EAPLS Best Doctoral Dissertation Award 2024-2025: Call for Nominations
The EAPLS has established a Best Doctoral Dissertation Award in the research area of programming languages and systems. The award will go to a young Doctor of Computer Science (Informatics) who has since the previous EAPLS award made the most original and influential contribution to the designated field. The purpose of the award is to draw attention to excellent work, to support the career of the young Computer Scientist (Informatician) in question, and to promote the research field as a whole.
in Board announcements by Stefan Gruner on July 29, 2026

EAPLS Best Dissertation Award 2024-2025: Call for Nominations

http://eapls.org/pages/phd_award/

The European Association for Programming Languages and Systems (EAPLS) has established a Best Doctoral Dissertation Award in the research area of programming languages and systems. The award will go to a young Doctor of Computer Science (Informatics) who has since the previous EAPLS award made the most original and influential contribution to the designated field. The purpose of the award is to draw attention to excellent work, to support the career of the young Computer Scientist (Informatician) in question, and to promote the research field as a whole.

Eligibility

Eligible for the award are those who have successfully obtained their Doctoral Degree

  • at a Tertiary Academic Institution in Europe,
  • with a Doctoral Dissertation in the field of Programming Languages and Systems,
  • in the time between the 1st of January 2024 and the 31st of December 2025.

NOTE: IF a Doctoral Dissertation designated for nomination was written in any European Language other than English, then please contact the Committee in advance, before making any submission.

Nominations

Candidates for the award must be nominated by their Academic Supervisor. Nominating a candidate is done by e-mailing the nomination to phdaward@eapls.org The nomination must consist of one single PDF file which contains:

  • a Photocopy of the Doctoral Degree Certificate from the candidate's University (located in Europe);
  • a Letter from the supervisor explaining why the thesis should be considered for the award;
  • a Report from an independent researcher who has acted as examiner of the dissertation at its defense;
  • the Dissertation itself.

The nominated dissertations will be evaluated with respect to originality and significance to the field, and (to a lesser degree) their quality of writing. Where the dissertation consists of a collection of papers, in assessing the quality of writing careful consideration will be given to the introduction and overall conclusion chapters of the dissertation, as well as the quality of the individual papers and their consistent use of notation, concepts, etc.

E-mails, for clarification of questions, can be sent to the award committee's chair: phdaward@eapls.org

Procedure

The nominations will be evaluated and compared by an international committee of experts. The justification by the supervisor and the external report will play an important role in the evaluation. The final decision is made by the EAPLS board, based on the recommendation of the expert committee. To avoid any conflict of interest, members of the expert committee and the EAPLS board are barred from nominating their own PhD students for the award. The award consists of a certificate announcing the winner of the EAPLS PhD award, and the supervisor will receive a copy of this certificate. If possible, the certificate will be handed out ceremonially at a suitable occasion, (for example at the ETAPS conference). In addition, the winner will be invited to submit a short video summarizing the thesis work which will be made available via the EAPLS website. Apart from the winner, no further ranking of nominees will be published. The decision of the expert committee is final and binding and will not be subject to discussion. The committee reserves the right to give out no award if none of the received submissions meet the expected high quality standards.

Important Dates

  • 31 October 2026: Deadline for Nominations, via e-mail to phdaward@eapls.org
  • By the end of this year 2006: Announcement of the Committee's Decision.

Expert Committee

The following experts have agreed to act as award committee members:

  • Mariangiola Dezani-Ciancaglini (Dipartimento di Informatica: Università di Torino)
  • Kei Davis (Los Alamos National Laboratory)
  • Sandra Alves (University of Porto)
  • Greg Michaelson (Heriot-Watt University)
  • Stefano Crespi Reghizzi (Politecnico di Milano)
  • Eerke Boiten (De Montfort University Leicester)
  • Matteo Pradella (Politecnico di Milano)
  • Christoph Kirsch (University of Salzburg)
  • Santiago Escobar (Universitat Politècnica de València)
  • Jorge Perez (Universiteit Groningen)
  • Stefan Gruner (Chairman of the Committee on behalf of EAPLS)