VSR Thesis Award ‘Law and Society’ 2023 (biannual)

The VSR Thesis Award is meant for a thesis or research report of the level of a master degree. It should be the result of a social scientific study or research on the subject Law and Society, conducted under the supervision of the Belgium and/or the Dutch universities. The jury decides on the basis of the following criteria: originality, clear research method and apparent contribution to the knowledge and theory on law and society. The nominated study had to be finalised after 30 September 2021 and before 30 September 2023. (Theses and research reports of 1 October 2023 and later will be eligible for the VSR Thesis Award 2025.)

The VSR is an interdisciplinary association for the social scientific study of law. Over 150 active participants from The Netherlands and Belgium (Flanders) are involved in the inquiring of the social effect of law, the attitudes of people towards law and the legal system, the social circumstances and developments that effect the law, etc. Its membership includes lawyers, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, economists, historians, public administrators and criminologists.

The prize will be awarded at the VSR conference on 17 & 18 January 2024 in Utrecht.

The prize consists of the sum of € 150, one year membership (including the journal Recht der Werkelijkheid (Living Law), and the expenses of participating in the VSR Annual Conference 2024 (fee, diner and hotel).

The jury is composed of:
Agnes Schreiner LL.M, Ph D, visiting researcher, University of Amsterdam
Iris Sportel Ph D, researcher, Radboud University, Nijmegen
Dr. Marc Simon Thomas, associate professor and researcher, Universiteit Utrecht

Application

Have you conducted an empirical study or research on a subject of law and society for your master thesis or a comparable research report? Or, were you the supervisor of such a thesis or report? Authors, as well as supervisors, are invited to nominate the thesis or research report for the VSR Award. Applications should be submitted by 30 September 2023. The digital version can be sent to the email address a.t.m.schreiner@uva.nl. And the, preferably three, hard copies can be submitted to the following address:

Agnes T.M. Schreiner
General Jurisprudence Department # REC A8.10
Law Faculty UvA
PO Box 15654
1001 ND Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Former Award Recipients:

2000, Heidy Rombouts: De rol van het juridisch beroep in de Zuid-Afrikaanse Waarheidscommissie.
2002, Jellienke Stamhuis: Zelfregulering en de bedrijfscode.
2004, Roel Gerits: Restorative Justice in South African Townships.
2006, Elke van Hellemont: Ketens van heden, determinanten van de oververtegenwoordiging van Marrons in Surinaamse gevangenissen.
2008, Marc Simon Thomas: Brandnetels en boete, Rechtspluralisme en interlegaliteit in Ecuador.
2010, Silke Praagman: Verschillen in de rechtszaal geoorloofd? Een onderzoek naar de verhouding tussen de gedifferentieerde werkwijze van comparitierechters en de eisen die aan het proces van rechtspreken worden gesteld.
2012/13, not awarded.
2015, Carrie van der Kroon: ‘I write with the right’, The legal consciousness of Ngäbe migrant children between Panamá and Costa Rica and the vernacularization of the UN CRC.
2017, Anneloes Hoff: ‘Mobilising an Aspirational Constitution. The case of Colombia’s mining consultations’.
2019, not awarded
2021, Camiel Raaijmakers: `The Growing Power of China: Consequences for Legal Pluralism’