VeTSS Doctoral Dissertation Awards for theses in Program Analysis, Testing, and Verification.

This annual award aims to recognise excellence in research by PhD students in the UK working on VeTSS-aligned topics, e.g. as outlined in the VeTSS problem book. Previous winners of the award are:

2026 VeTSS Doctoral Dissertation Awards for theses in Program Analysis, Testing, and Verification.

Nominations are invited for the annual VeTSS Doctoral Dissertation Award. This award aims to recognise excellence in research by PhD students in the UK working on VeTSS-aligned topics, e.g. as outlined in the VeTSS problem book. This call will present three awards for dissertations published in 2025.

Deadline for nominations: Friday 17th of April, 16:00 GMT

Notification deadline: Monday 4th May

Assessment Criteria

The award committee will consider the significance and the contribution of the dissertations, including the originality of the research work, methodological soundness and awareness of existing research, possible impact, the clarity and skill of the written work and any other relevant factors.

Award and Ceremony

The award will be presented at the VeTSS annual conference (to take place on 12th May 2026 in London) and is accompanied by a prize of £1,000 for the best dissertation and £250 for the highly commended dissertation, as well as an award certificate. All decisions are final and cannot be appealed. The committee shall have the option to decline to make an award, if no suitable nominations are presented. The winners are expected to attend the VeTSS annual conference and give a short presentation of their work.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the award, a student must have successfully completed their PhD at a UK university and for the (final version of their) PhD thesis to have been officially published (e.g. in the host university library) between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025.

How to nominate

Candidates for the awards must be nominated by one of the following:

  • One of their supervisors (primary or secondary)
  • One of their PhD examiners
  • A close collaborator (with whom the candidate has published as a co-author).

We are purposely keeping the nomination process as lightweight as possible. Nominations must consist of one single pdf file containing:

  • Dissertation title: (including any subtitle)
  • Full name and affiliation of the student
  • A copy of PhD award certificate
  • A list of papers and artifacts (if applicable) authored by the nominee (directly resulting from the PhD work), including the publication venue
  • A summary (max 500 words) of the PhD contributions, including a link to a downloadable PDF copy of the dissertation
  • A recommendation letter from the nominator describing why the nominee’s dissertation should receive the award, highlighting the impact of the research

Please send nominations to contact@vetss.org.uk by 16:00 Friday 17th of April. If you have any questions, you are very welcome to contact us.