Political Science Master’s thesis prize 2026: the nominees
Each year, Political Science master students produce outstanding theses that contribute to current scholarly debates. To celebrate these achievements, we recognise the best thesis with the prestigious Political Science Master’s Thesis Award. For the 2025–2026 academic year, the jury is considering 19 nominated theses covering a wide range of topics, from colonialism to minority cabinets and animal rights. The winner will be announced on 30 October 2026.
The jury, consisting of Corinna Jentzsch, Diana Davila Gordillo, and Daniel Thomas, is currently examining the following theses. The winner will be announced during the Master’s Graduation Ceremony on 30 October 2026.
The shortlist
- Thomas van der Meer, Bontkragen, bondgenoten en vertrouwensbanden (supervisor: Simon Otjes)
- Desislava Angelova, Public Trust and Framing: The Role of National Government Narrative in Shaping Citizens’ Trust in the European Union during the Eurozone Crisis (supervisor: Matthew di Giuseppe)
- Joanne de Bakker, Democratic Backsliding and EU Cohesion: Explaining Human Rights Voting in the UN General Assembly (supervisor: Martijn Mos)
- Otis Houwink, Control Behind the Screen: Dutch Citizen Attitudes toward Digital Sovereignty (supervisor: Babak Rezaeedaryakenari)
- Cathy Zaunbrecher, From Fragmentation to Unity? Long-Distance Nationalism and Diaspora Mobilisation in the Ukrainian-Canadian Community (1991-2022) (supervisor: Vasiliki (Billy) Tsagkroni)
- Kelsey Knuiman, The Quiet Architects of Self-Determination: How the International Colonial Institute Shaped the Meaning of the Principle (supervisor: Müge Kinacioglu)
- Julia van Herpen, MANAGING POLITICAL DISCONTENT: Investigating the Relationship Between Party Membership and Satisfaction withDemocracy in consolidated democracies (supervisor: Can Kurban)
- Maya Bhanot, Diplomats, Doubts, and Dilemmas: When mediators question everything but still show up (supervisor: Guido Maschhaupt)
- Bhawika Tanggwa Bhawika Tanggwa Prabhuttama, Signaling Statehood: Strategic Consociationalism in Indonesia’s Federal Transition (1946–1950) (supervisor: Nicolas Blarel)
- Karunia Kager, Rechts in de rechtszaal: een kwalitatief onderzoek naar de juridische mobilisering van Nederlandse belangenorganisaties (supervisor: Tom Louwerse)
- Alfredo Di Santo, The Myth of Rupture: A Historical Institutionalist Account of Continuity in China's Investment Strategy from the Angola Mode to the Belt and Road Initiative (supervisor: Michael Sampson)
- Alexa Asadorian, Energy Geopolitics and Humanitarian Crises: China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Rohingya Crisis (supervisor: Esra Nartok-van der Kist)
- Kareem Alsawalha, The Orient Within Us: Neo-Orientalism, Social Essentialism, and Arab Gender and Sexuality in Netflix's Jinn (2019) (supervisor: Esra Nartok-van der Kist)
- Emma Pedrajas, Latin American Sex Workers and the Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion in the Netherlands (supervisor: Esra Nartok-van der Kist)
- Ezra van Essen Hampel, Are Minority Cabinets to be Trusted? How Minority Governance Impacts Trust in Parliament (supervisor: Maria Spirova)
- Kyan van Dam, Costly or Ambiguous? EU Signalling and Geopolitical Actorness in the Indo-Pacific (supervisor: Abby Post)
- Lotte Habraken, Selective Colonial Accountability: How the Dutch State Constructs and Limits Recognition of Colonial Violence (supervisor: Davis Ellison)
- Terttu Ennoila, Four legs good, two legs right: Non-human animal rights as a form of biopolitical domination (supervisor: Aris Agoglossakis Foley)
- Muireann Carton, The Scales of Justice: Balancing past and future claims (supervisor: Gerrit Schaafsma)