2026 ISQOLS Best PhD Dissertation Award on Quality of Life, Well-being, and Happiness

The International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS) calls for nominations for the “2026 ISQOLS Prize for the Best Dissertation on Quality-of-Life, Well-being, and Happiness.” The deadline for nominations is September 30, 2025.

The aim of the prize is to promote the activity of young researchers working on quality-of-life, happiness, and well-being issues in the applied areas of social sciences. All dissertations that have been successfully defended during the two calendar years prior to the award deadline are eligible for consideration. Resubmissions of unsuccessful nominations from prior years are welcome, as long as the dissertation defense date remains within the period of eligibility. Dissertations which have been awarded in the previous year are not allowed to be submitted again. Dissertations must be written in English.

The member student’s advisor or the scholar most familiar with the student's research must send the nomination. Nominations must be sent via email to office@isqols.org with the title “Dissertation Award Nomination” in the subject line. The deadline for the nomination is September 30, 2025.

The nomination letter should be written in English and it should include the following information: 

• ·       The title and abstract of the dissertation;
• ·       The name of the candidate;
• ·       The name of the candidate’s primary advisor;
• ·       The name of the institution where the dissertation was defended;
• ·       The date of the dissertation defense;
• ·       A two page summary of the significance of the dissertation research. Nominations should explain the precise nature and merits of the work.
• ·       An electronic copy of the full dissertation in Word or .pdf format;
• ·       A list of publications produced from the dissertation work.

Award:

ISQOLS awards the best dissertation with a lump sum of $1,500 USD, one-year free membership to ISQOLS, one-year free access to the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life Studies, and free registration to the 2026 ISQOLS Annual Conference.

To further promote the research on quality-of-life, well-being, and happiness, ISQOLS may award up to five second best candidates who will receive a lump sum of $300 USD, one-year free membership to ISQOLS, one-year free access to the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life Studies, and free registration to the 2026 ISQOLS Annual Conference.

The submissions will be reviewed by a committee selected by the ISQOLS Leadership Team.

Successful candidates will receive their prizes at the concluding ceremony of the 2026 ISQOLS Annual Conference. They are expected to present a summary of their work during a special session of the conference or at a special webinar to be facilitated by ISQOLS.  Successful candidates are also expected to acknowledge ISQOLS in their publication. 

Winners will be notified by 30 March 2026.  

See past winners below.

2025 Award recipients: 

1st prize: Stephanie Heß, Family Matters A Multisystem Investigation of Children's Subjective Well-being

2nd prize: Athanasios (Thanasis) Ziogas, No human is an island: essays on the economic geography of happiness

3rd prize: Karl Overdick, Essays on Subjective Wellbeing and Behaviour

2024 Award recipients: 

1st prize: Fabio Battaglia, To GDP or not to GDP Identifying the factors promoting and inhibiting the use and impact of well-being metrics in Scotland and Italy

2nd prize: Catherine Tullock, Collateral Damage Assessing the Impact of Gambling Problems on the Health and Wellbeing of Concerned Significant Others 

3rd prize (jointly):

Giulia Slater, Essays on Social Capital and Wellbeing

George Ward, Happiness at Work. Essays on subjective wellbeing in the workplace and labor market

2023 Award recipients: 

1st prize: Veronica Vienne “Essays on Well-being and the Environment”.

2nd prize (jointly):

Leonie Steckermeier “Autonomy and the good life. Toward a better understanding of the inequality of perceived autonomy and its significance for individual life satisfaction.”

Chris Swerts, “Towards a better understanding of the quality of life of adolescents in youth care : the development of the Quality of Life in Youth Services Scale (QOLYSS)”

3rd prize (honorable mention): Alba Aza, “Longitudinal study of quality of life in people with acquired brain injury"

2022 Award recipients: 

First Place:

Caspar Kaiser

“Four essays on applied and methodological issues in the study of subjective life satisfaction”

Second Place:

“Understanding hope. Insights into the definition, relevance and measurement of hope from an interdisciplinary perspective”

-and-

Alberto Prati

“Memory and Subjective Well-Being. Empirical Analysis of Workers' and Consumers' Endogenous Recall Behaviors”

Honorable Mention: 

Laura Dewitte

“Losing memory, losing meaning? Towards a deeper understanding of meaning in life in older adults with Alzheimer’s disease.”

2021 Award recipients: 

First Prize:

Lucía Macchia

Subjective well-being and economic and political conditions in Latin America

Second Prize: 

Lucía Morán

Quality of life in children and youth with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability

and

Antje Jantsch

An investigation into the relationship between subjective well-being and (relative) wealth in Germany

Honorable Mention: 

Susanne Elsas

Satisfaction as an outcome, as a means, and as a cause 

and

Jessica Dávalos Aceves

The Impact of Economic and Social Context Over Human Well-Being in Latin America

2020 Award recipients: 

First Prize:

"Quality of life in parents of very preterm infants: insights from family integrated care"

Download here: Mariana Filipa da Silva Amorim Dissertation .pdf

Second Prize: 

David B. Newman

"The Dynamics of Well-Being in Daily Life: A Multilevel Perspective"

Download here: David Newman Dissertation.pdf

Honorable Mention: 

Yu Heng Kwan

“Quality of Life of Patients with Spondyloarthritis”

Download here: Yu Heng Kwan Dissertation.pdf