Dissertation prizes

Awards

Best Overall Performance Awards

Awarded to the top performing student in each MSc programme: Gender* (Sexuality/Research/Rights & Human Rights); Gender, Policy and Inequalities; Gender, Development and Globalisation; Gender, Peace and Security; Gender, Media and Communications.

*Results for MSc Gender students may vary due to the inclusion of the Sexuality, Research, and Rights & Human Rights tracks.

Best Critical Intervention in a Dissertation Prize

Awarded to a student whose dissertation research reflects an innovative and thorough critical intervention into a particular field and/or topic as decided by LSE Gender faculty.

Cynthia Cockburn Memorial Dissertation Prize

This award goes to a student’s dissertation which is centrally concerned with the work of women or women’s organisations in the service of peace or that challenges state and non-state forms of militarism and armed violence. It should document peace and anti-militarist work while also acknowledging the central role of gender relations on the division of this labour and the causes and consequences of armed conflict in a given society. The dissertation does not have to draw specifically on the work of Cynthia Cockburn, but should advance feminist understanding of gender conceptualisations and activist work which challenges the pervasiveness of all forms of militarism and war.

Betty Scharf Prize for Best Dissertation in Gender and Religion

Betty Scharf was a prolific international activist and sociology lecturer at the London School of Economics from 1944 until 1980, producing a standard textbook, The Sociological Study of Religion, in 1972, and pioneering a course on sex and gender. You can read more about her accomplishments here. In her memory, the Department of Gender Studies awards this prize each year to the best dissertation that not only relates to religion, but is also thought to have the greatest significance for the future of global societies. We would like to thank the Scharf family for their continued generosity and donation to the department.

A prize of £500 is awarded.

Friends of the Women’s Library at LSE: Essay Prize (School Prize)

The Friends of the Women's Libraryprize is offered for dissertations words making extensive (though not exclusive) use of the archive and print resources of The Women’s Library at LSE, and focussing on the 20^thcentury collections.

A prize of £500 is offered for a thesis which has been awarded a Master’s degree.

Among the many subjects suggested for investigation are international women’s organisations; war work; refugee relief; campaigns around trafficking and slavery; British-Indian relations; the League of Nations; women in journalism and the media; civil and family law; housing; interwar and ‘2^nd-wave’ feminism.

In addition to the dissertation workshops organised via HY300 and LSE LIFE, students – and tutors - wishing to explore the resources of TWL are encouraged to contact Dr Gillian Murphy, LSE Curator for Equality, Rights and Citizenship, who can introduce them to the full range of manuscript and print collections.

If you have any questions about the specific requirements and deadlines, please email friendsofthewomenslibrary@gmail.com

LSE Africa Dissertation Prize (School Prize)

Every year the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa hosts the Master’s Dissertation on Africa Prizefor LSE students. Aimed at encouraging and celebrating LSE's outstanding fieldwork and research on Africa, the FLIA Master's Dissertation on Africa Prize recognises the year's most innovative and significant dissertations that further our understanding of the continent.

LSE Middle East Centre Master's Dissertation Prize

Launched in 2018, the prize is designed to encourage and celebrate outstanding research on the Middle East and North Africa, and is awarded to the most innovative and significant Master’s dissertation focussing on the region.

Entries are invited from any LSE Master’s student in the social sciences, arts and humanities, whose dissertation examines the Middle East and North Africa (defined as Arab League member states plus Turkey, Iran and Israel). Dissertations based on comparative research are eligible as long as the MENA region (or any of its countries) is substantially addressed. Find out more and apply here.

LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre Postgraduate Dissertation Prize

The LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre runs the Postgraduate Dissertation Prize to showcase outstanding social science research on Southeast Asia from LSE postgraduate students. In order to be taken into consideration, submissions must be nominated by their academic department. Find out more and see previous winners here.