their last academic degree (master’s or Ph.D.) and who have not yet turned 36 years by the expression of interest submission deadline (born after April 17, 1990[1]). There are no geographic restrictions on scholarship applicants, so young researchers and students of all national origins and fields are eligible to apply. While applications should be submitted in English, research may be completed in other languages to enhance its impact.

Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
Consistency with Lee Schipper’s contributions
Alignment with the idea of sustainable transport and energy efficiency
Creation of innovative, transformational outcomes (“real impact”)
Feasibility (timely, realistic)
Applicant (affiliation, background, previous contributions, references)
Additional Freight Transport Scholar Eligibility Requirements

In addition to the global selection criteria above, applicants to the two freight scholarships should propose research projects related to sustainable freight transport or logistics.

Additional African Scholar Eligibility Requirements

The two African Scholarships support young researchers from the African continent currently living and working in Africa. In addition to the global selection criteria above, applicants to the African Scholarship should also:

Hold citizenship of an African country
Currently live and work in Africa
Be associated with an African-based institution (or an African branch of an international institution)
Propose research taking place in Africa

How to Apply (today!)

The Scholarship guidelines describe the scholarship application process in more detail. Please complete an expression of interest here by April 17, 2026. Candidates selected to advance to the next selection round will be notified by approximately the end of May 2026, when a more detailed research proposal will be required. The Scholarship Committee will aim to announce the final awardees in August 2026.

^[1] The eligibility periods can be extended in case of specific and properly documented circumstances such as parental leave. In case of parental leave, the applicant may request up to 18 months extension of eligibility for each child born. The Scholarship Committee will assess the eligibility period on the basis of evidence provided at the time of submission of the expression of interest.

CALL AND APPLICATION GUIDELINES

2025 Awardees

Mienke Knipe, Ignacio Tiznado-Aitken and Shreya Banerjee.

Three innovative researchers have been awarded the prestigious Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship for Sustainable Transport and Energy Efficiency, recognizing their proposals to tackle pressing issues in the transportation sector. This year’s recipients—Mienke Knipe, Ignacio Tiznado-Aitken, and Shreya Banerjee—will delve into the electrification of minibuses, the measurement of transport poverty, and the development of gender-responsive walkability frameworks for extreme weather resilience. Supported by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundation (VREF), the scholarship continues Lee Schipper’s legacy of fostering transformative research in sustainable transport and energy efficiency, providing vital funding and mentorship to promising young scholars.

Full article

2024

Africa scholar: Olanike Babalola Ph.D candidate, University of Lagos
Tom Courtright Ph.D candidate, University of Cape Town
Nicholas Goedeking Ph.D, German Institute of Development and Sustainability

2023

Africa scholar: Owen Mwaura, PhD candidate, University of Cape Town
Carlos Rivera-Gonzalez, Postdoctoral fellow, University of Toronto
Shanshan (“Shirley”) Liu, PhD candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2022

Africa scholar: Robert Ambunda, PhD candidate, Stellenbosch University
Lucía Game, PhD candidate, University of California, Berkeley

2021

African scholar: Susan Gichuna, PhD candidate, University of Nairobi
Tamara Kutchner, PhD candidate, University of California, Berkeley
Wei Wei, PhD candidate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2020

African scholar: Abisai Konstantinus, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Cape Town
Jungwoo Chun, PhD candidate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Fariba Siddiq, PhD candidate, University of California, Los Angeles

2019

Teddy Forscher, PhD candidate, University of California, Berkeley
Valentina Montoya Robledo, SJD candidate, Harvard University

2018

Junia Compostella, PhD candidate, University of California, Davis
Jaime Soza Parra, PhD candidate, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

2017

Joanna Moody, PhD candidate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rafael Pereira, PhD candidate, University of Oxford

2016

Akshima Chate, Senior Fellow, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
Fiamma Perez-Prada, PhD candidate, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

2015

Gwyn Kash, PhD candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2014

Madeline Brozen, Complete Streets Initiative Program Manager, University of California, Los Angeles
Erik Vergel-Tovar, PhD candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2013

Sudhir Gota, Technical Advisor, Clean Air Initiative Asia
Fei Li, Ph.D. candidate, New York University

About

If you are interested in knowing more about the Scholarship, or if you have ideas that you would like to share with us, please send us an email to leeschipperscholarship@gmail.com

The Scholarship aims to expand contributions to sustainable transport and energy efficiency research and policy dialogue. It prioritizes “iconoclastic” contributions that have clear, transformative outputs and contribute to measurable changes. Proposals relating to different aspects of policy dialogue are welcome, including data collection and quality, diagnosis through data analysis (qualitative and quantitative), policy analysis and evaluation, and interdisciplinary and international comparative analysis.

Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Consistency with Lee Schipper’s contributions
Alignment with the idea of sustainable transport and energy efficiency
Creation of innovative, transformational outcomes (“real impact”)
Feasibility (timely, realistic)
Applicant (affiliation, background, previous contributions, references)

In addition to the global selection criteria above, applicants to the Freight Scholarships should propose research projects related to sustainable freight or logistics.

