22 October 2024

In 2025, the ‘Stichting Geschillenoplossing Automatisering’ (SGOA) will award the national SGOA/ Hans Frankenprijs to the author of the best graduation thesis in the field of IT law. The prize is awarded every two years and is named after Professor Hans Franken, the former SGOA chairman and professor emeritus of Law and Information at Leiden University. It purpose is to promote research by university students into IT law and to promote this area of law.

Conditions for participation

To be eligible for this thesis prize, the graduation thesis must have been written (in Dutch or English) by a university of applied sciences (HBO) student or a university (WO) master’s student. The thesis must have been submitted between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2024, and must have received at least a pass grade. The topic of the thesis must be clearly linked to IT law – for example, internet law, privacy law, AI law, telecommunications law or the specific application of other legal fields to the IT sector, such as labour law, tax law, procurement law or dispute resolution/mediation in the field of IT.

More information is provided in the regulations (in Dutch). The thesis (including a summary and signed proof of the grade the thesis received or a transcript stating the thesis grade) can be emailed as a pdf to hansfrankenprijs@sgoa.eu by 31 January 2025.

Submission procedure and prize

If more than seven theses are submitted that satisfy the application criteria, a selection committee will preselect theses to present to the jury. These will be announced by mid-March 2025 at the latest.

The winner will be announced at an event later in 2025 and will receive €2,500 in prize money.

If you have any questions about the 2025 SGOA/Hans Franken Thesis Prize or the submission procedure, please send an email to hansfrankenprijs@sgoa.eu

The regulations are available here (in Dutch). Information aboout the jury members is available here (in Dutch).