The HERA Awards are excellence awards that encourage young people to imagine solutions for tomorrow by recognising theses and academic work that integrate social, environmental, economic and participatory dimensions.
In practice...
The HERA Awards recognise:
- doctoral theses across all disciplines: the HERA Doctoral Thesis Award for Future Generations (a biennial award of €7,500) and the Special HERA Award Brussels for Future Generations (a biennial award of €5,000)
- Master’s theses in various fields: the HERA Awards for Future Generations (annual awards of €2,500)
Why these awards?
Higher education and research play an essential role in fostering sustainable innovation and developing responses to the many challenges facing present and future generations.
The mission of HERA (Higher Education & Research Awards for Future Generations) is to:
- support students and researchers who integrate a cross-cutting approach to sustainable development into their work
- help inspire the academic community as a whole to gradually embrace this approach
Awards
The HERA Awards recognise Master’s theses across a range of disciplines, as well as doctoral theses across all disciplines.
Architecture Behaviour Democracy Design EconomySocial Economy Education Engineering Finance Food Systems Health IT Law Media Doctoral Thesis Brussels Doctoral Thesis
Watch our ceremony
"The HERA Awards gave me a great deal of visibility and credibility in my work, especially in the new role I was starting at the time."
Lara Vanderstichelen
2021 HERA Award Sustainable Food Systems laureate
The stages
1. Call for applications
- Calls are held annually for Master’s theses and every two years for doctoral theses.
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Applications open in May/June.
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Deadline: 10 October.
2. Selection of nominees and laureates
Independent juries, made up of experts from a wide range of backgrounds, review the applications and meet to select one laureate and up to two nominees for each award.
3. HERA Awards Ceremony
The annual HERA Awards Ceremony celebrates the young laureates whose Master’s theses and doctoral theses envision a sustainable world through a systemic, 360° approach.
The awards ceremony is hosted in turn by French-speaking universities.
