The award will be presented on 21 March to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The award will be given to a student who has written a master’s thesis of 30 or 60 credits that is relevant for the topic of racial discrimination and that has been graded A or B.
Topic of the master’s thesis
An eligible thesis may deal with one or more of a long range of different issues and societal areas, such as immigration, employment, education, welfare, nightlife, etc. The thesis may also take as a starting point the situation in a specific country (for example Norway). Below you can find examples of relevant topics.
Who is eligible to be nominated?
Students from all the Faculty of Law master’s programmes can be nominated. The award is not limited to legal theses. Students using different social studies research methods or cross-disciplinary methods can also be nominated.
Who may nominate candidates?
Examiners and supervisors for the thesis.
Nomination deadline
The nomination deadline is 1 March 2023 in a separate nomination form.
Examiners and supervisors may submit nominations here
Award criteria
- The master’s thesis must be submitted in one of the master’s programmes at the Faculty of Law and must concern a topic relevant for racial discrimination.
- The master's thesis must be the student's own original and independent research contribution.
- A candidate can only be nominated once.
- The candidate must have received the grade A or B on the master's thesis.
- The award is intended for master's theses submitted in 2022.
The nomination must include
- The name of the nominated student and the person nominating them.
- A nomination text by the supervisor or examiner giving reasons for the nomination, and a brief abstract of the thesis.
- The thesis in full.
Examples of relevant master's thesis topics relevant for racial discrimination:
- Ethnic representation within state institutions (such as courts, boards, etc..).
- Action taken by public authorities that may be considered racial discrimination.
- Lack of response by public authorities, employers, etc. to complaints addressing racial discrimination.
- Legal clinic practice (for example JussBuss or JURK) addressing racial discrimination in Norway.
- The scope of enjoyment of a safe space for minorities to express themselves, on line or in actual forums without being subjected to hate speech or harassment.
- Compliance by employers and public authorities with their duty to eliminate racial discrimination.
- Actions taken by state institutions and societal actors to counter hate speech against ethnic minorities and foreigners.
- Analysis of the fragmented system resulting in protection gaps impacting the protection of individual rights: the Ombudsman for Children, the Equality and Discrimination Board, the Child Welfare institution, the Ombudsman, the National Institution for Human Rights, etc.
- Challenges and weaknesses regarding the protection of the individual rights of minorities.
- Analysis of intersectional discrimination, for example combining rase, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sex, gender identity, language, disability, sexual orientation, migration status, socio-economic background or other characteristic of a person.