Congratulations to Hood Ahmed (MSc Comparative Politics) and Maya Hammad (MSc International Social and Public Policy) for their prize-winning dissertations!
The field for the 2019 Master's Dissertation Prize was so strong that the judges decide to award joint first place to Hood's study of civic-military relations in the Arab world and Maya's analysis of Quranic early childhood education, with both applicants receiving the full prize of £250 each.
For Hood Ahmed's prizewinning work, the selection committee remarked: 'Engaging intelligently with academic literature on civic-military relations and political trust, this dissertation examines how political trust in the region was reconfigured following the Arab Spring. It uses Arab Barometer survey data from 2011 to 2016 to test discrete hypotheses on political trust. The fluent, systematic discussion reveals a changing dynamic of political trust that has important implications for civil-military relations in other regime contexts'.
For Maya Hammad's award-winning dissertation they commented: 'This highly original study is an empirically-rich analysis of Quranic early childhood education in two refugee camps in Jordan. Drawing on qualitative interviews, the student examines how Islamic charity-affiliation affects the accessibility, inclusivity and quality of educational services. The findings of the well-argued dissertation have high policy significance.'
Launched by the LSE Middle East Centre in 2018, this prize is awarded annually to the most innovative and significant LSE Master’s dissertation focussing on the MENA region.
For all enquiries, please contact Kendall Livingston, Projects Assistant: k.livingston@lse.ac.uk
Hood Ahmed | MSc Comparative Politics
1st Prize: 'What are the Roots of Military-Government Trust Gaps? Evidence from the Arab World'
Maya Hammad | MSc International Social and Public Policy
1st Prize: 'Teaching Children through the Quran: Islamic Charities and the Provision of Early Childhood Education'