Lara Bister wins NIDI-NVD master thesis award

On Friday 20 November, during the closing ceremony of the Dutch Demography Week, the NIDI-NVD Master Thesis Award was presented by Leo van Wissen, the president of the NVD.

The award was (digitally) granted to Lara Bister for her Master thesis titled “Maternity leave durations and the relevance of selection: A demographic approach to maternal health outcomes after maternity leave for first-time mothers in Germany”. The NIDI-NVD Master Thesis Award honors the best Master thesis in the field of population studies, with some connection to the Netherlands (either by topic or student).

Lara wrote her thesis at the Population Research Centre of the University of Groningen (Faculty of Spatial Sciences), as a student of the Master Population Studies. She was supervised by Roberta Rutigliano.

In her thesis, Lara implemented a quantitative research design and studied the link between paid maternity leave durations on health outcomes for first-time mothers in Germany. The jury praised the clear problem statement and research question, the strong theoretical framework and meticulous methodological approach. The jury was also impressed with the critical discussion of previous literature as well as own research findings. Last but certainly not least, the jury highly appreciated the reflections regarding the study's policy implications and recommendations for policy interventions.

The NIDI-NVD Master Thesis Award is yearly granted by the Netherlands Demographic Society (NVD) and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) to promote the study of population and to encourage young researchers in the field. It carries a certificate and a € 500 cash benefit.