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Call for submissions for the BNAC PhD Dissertation Prize 2023

The Britain-Nepal Academic Council (BNAC) is pleased to announce the call for submissions for the PhD Dissertation Prize 2023. There are up to two prizes to be awarded this year too, and we will accept applications from eligible applicants by 17 February 2023. Details of the call including eligibility criteria, assessment criteria and instructions for preparing your submission are as follows:

Eligibility

1. Applicants must either be registered for a PhD or have graduated from a PhD programme in any country within the last two years (i.e. have passed their PhD no earlier than 15 November 2020).
2. Applicants who took part in the 2021 and 2022 Prize competitions and did not win the prize may also apply with a new paper, if they meet the above eligibility criterion (point 1).

PhD Paper

1. Applicants should submit a chapter from their PhD thesis or a paper drawn from their thesis and submitted for review, not exceeding 8,000 words.
2. The paper must be single-authored.
3. The PhD paper should be in the fields of the social sciences or humanities or papers in technical fields dealing with social dimensions, such as public health and community forestry), and related to Nepal or the Nepali cultural world, broadly understood.
4. Applicants should also submit evidence of their eligibility along with their paper.

 Deadlines

1. Deadline for submission of applications: 23.59 UK time on 17 February 2023.
2. Notification of the winner: 10 March 2023.
3. Award of the prize: 24-25 April 2023, at the BNAC Nepal Study Days in the University of Huddersfield.

 Selection

The winners will be selected on a competitive basis by the BNAC PhD Dissertation Prize sub-committee comprising of Prof. Michael Hutt, Dr. Kumud Rana and Dr Rajeev Sah using the following criteria:

• The extent to which the chapter/paper makes an original contribution to the study of Nepal,
• The extent to which the chapter/paper makes an original contribution to relevant disciplinary fields,
• The level of rigour in the research methods used,
• The originality and efficacy of any innovations in the research methods used,
• The richness of the empirical data in the paper/chapter,
• The critical use of the empirical data, and
• The clarity of the paper’s structure, narrative and argument(s).

The prize

1. The winning candidates (up to two) will each receive a cash prize of £250.
2. A runner up candidate will also be named, providing there are sufficient submissions of quality.
3. We would encourage the winning authors to publish their work in a journal such as HIMALAYA and European Bulletin of Himalayan Research (EBHR).
4. The prize winners are highly encouraged (not obliged) to submit their papers and attend the Nepal Study Days 2023 on 24-25 April 2023, which will be held at the University of Huddersfield, and to present their paper there.

Please send your submission to: m.hutt@soas.ac.uk with ‘BNAC Dissertation Prize 2023 submission’ in the subject line.