Together with the Landscape Planning Research Group, we award the annual Arthur Getis Dissertation Award for the best Bachelor’s and Master’s theses focusing on quantitative spatial research. Specifically, we are seeking nominations or self-nominations of outstanding student theses in the fields of methodological, conceptual, or empirical quantitative spatial science. The prize is awarded annually in two categories (BSc and MSc), with a purse of €150 in each category. The prize is indivisible. The award ceremony takes place on the Faculty Day of the respective year.

The following formal eligibility criteria apply:

• Completion of the dissertation (usually the submission date) must fall between 1 April and 31 March (e.g. between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027 for the current submission period);
• the dissertation must have been written at the Department of Spatial Planning at TU Dortmund University;
• achievement of a minimum mark of 1.3 (average of the two individual marks);
• the thesis must deal with a quantitative spatial topic and may be methodological, conceptual, or empirical in nature.

Please find the full and legally binding guidelines as follows:

German: Richtlinie für die Vergabe des Preises der Fakultät Raumplanung der Technischen Universität Dortmund zu Ehren von Arthur Getis

English: Guidelines for the awarding of the dissertation prize by the Department of Spatial Planning at TU Dortmund University in honour of Arthur Getis

In addition to the above formal criteria, the following criteria must be met for a dissertation to be classified as ‘excellent’:

• The dissertation must demonstrate the student’s excellent command of quantitative concepts and/or methods;
• the research questions, the chosen approach, and the conclusions drawn should display a high degree of originality;
• the level of critical reflection, both on the academic discourse addressed and on the student’s own work, should be above average.

The submission deadline is 30 April. Applications and nominations must be submitted via email (see below) and must include the following details:

• Name of the candidate and their home or work address;
• names of the supervisors as well as institutional affiliations, if a supervisor is not a member of the Department of Spatial Planning;
• title of the thesis and grade;
• the reports prepared for the assessment of the thesis, provided that the candidate has obtained the consent of the examiners for this purpose;
• a statement of reasons for the application or nomination, not exceeding two pages, which refers in particular to the quantitative aspects of the work;
• a digital copy of the nominated thesis (in case of large files, submission via a file-sharing service is permitted) and a one-page summary;
• proof of the date on which the final thesis was successfully completed.

Please post your submission or nomination to the following email address: rene.westerholt@tu-dortmund.de
(Please note that we are currently setting up a new email address specifically for submissions; the email address will thus change in the near future.)