The African Scholarship supports a young researcher from the African continent currently living and working in Africa. In addition to the global selection criteria above, applicants to the African Scholarships should also:

Hold citizenship of an African country
Currently live and work in Africa
Be associated with an African-based institution (or an African branch of an international institution)
Propose research taking place in Africa

Call And Application guidelines

To keep Lee’s legacy alive, the Schipper Family and EMBARQ, the sustainable urban mobility initiative of the World Resources Institute’s Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, created the Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship for Sustainable Transport and Energy Efficiency. The Scholarship is provided jointly by the Schipper Family, Volvo Research and Education Foundations (VREF), the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, and the Kuehne Climate Center. The Scholarship is governed by an advisory board of selected experts and esteemed colleagues who guide the scholarship and make the final selection of the scholars.

Advisory Board:

Holger Dalkmann, Founder & CEO, Sustain 2030
Ramon Munoz-Raskin, Program Leader, on behalf of the Schipper Family
Dario Hidalgo, Professor of Transport and Logistics, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Joanna Moody, Sustainable transport professional and Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship Awardee (2017)
Wei-Shiuen Ng, Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations ESCAP
Sam Zimmerman, Urban Transport Advisor (retired), World Bank

In Memoriam: Nancy Kete, co-founder and former Director of WRI’s sustainable urban mobility center (EMBARQ).

Lee Schipper inspired and shaped the thinking of a generation

The following was adapted from an obituary written by Kirk R. Smith in Energy Policy

Lee Schipper was an international physicist, researcher and musician, who inspired and shaped the thinking of a generation of students and professionals. Lee was widely recognized for enriching policy dialogue with his passion for data and challenging conventional wisdom. Lee passed away in August 2011 after a brief and difficult battle with pancreatic cancer.

Highly productive career

Most recently, Lee was a senior research scientist at both University of California Berkeley’s Global Metropolitan Studies and at Stanford University’s Precourt Institute of Energy Efficiency conducting research and policy analysis on efficient energy use in transportation systems. He was co-founder of EMBARQ, the World Resources Institute’s Center for Sustainable Transport, and remained as a senior associate emeritus. Over a highly productive career, he worked at the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the International Energy Agency in Paris, Shell International in London, as well as being Fulbright Scholar at the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics in Stockholm. He was a guest researcher at the World Bank, VVS Tekniska Foerening, the OECD Development Center, and the Stockholm Environment Institute.

Sharing the Nobel Peace Prize

Lee authored more than 100 technical papers and a number of books on energy economics and transportation, including Energy Efficiency and Human Activity: Past Trends, Future Prospects (1992) with Stephen Meyers, Richard Howarth, and Ruth Steiner. He served on the editorial boards of five major journals and was a member of the Swedish Board for Transportation and Communications Research. For four years he was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Science’s Transportation Research Board’s Committee on Sustainable Transport and Committee on Developing Countries. He worked in IPCC’s Mitigation group (WGIII), for the third and fourth assessments, thus sharing the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Proponent of sensible policies

In Berkeley in the early 1970s, Professor John Holdren, President Obama’s Science Advisor, was the first person to hire Lee as an energy specialist. He notes that ‘‘Lee was one of the first people to point out that people don’t want to consume energy, but they want to consume energy services, like transportation, comfortable rooms, cold beer and so forth. And that there was an enormous variation in the amount of energy needed to perform those services.’’ Lee’s academic break came in 1976, between the first and second international oil shocks, when he published an influential paper in Science pointing out that Sweden consumed far less energy per unit of economic activity than the United States did. Lee shifted his primary attention to transport in the 1980s, becoming one of the premiere scholars in the field and a tireless proponent of sensible policies for public and private transport.

Master communicator

Lee was a force of nature—an irrepressible fountain of energy, insight, humor, and intelligence. And a master communicator. Part of this was being an irrepressible iconoclast with a wonderful knack of turning a phrase to excellent effect. He could make the basically dry subject of energy efficiency become exciting in ways that engaged students, the media, and policymakers. Evidence for this was publishing 15 letters to the editor in the New York Times on energy efficiency—a nearly legendary achievement. He was also kind, generous, and unselfish with his friends and students and with the grace and self-confidence to be curious and inquisitive about what others were doing.

Vibraphonist

Lee was multi-talented beyond his science. As a UC Berkeley student and vibraphonist, he led his jazz group to victory at the Notre Dame Jazz Festival in 1967. He would reprise the role as band leader with an ad hoc jazz group, Lee Schipper and the Mitigators, who performed primarily in conjunction with energy-related conferences. He was one of the world’s experts on Wilhelm Furtwangler, perhaps the greatest symphonic and operatic conductor of the 20th century, and collected one of the most complete sets of his recordings. Lee seemed to pick up languages effortlessly, speaking fluent Swedish, German, and French, and passable Norwegian, Danish, Spanish, and Portuguese. Even a bit of Russian.

Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship

2026 Applications are Open

Guiding Webinar with Q&A – How to Apply

2025 Awardees

About

Guiding Webinar with Q&A – How to Apply

Lee Schipper inspired and shaped the thinking of a generation

Highly productive career

Sharing the Nobel Peace Prize

Proponent of sensible policies

Master communicator

Vibraphonist

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