The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Previous winners of CFE's Best Thesis Award

The Center for European Studies has awarded prizes and honorable mentions to essays in the fields of social sciences, humanities, law, and economics with connections to Europe and the EU for over 20 years. Below you can read about the recipients of the prize throughout the years.

2023

Best Thesis: Olof Bärtås, "Europeiska upptäckter Kulturell europeisering på svenska kultursidor 1977–1989"

Honorary mention: Linda Neubauer, "European Integration and Switzerland: A Synthetic Control Analysis of Switzerland’s Trade Potential if Switzerland Had Joined the European Union"

2022

Best Thesis: Evelina Hagberg, "…Thanks, but I’ll bypass: How state gatekeeping impacts regional bypassing in the EU"

Honorary mention: Katarina Bungerfeldt, "Money Talks: The potential of an EU financial conditionality mechanism linked to the rule of law"

2021

Best Thesis: Agnes Baude, "Kan rättsstatsprincipen i EU skyddas genom de nationella domstolarnas granskning? - En analys av EU-domstolens dom i L och P och betydelsen av unionens gemensamma värden för den europeiska arresteringsordern."

Honorary mention: Oliwia Rachwol, "Conspiracy Theories and the Polarized Polish Press: Systemic and Event Conspiracy Narratives in Polish Daily Newspapers during the Presidential Election Campaign in 2020"

2020

Best Thesis: Kristy Louise Rhades, "How European welfare states perpetuate the growth imperative and why alternatives are needed"

2019

Best Thesis: Cristian Pons-Seres de Brauwer, "Towards a citizen-driven low-carbon energy transition: Exploring the potential for collective investment schemes in community renewable energy in Europe to reduce greenhouse gas emissions"

Honorary mention: Alexandra Teorell, "A Company’s Guide to Environmental Action"

2018

Best Thesis: Hannes Westermann, "Change of Purpose: The effects of the Purpose Limitation Principle in the General Data Protection Regulation on Big Data Profiling"

2017

Best Thesis: Josje Groustra, "Polisario Front Before the Court of Justice of the European Union. A study of judicial activism in the EU"

2014/2015

Best Thesis: Marie Brink Nørager, "Knocking on Europe's Door...Investigating modes of governing and the principle of solidarity as EU member states respond to the asylum pressure on its southern borders"

Honorary mentions: 
Alisa Gühlstorf, "Soft Europeanisation of Work-Family Reconciliation Policy-Making? Social, Policy and Political Learning among German MPs"
Clara Maria Grassi, "Status and impact of the ability to pay principle in the ECJ's case law concerning tax benefits based on personal and family circumstances"
Maria Francisca Archila Bustos, "Population, Demography and Nighttime Lights: An examination of the effects of population decline on settlement patterns in Europe"

2013

Best Thesis: Sebastian Multala, "The role of judicial interpretation in environmental protection – an analysis of the EU’s leadership ambitions on climate change action"

Honorary mention: Anastasia Vlasenko, "EU Public Diplomacy Effects on Ukrainian Attitudes towards the EU"

2012

Best Thesis: Tra Pham, "Satirical Depictions of the European Union: A Semiotic Analysis of Political Cartoons on the 2004 Enlargement and 2009-2012 Eurozone Debt Crisis"

Honorary mention: Alina Mattisson Lax, "What to do about Kim?" 

2011

Best Thesis: Cecilia Sjöstrand, "Effective Judicial Protection of Individuals. A Duty for the Court of Justice or the National Courts"

Honorary mention: Johannes Arvidson Persson, "Cohesion or Cacophony? An Analysis of EU Voting Behavior in the United Nations General Assembly from the 62th to the 65th Session"

2010

Best Thesis: Angelica Ericsson, "Structural Guarantees for the State Aid Field. The Community's Last Best Hope against National Arbitrariness"

Honorary mentions: 
Nina Porst, "Constructing Maastricht's Third 'C': A Study of the Ideational Causality of Policy Coherence for Development in the EU"
Maria Karlsson, "Tall Tales of Genocide. An Argumentative and Comparative Analysis of Western Denial of the Holocaust and of the Armenian Genocide"

2009

Best Thesis: Markus Johansson, "A Matter of Context. Why Negotiating Mandates Given in the Swedish Riksdag’s EU Committee Differ"

Honorary mention: Katarina Broman, "Förvärvarens övertagande av personal vid verksamhetsövergång"

2008

Best Thesis: 
First Prize: Mi Lennhag, "Föredömligt folk förvandlar Gränsland till Europaland: Bilden av Ukraina I svensk press januari 2004 till mars 2006"
Second Prize: Linde Lindkvist, "A Fair Weather Champion? The European Union and the United Nations Human Rights Council" 

2007

Best Thesis: 
First Prize: Elna Jönsson, "Patent på mänskliga stamceller. Rättsliga och moraliska aspekter"
Second Prize: Hans Abrahamsson, "The Standard of Proof in EC Merger Control - the Impact of Airtours, Schneider and Tetra Laval"
Third Prize: Emil Persson, "Moskva är inte Sodom! En diskussion om nationell identitet, maskulinitet och synen på homosexualitet i dagens Ryssland"

2006

Best Thesis: Simon Stjernholm, "The Struggle for Purity : Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufism in Eastern London"

2003

Best Thesis: 
First Prize: Ulrika Bertilsson, juridik
Second Prize: Susanna Hughes, nationalekonomi
Second Prize: Linda Gröning, "Straffrättslig kompetens inom EG? - Säkerhet eller rättssäkerhet?"
Third Prize: Dragan Nicolic, etnologi

2002

Best Thesis:
First Prize: Therese Nordén, "Making Room for Elephants – An Attempt to Reexplore Democracy in the European Union"
First Prize: Sara Lindgren, "Rätten till domstolsprövning av förvaltningsbeslut – EG-rättens inverkan på svensk förvaltningsrätt"
Second Prize: Marie Lindqvist, "Labour Migration within the EU as a Consequence of Enlargement – A Case Study of Polish Migration to Sweden"
Third Prize: Gavin Turley, "Is Ireland’s corporate tax system creating tax-induced distortions on the location of investment?"

2001

Best Thesis: 
First Prize: Matilda Rotkirch, "The Principle of State Liability -The Creation of a General Principle of Law to Enhance Effective Judicial Protection of Individual EC Rights"
Second Prize: Eva Meurling, "Strategic Alliances - A competition law assessment with special emphasis on the telecommunications sector"
Third Prize: Kajsa Helmbring