CAN Thesis Prize for the best PhD thesis on astroparticle research
As of 2023 CAN has introduced a CAN Thesis Prize for the best PhD thesis within the field of astroparticle research at a Dutch University or Research Institute.
The prize will be awarded on an annual basis. The winner will receive 1000 Euro and will be invited to the CAN symposium for giving a keynote on their research.
Nominations have to be made by the Promotor, Co-promotor or Supervisor of the thesis. Theses will be judge by a subcommitee of the CAN, based on the following criteria: the contribution to the body of academic knowledge (40%), the originality of the approach (25%), the soundness of the methodology used (20%), The impact of the research (15%).
Nominations for the 2025 thesis prize (i.e. all theses defended within the calendar year of 2024 are eligible) is open!
Application procedure: One of the (Co-)-Promotors or (Co-)Supervisors has to fill the application form and submit it before the closing date of 15th of March 2025 via email to "CAN-thesis-prize at nikhef.nl".
CAN Thesis Prize 2024
The 2024 CAN thesis prize has been awarded to equal parts to Martijn S. S. L. Oei (Leiden University) for his thesis titled 'Giant galactic outflows and shocks in the Cosmic Web' and Mart Pothast (Radboud University Nijmegen) for his thesis titled 'Ultra-high-energy cosmic particle identification'.
The selection committee reasons: For Martijn S.S.L. Oei: Martijn’s work contains a unique combination of significant astronomical discoveries, original mathematical modelling, and progress in radio astronomy techniques. His work also contained in 5 first-author publications demonstrates his ability to integrate theory, statistics, observations, and instrumental techniques in an excellent way.
For Mart Pothast's thesis: "Mart’s work provides an in-depth knowledge of the signal shape and amplitude that is measured by the water-Cherenkov detectors of Auger, and the newly installed scintillator detectors. The method Mart developed goes beyond previous results by using the complete time traces rather than an approximate parameter. The use of the complete time traces of the particle detectors will be crucial for the future analyses using the upgrade of the Pierre Auger observatory.
Mart Pothast was awarded the prize at the APP 2024 symposium in absence, he will present his work at next year's CAN symposium.
Previous year(s):
2023 CAN thesis prize: Peter Tsun Ho Pang (Utrecht University) "From spacetime to nucleus: Probing nuclear physics and testing general relativity"