VERSEN Thesis Awards Procedure and Committee

About the VERSEN Thesis Awards

To further promote and encourage excellence in software engineering research, VERSEN has introduced the VERSEN PhD Thesis Award and the VERSEN MSc Thesis Award. The awards are indications of excellence that can support talent in future applications in the current competitive academic climate.

The awards are supported by NWO and promoted at ICT.Open.

The theses will be judged on the following factors, in equal parts:

• Novelty to and impact in the field promoted by VERSEN.

• Timeliness.

• Quality of the thesis report and associated artifacts.

• Methodological approach and execution.

Please note that the thesis will be published on VERSEN’s website and cannot contain any intellectual property that is not public. If applicable, we will also publish links to associated artifacts (datasets, Github links, etc.).

Awards Committee (jury)

The awards committee consists of three people. Members can be a member for two years. The members yearly elect a head of the jury, who has the final say in determining the final number of awards. The members are typically VERSEN board members and form a representative selection from the board members.

In the event that a member of the jury wishes to nominate a candidate supervised by them, the jury member will step down from the committee and finds a replacement jury member from the VERSEN board for this round. The outcome of the judgment of the members of the jury who can vote, should be weighed to make up a full rating for the candidate’s work.

The preferred voting system for the jury is Anonymous Adoodle.

Typical Procedure Thesis Awards

The Award can only be awarded to graduate students who have obtained their degree from a Dutch institute of higher academic learning between September 1st, of the previous year, until August 31st, of the current year. We strongly recommend that both the winner of a thesis award and the nominator are present at the award ceremony.

There are a maximum of four awards awarded per category. It is at the jury’s discretion to decide how awards are awarded, ideally with a minimum of one award per category and a cash prize for at least the first award.

Important Dates & Submission (Both Awards)

For the important dates, submission procedure, and status of the current edition, please see the call for submissions.

For past editions, please see the history of the awards.