Congratulations to Hayfa Albassam (MSc Human Resources and Organizations, Department of Management) and Naila Tasnim (MSc Human Rights and Politics, Department of Sociology) for their prize-winning dissertations!
For the 2022 Middle East Centre master’s dissertations prize, 26 dissertations were submitted from across the School. Members of the judging panel were struck by the high quality and diversity of the submitted work, reflecting a keen interest in Middle Eastern and North African societies. All submitting students deserve credit for their work. While it was by no means an easy task to identify the winners, the panel decided that the following dissertations deserved special praise.
We are pleased to award the first prize to Hayfa’s dissertation on the factors influencing Saudi women's experiences across STEM careers. Second prize is awarded to Naila’s original analysis of Hayv Kahraman's art.
For Hayfa Albassam's winning dissertation, the judging panel stated: “The winning dissertation is a truly impressive study of the experience of Saudi women working in non-managerial positions across STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) fields. Not only does the dissertation generate important empirical findings on an under-researched subject, it does so through a systematic engagement with relevant theory on tokenism and gender quotas. The study makes a significant contribution to the management literature and has high policy significance. It deserves to be discussed in any review of affirmative action policies in Saudi Arabia.”
For Naila Tasnim’s study, the judging panel remarked: 'This is an accomplished study characterised by excellent analysis and argumentation. The student demonstrates remarkable command of a range of theoretical sources, which are brought to bear on a highly original analysis of the art of Hayv Kahraman. The interpretation is highly attuned to the evocation of Otherness in the works and words of the artist. The findings represent both an important contribution to scholarship on Kahraman’s art and also open up understanding on how Otherness is embodied and experienced through artistic practices.'
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 Manager: k.livingston@lse.ac.uk
Hayfa Albassam | MSc Human Resources and Organisations
1st Prize: 'Beyond Tokenism: An Exploration of Saudi Women’s Inclusion in STEM'
Hayfa received her MSc in Human Resources and Organizational Behaviour from LSE. Her dissertation was also joint winner of the best MSc dissertation in the HRO program
Naila Tasnim | MSc Human Rights and Politics
2nd Prize: 'The Bodies of Others: Psychic and Visceral (De)coloniality in the Art of Hayv Kahraman’
Naila recently graduated LSE with an MSc in Human Rights and Politics. Her research interests include postcolonialism, decolonial aesthetics, and feminist affect theory and their intersections.