PhD Dissertation competition

Best PhD Dissertation 2025

We invite nominations for the SICSA Best PhD Dissertation in Scotland award from our vibrant research student community to celebrate ground-breaking research across Scottish Institutions.

Accepting Submissions

Our commitment to support and showcase the work of PhD students is continuous and we are delighted to invite submissions from doctoral researchers from all Scottish Institutions.

Prize

The ultimate winner will receive a prize of £2,000; all shortlisted candidates will receive a £50 voucher and a certificate at the SICSA PhD Conference. The Award Ceremony will take place at Edinburgh Napier University on 25^th June 2025.

2024 Winner

The last winner in 2024 was Alec Diallo (University of Edinburgh) with his thesis entitled “Designing High-Performance, Robust, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence Systems for Cyber-Security.”

Congratulations, Alec!

Alec Diallo, University of Edinburgh, receiving the award for Best PhD Dissertation at the SICSA PhD Conference in 2024.

Award Information

Selection Criteria

The award is intended to recognise and honour outstanding research and exposition in Computer Science and Informatics. Specifically, to be considered for this award, the dissertation should:

make an original and noteworthy technical contribution;

have a high-quality exposition accessible to a general computing audience.

Eligibility

All doctoral dissertations with a focus on Computer Science and Informatics successfully completed in the period 12^th May 2022 to 31^th May 2024 are eligible. The final thesis acceptance date is taken as the completion date.

Nominations

Copy of dissertation.

Nominating statement from an advisor (2 pages max) addressing why the nominee’s dissertation should receive this award. This should address the significance of the dissertation, not simply repeat the information in the abstract. Nomination must come from the advisor; self-nomination is not allowed.

One letter of support (2 pages max). The supporting letter should be from an expert in the field (for example, the external examiner) who can provide additional insights or evidence of the dissertation’s impact. (The nominator/advisor may not write a letter of support.) If a letter writer is supporting more than one nomination, they may be asked to rank those nominations.

List of publications contributing to thesis.

Suggested award citation if the candidate is selected. This should be a concise statement of no more than 200 words.

Deadline for submissions
30th April 2025

If you have any questions, please get in touch and email your nominations to:

Review process

Submissions will be reviewed by a selection committee consisting of senior researchers in Computer Science and Informatics and chaired by the SICSA Graduate Academy Director.

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