The third edition of the competition for the UG Rector's Special Award ‘Including Gender in Research’, which rewards the highest-ranked master's and doctoral theses incorporating a gender perspective in research, has been decided! This year, as many as 20 theses were submitted for the competition.

As part of the EU Horizon 2020 project ‘Modifying Institutions by Developing Gender Equality Plans’ (MINDtheGEPs), implemented at the University of Gdańsk and led by prof. dr hab. Ewa Łojkowska, a number of activities are being undertaken to implement the gender equality policy at our university, as defined in the Gender Equality Policy Implementation Plan at the University of Gdańsk for 2024-2028.

One of the project's activities is the awarding of annual prizes for the highest-scoring master's theses and doctoral dissertations incorporating a gender perspective in the area of research. The call for applications for the third edition of the award was announced in October 2024. Those who were awarded a master's or doctoral degree at the University of Gdańsk between 2023 and 2024 were eligible to apply for the award. Four financial prizes are awarded for the highest-rated master's and doctoral theses, two in the area of science and natural sciences and two in the area of humanities and social sciences.

This year, twenty theses were submitted for the competition from five faculties of our university: Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology UG and MUG, Faculty of Languages, Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography and Faculty of Management. The final results were determined by the innovation of the research undertaken and the consistent integration of the gender perspective into the content of the research. This year's laureates were selected by a jury composed of prof. dr hab. Grzegorz Węgrzyn - Chairman of the Committee, dr hab. Mariusz Grinholc, prof. UG, dr hab. Beata Grobelna, prof. UG, dr hab. Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka, prof. UG, dr hab. Barbara Pawłowska, prof. UG, mgr Marta Dziedzic - Secretary of the Committee. Appreciating the high quality of the submitted papers, in addition to the statutory financial awards, the Commission granted five additional distinctions.

The award for the best doctoral dissertation in the social sciences and humanities taking into account the gender perspective in the area of research was granted to Paulina Anikiej-Wiczenbach from the Faculty of Social Sciences UG for her thesis entitled ‘Personal, relational and situational determinants of parental responsiveness, measured by observation and self-description’, prepared under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Maria Kaźmierczak.

The award for the highest-scoring doctoral thesis in science and life sciences went to Monika Górska-Arcisz from the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology UG and MUG for her thesis ‘FGFR2 in the regulation of p62/Keap1/Nrf-2 interdependence - significance in luminal breast cancer’, prepared under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Rafał Sądeja.

The award for the highest-scoring master's thesis in the humanities and social sciences went to Sylwia Romańska from the Faculty of Languages UG for her thesis ‘Queer Narratives in American Popular Music 2014-2024’, prepared under the supervision of dr hab. Grzegorz Piotrowski, prof. UG.

The award for the highest-scoring master's thesis in the sciences and natural sciences went to Karolina Pałucha from the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, UG, for her thesis ‘Breeding and performance characteristics of the Sparctic 2 hybrid - a new candidate for aquaculture production’, prepared under the supervision of dr inż. Marcin Kuciński.

Distinctions in the category: doctoral thesis in social sciences and humanities taking into account the gender perspective of the research object in the research were awarded to:

• Sonia Czaplewska from the Faculty of Languages, UG, for her thesis ‘The linguistic creation of family and school in Polish and Japanese primers published between 1989 and 2017’, prepared under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Aneta Lewińska.
• Ariadna Łada-Maśko from the Faculty of Social Sciences UG for her thesis ‘Selected personal and relational factors associated with maturity to parenthood and the realisation of parental roles’, prepared under the supervision of dr hab. Maria Kaźmierczak, prof. UG.

Distinctions in the category: master's thesis in the social sciences and humanities taking into account the gender perspective of the research object in the research were awarded to:

• Paulina Melcer from the Faculty of Social Sciences UG for her thesis ‘Biographical experiences of women with an autism spectrum diagnosis in adulthood’, prepared under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Jolanta Rzeźnicka-Krupa.
• Weronika Skrzynecka from the Faculty of Social Sciences UG for her thesis ‘The relationship between beliefs about endangered masculinity and declared political views’, prepared under the supervision of dr hab. Natasha Kosakowska-Berezecka prof. UG.
• Julia Stekla from the Faculty of Social Sciences UG for her thesis ‘Social support and minority stress and psychological tendencies related to sexual relations of transgender persons’, prepared under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Beata Pastwa-Wojciechowska.

The prizewinners and distinction winners of the ‘I include gender in research’ competition will present their work at the graduation ceremony in the coming year.

Our sincere congratulations to the laureates and honourable mentions. All those interested are invited to submit their work in the next edition of the competition in 2025.