A social enterprise is a business with social objectives. Social enterprises seek to maximize profits while maximizing benefits to society and the environment, and the profits are principally used to fund the company’s social mission. Characteristics of the business model include customer oriented approach, investment in employees’ wellbeing and transparency in governance and activities.
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Master Thesis Award 2023
Have you written a master thesis focusing on social entrepreneurship? Do you know someone who has? We are looking for outstanding master theses and will award the best one with a social entrepreneurship master thesis award. The winner will receive an award of 1000 euros.
All the participants to the competition will receive a year long membership of Finnish Social Entrepreneurship Research Network (FinSERN) which allows to participate the association’s events and utilize other membership benefits.
The winner will be selected by a jury nominated by the organizers and announced in April 2023.
Criteria and Assessment of the Master Thesis
Master theses completed in Finnish universities or universities of applied sciences can apply to the competition. Research works submitted to the competition must be formally approved by the higher education institutions between January 1st 2022 and Mach 31st 2023. The master thesis can be written in Finnish, Swedish of English.
Branch of science has not been determined and the master thesis can for example focus on:
- significance and operational environment of social enterprises in Finland,
- social enterprises as common good service providers,
- identifying factors in starting a social enterprise,
- indication and communication of the social enterprise’s impact,
- social enterprises and social innovation.
Innovativeness, usefulness, new point of views to the academic discussion and quality in the research implementation will be taken into consideration in the assessment. If the master thesis is partly confidential, the assessment will be carried out concerning the public part. Awarded work can be an empirical or a theoretical research.
Propose a Master Thesis to the Competition
Social entrepreneurship master thesis award can be applied with an informal application form indicating:
- writer of the master thesis,
- higher education institution and degree program the thesis was completed in,
- title and a short abstract (1 A4) of the master thesis
- contact information of the thesis supervisor and supporting arguments to win the award (1 A4)
- link to the master thesis.
Applications for the master thesis award can be submitted by the writer or the thesis supervisor (if allowed by the writer). All the master theses taking part to the competition will be published in the Centre of Expertise in Social Entrepreneurship’s web-page.
Applications must be submitted by April 15th 2023 using this form.
More information about the award and application: Harri Kostilainen (harri.kostilainen@diak.fi)
Social entrepreneurship master thesis award aims to encourage students to write thesis focusing on social entrepreneurship and thus promote skills and competences in Finnish social enterprises. The competition organizers also wish to communicate about their work towards social enterprises in universities and universities of applied sciences.
