New thesis prize for master's students of Economics and Business

How can we encourage economics and business students to deal with important societal challenges in their master's thesis? The 14 Dutch faculties of economics and business, united in the Council of Deans in Economics and Business (DEB), have set up a new thesis prize for this purpose: Humanity in Economics and Business. The thesis prize is enabled by the Goldschmeding Foundation.

Five societal challenges

In 2023, the DEB drew up an 'Impact Agenda' in which five social topics (societal transitions) for sustainable prosperity have been identified. These topics are:

• A sustainable economy

• A broad perspective on welfare

• The digital transformation

• A healthy society

• Our changing institutions

Through this agenda, the faculties want to strengthen their societal impact and effectively initiate, steer and supervise changes in society. The thesis prize rewards innovative theses on one of these five topics with the aim of promoting humanity in economics.

Thesis Prize

The thesis prize 'People in Economics and Business' was created to encourage students to focus on the interests of their fellow human beings within these five subjects. Yearly, five prizes worth €5,000 each will be awarded, one per subject. The evaluation procedure is currently being elaborated in more detail, and will be made available to interested students and teaching staff in May. The first thesis prizes will be awarded in the fall of 2024.