Call for Nominations 2026

The Dutch Association for Logic and Philosophy of the Exact Sciences (VvL) is pleased to invite nominations for the VvL Master’s Thesis Award 2026.

A Master’s thesis on a wide range of topics is eligible for nomination, provided that it has a clear connection to logic or to the philosophy of the exact sciences, and is written as part of a Master's program at a Dutch university and the corresponding Master's graduation date lies between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025. Eligible topics include, but are not restricted to:

• proof theory, model theory, set theory, modal logic, non-classical logic, algebraic logic, philosophical logic, and related areas;
• logical approaches to language, including formal semantics, pragmatics, and natural-language inference;

• applications of logic in computer science and artificial intelligence, including argumentation, automated reasoning, data management, explainable AI, machine learning, non-monotonic reasoning, optimization, probabilistic logic, programming languages, reasoning under uncertainty, and verification;

• formal epistemology and formal models of cognition or agency, including belief revision, knowledge, evidence, theory of mind, rational agency, and decision-making;
• causal and probabilistic reasoning;

• foundations of mathematics and computer science, including logical or philosophical work on computation, algorithms, computability, complexity theory, type theory, category theory, and quantum information;
• formal approaches to norms, ethics, responsibility, fairness, agency, and communication;
• proof assistants, proof checking, formalized mathematics, interactive theorem proving, and related methods.

Submission:

(i) The student or supervisor submits the Master’s thesis in PDF format via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=vvlmasters2026.

(ii) The supervisor sends a one-page nomination letter, explaining the reasons for the nomination, as a PDF attachment to awards@verenigingvoorlogica.nl with the subject “VvL Master’s Thesis Award 2026 nomination letter for [name]”.

Important dates:

• Submission deadline (extended): 1 June 2026 AoE
• Notification: 15 July 2026

VvL Master's Thesis Award Committee 2026:

Zoé Christoff (University of Groningen)

Dragan Doder (Utrecht University)

Anela Lolic (TU Wien)

Revantha Ramanayake (Chair, University of Groningen)

Tjitze Rienstra (Maastricht University)

Winners 2025

1. Lingyuan Ye (Amsterdam, Master of Logic). Supervisor: Benno van den Berg. Thesis title: "Algebraic Monoidal Model Categories and Path Category Structures for Effective Kan Fibrations".
2. Andreea Minculescu (Groningen, Masters in AI). Supervisors: Rineke Verbrugge, Harmen de Weerd and Jakob Dirk Top. Thesis title: "Cutting Cheryl's Birthday cake: Modeling theory of mind orders in public announcement logic".

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: