The award is presented yearly to a student on a master’s programme at the Faculty of Law in Oslo who has written a master’s thesis relevant to the topics of equality, inclusion and/or diversity. The thesis can be for either 30 or 60 ECTS credits, and must have been graded A or B.
The award is presented by the Faculty’s Committee for equality, inclusion, and diversity (LIMU). It is a part of the Faculty’s active efforts to promote equality and diversity and prevent discrimination for our students and employees.
The award seeks to acknowledge international work in the field, and ties in with some of the UN’s annual celebrations taking place in March, such as Zero Discrimination Day on 1 March, International Women’s Day on 8 March and International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March.
Thesis topic and research methods
An eligible thesis may deal with different groups that are protected against discrimination. We refer here to the Norwegian Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act paragraph 1, which mentions the following grounds of discrimination:
- gender
- pregnancy
- leave in connection with childbirth or adoption
- care responsibilities
- ethnicity
- religion
- belief
- disability
- sexual orientation
- gender identity and gender expression
- age
- other significant characteristics of a person
In addition, financial and social aspects can be relevant.
Equality, inclusion and diversity are relevant to many different thesis topics dealing with different areas of society. There are no restrictions on the choice of research method(s) used in an eligible thesis.
Nomination
The deadline for nomination is 15 March. Internal and external supervisors and examiners at the Faculty may nominate candidates.
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 to equality, inclusion and/or diversity.
- 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 the year before. It is possible to nominate theses with an extended submission deadline in January of the nomination year.
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.
The jury
The jury consists of three members appointed by the Faculty’s Committee for equality, inclusion, and diversity. Jury members should be appointed to ensure that the jury as a whole includes a breadth of different methods and perspectives. The jury should include members from both inside and outside of the Faculty.
Jury members cannot have been supervisors or examiners for nominated candidates.
Previous winners and nominees
2023
Winner:
María Leal Lillo. "Rights awareness in circular migration: a multi-stakeholder approach. The case of Moroccan women migrant workers in Huelva (Spain)."
Other nominees:
Helberg, Elisabeth Handeland. "The implementation of women’s rights to penal remedies for and protection against domestic violence in Bangladesh - A critical multi-level and multi-methodological analysis."
Sedlačková, Barbora. "Time to Tear Down the Walls: Does the Slovak government have a duty to provide reparations to the Slovak Roma minority?"
Svensson, Amelia Ella. "Rasismen under ytan: Norska Black Lives Matter-demonstranters upplevelser av rasism i vardagen och rättens konfliktlösande möjligheter att bemöta dessa."
Aasen, Hanna. "Gruppers og individers vern mot trakasserende og hatefulle ytringer – En sivil- og strafferettslig analyse."