Doctoral Dissertation Award

Doctoral Dissertation Award

The iSchools Doctoral Dissertation Award recognizes outstanding work in the information field. Nominations are solicited from all members of the iSchools organization and judged by a selection committee drawn from leading international schools.

The winner receives a prize of $2,500 USD, the runner up $1,000 USD.

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Eligibility

Materials

Timeline

Please note: The iSchools Doctroal Dissertation Award process is under revision at the moment. The next submission cycle will start in spring 2026 for dissertations sucessfully defended between 1 October 2024 and 31 December 2025.

Eligibility

Each member iSchool can nominate applicants for the award. The applicants should have successfully completed their Ph.D. according to the rules of their university. The research can be on any topic in the information field, and use any methodology.

Submission

Submissions must be made by the official doctoral advisor. Individuals cannot self-nominate.

Review Process

A Review Committee evaluates the Awards submissions. Judging criteria for the Award concentrate on research question, method and study design.

Awards submissions go through a two-phase review procedure. In the first phase, which is anonymous, each dissertation summary is reviewed by two reviewers. The best five dissertations are then chosen for closer scrutiny and reviewing of a third reviewer. The dissertation with the best overall reviewing receives the Doctoral Dissertation Award.

Materials

The following items should be submitted (Four PDF files in one Zip file):

PDF 1: Title Page (doctoral dissertation title, author name, email, phone number, address, current institution, advisor name & contact information, degree granting institution, and completion date) and an Abstract up to 200 words, plus keywords.
PDF 2: An anonymised summary of the research in English, regardless of the language of the doctoral dissertation. Up to 10 pages including tables & figures, preferably in 12 pt Times New Roman font, with one-inch margins (excl. references). References may be in any standard style format.
PDF 3: Recommendation letter from the primary advisor (first reader).
PDF 4: The complete dissertation in PDF format should be submitted in its original language. An English translation might be requested, if necessary.