Call for Nominations: VvL Master's Thesis Award for Logic and Foundations of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Artificial Intelligence 2025, Deadline (extended): 15 May 2025

The Dutch Association for Logic and Philosophy of the Exact Sciences (VvL) is happy to announce the VvL Master's Thesis Award 2025.

Any Master's thesis with a topic in logic or in philosophy of the exact sciences (interpreted broadly, including, for example, foundations of mathematics and computer science, applications in artificial intelligence, models of cognition, causal inference, and the formal study of natural language) is eligible to be nominated for the award, provided that it is written as part of a Master's program at a Dutch university and the corresponding Master's graduation date lies between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024.

A thesis must be nominated by the supervisor(s). The thesis (in PDF format) and a one page letter by the supervisor giving the reasons for nomination should be sent to awards@verenigingvoorlogica.nl. Submissions will be selected for the prize by the VvL Master’s thesis award committee based on their academic qualities. More than one prize may be awarded per edition.

Important dates:

        • Extended submission deadline: 15 May 2025
        • Notification: 1 July 2025

Nominees will be informed by e-mail, and the winners will be announced on the VvL website and VvL mailing list.

We are looking forward to receiving many high-quality submissions on a broad range of topics within logic and philosophy of the exact sciences!

VvL Master's Thesis Award Committee 2025:

Eric Pacuit (Chair, University of Maryland)

Zoé Christoff (University of Groningen)

Vlasta Sikimić (TU Eindhoven)

Fan Yang (Utrecht University)

Winners 2024

1. Aude Corbeel (University of Amsterdam, Master's in Theoretical Physics). Supervisors: Sebastian de Haro Ollé and Erik Verlinde. Thesis title: "AdS/CFT Duality: Insights from Quantum Information Theory (A Conceptual Clarification)".
2. Sterre Lutz (Utrecht University, Master's in AI). Supervisors: Nima Motamed and Dragan Doder. Thesis title: "r-PLBP: Temporal Logic for Reasoning about Safety and Rewards of Bounded Policies under Uncertainty".
3. Ruben Mud (University of Groningen, Master of Mathematics). Supervisor: Oliver Lorscheid. Thesis title: "Topics in Betweenness and Enriched Categories".
4. Valentin Müller (University of Amsterdam, Master of Logic). Supervisors: Marianna Girlando and Benno van den Berg. Thesis title: "On the proof theory of inquisitive logic".

VvL Master’s thesis award committee 2024:

Winners 2023

1. Rodrigo Almeida (UvA, supervised by Nick Bezhanishvili & Tommaso Moraschini). Thesis title: Polyatomic Logics and Generalised Blok-Esakia Theory with Applications to Orthologic and KTB.

2. Søren Brinck Knudstorp (UvA, supervised by Johan van Benthem & Nick Bezhanishvili). Thesis title: Modal Information Logics.

3. Raoul Koudijs (UvA, supervised by Balder ten Cate). Thesis title: Learning Modal Formulas via Dualities.

VvL Master’s thesis award committee 2023:

Winners 2022

1. Anna Dmitrieva (UvA, supervised by Nick Bezhanishvili & Tommaso Moraschini). Thesis title: Positive Modal Logic Beyond Distributivity: Duality, Preservation and Completeness.
2. Maximilian Siemers (UvA, supervised by Aybüke Özgün). Thesis title: Hyperintensional Logics for Evidence, Knowledge and Belief.
3. Dominik Wehr (UvA, supervised by Bahareh Afshari). Thesis title: An Abstract Framework for the Analysis of Cyclic Derivations.

VvL Master’s thesis award committee 2022: