IMISCOE has opened nominations for its 2020 Maria Ioannis Baganha Dissertation Award. The Network has awarded this prize annually since 2010 to stimulate and recognise excellent PhD research in the field of migration, integration and social cohesion in Europe.
The 2020 competition is open to all PhD recipients whose dissertations were defended within the 24-month period before the deadline for submission of 15 January 2020. Applicants are invited to apply on their own behalf, although dissertation supervisors may also nominate candidates.
The late Maria Ioannis Baganha was a leading migration scholar at the Centre for Social Studies (CES) at the University of Coimbra. She was one of IMISCOE’s founding members and the chair of its Board of Directors until she passed away in June 2009. To commemorate her work in the field of migration studies and particularly for the network, the IMISCOE Board of Directors has dedicated the IMISCOE dissertation award to her.
This annual prize is awarded to what the IMISCOE Award Committee deems the best dissertation in the field of migration, integration and social cohesion in Europe. The prize was awarded to Kristina Bakkaer Simonsen (2019), Apostolos Andrikopulos (2018), Yossi Harpaz (2017), Milena Belloni (2016), Erik Vickstrom (2015), Ruben Andersson (2014), Alistair Hunter (2013), Zana Vathi (2012), Justus Uitermark (2011) and Julie Vullnetari (2010).
Eligibility and requirements
The 2020 competition is open to all PhD recipients whose dissertations were defended within the 24-month period before the deadline for submission of 15 January 2020. This timeframe is determined by the date of the official defence. All academic disciplines are equally eligible. In the case of co-authored dissertations it must be clear from the text of the dissertation itself what the contribution of the applicant to the dissertation has been.
Applicants are invited to apply on their own behalf, although dissertation supervisors may also nominate candidates. Applicants who have applied in earlier years cannot apply again.
Nominations must demonstrate a significant contribution to migration and integration studies in one or more of these criteria:
- research quality
- originality
- theoretical contribution
- methodological/empirical contribution
Applicants must submit the following:
- a completed application form (available at the IMISCOE website)
- a 1-page (max. 400 words) abstract
- a 5-page (max. 2000 words) summary of the dissertation
- a single digital file of the dissertation including all appendices, references, notes etc.
- a CV (max. 2 pages)
- one letter of recommendation from researchers not affiliated to the institutes where the applicant works at the time of his or her application and where he or she defended his or her dissertation (max. 1 page)
- one letter of endorsement from a dissertation advisor/supervisor (max. 1 page)
Jury
The multi-disciplinary jury comprises senior members of the IMISCOE Research Network who are recognised experts in their field and have had substantial experience in reviewing the work of PhD-students. All members of the jury declare any potential absence of conflict of interest; jurors cannot play a role in evaluating their own PhD students, candidates from their own institute or candidates with whom they share direct collaborative links (e.g. a joint publication).
Review procedure
The jury will compile a short-list of the best dissertations from the pool of applications. Each shortlisted dissertation will be reviewed by the jury and external evaluators, without conflict of interest in identical terms to those established for jury members. The winner will be notified on or before 21 May 2020. Under exceptional circumstances (i.e. if no winning candidate is found), the award will be declared void.
Prize
The award’s prize is € 2.500. There will also be an opportunity to have the dissertation published in the IMISCOE-Springer series, subject to the manuscript’s review by the IMISCOE Editorial Committee. Finally, the winner is invited to present their work at the IMISCOE Annual Conference.
Presentation
The award is scheduled to be presented at the 17th IMISCOE Annual Conference, to be held in Luxembourg on 30 June- 2 July 2020.
Deadline
Applications should be submitted by email to Warda Belabas at
Questions concerning the award can be emailed to Warda Belabas.