The Research Institute for Sustainability and Ethics in Business (RiseB.se) at Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics, Umeå University awards an annual thesis prize to encourage business students to become interested in and immerse themselves in sustainability and business ethics. Eligible to apply for the prize are students in business administration who have written an thesis on the bachelor or master levels where the main focus is sustainability and business ethics.
The RiseB thesis prize is awarded in cooperation with Umeå Energi that have made the financing possible.
To be considered for the prize the thesis shall be written for obtaining a degree in business administration at a Swedish university or university college. This means that theses that treat issues related to organization, leadership, finance, accounting, marketing and entrepreneurship can be nominated only if they also focus on some aspect of sustainability and/or business ethics. Sustainability here means "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Within this, foremost ecological, social and cultural aspects are considered, but also economic and ethical.
In addition to the above, the following aspects are relevant to be considered:
Director of studies, thesis responsible or similar at each business administration department at Swedish universities and university colleges have the right to nominate one thesis to represent each business school/department. The thesis must be written and approved in the nomination year as well as plagiarism controlled and be in full text in the respective department's public thesis database (DiVA or similar) at the time of nomination. Nominations are made by filling in the form in accordance with the instructions there:
Application form for theses written in 2019.
A jury consisting of representatives from academia, industry and the non-governmental sector will assess the theses.
The following jury has been appointed to select the 2018 thesis prize winner for the best thesis written in 2017.
In addition to extensive experience in sustainable development and/or business ethics, the jury members represent various subject areas within business administration. Click on each name to read more about the jury members and the organizations they represent.
Herman Stål, Research leader RiseB, Entrepreneurship
Pasi Heikkurinen, lecturer, School of Earth and Environment, Leeds
Cecilia Mark-Hebert, docent, Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, Uppsala
Christian Skanderby, Umeå Energi
Johan Jansson, docent, Lunds universitet
Winners will be announced on RiseB.se three months after the deadline for nominations. Prize winners will be invited to USBE and RiseB yearly graduation ceremony and ball. The prize is awarded in the form of a grant of SEK 25 000. Second - and third prize runners up will be awarded an honorable mention which is also published on RiseB's website.
Questions about the thesis prize should be addressed to Herman Stål.
