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

The International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS) presents the Best PhD Dissertation Award to recognize outstanding doctoral research in the fields of quality of life, well-being, and happiness.

The aim of this prestigious award is to promote and support the work of emerging scholars whose research makes significant contributions to applied social science topics related to quality-of-life studies.

Dissertations must be written in English and defended within the two calendar years preceding the award year. Nominations are typically submitted by the candidate’s advisor or a scholar familiar with the dissertation.

Award Details:

• $1,500 USD prize for the winner

• ‍ Free ISQOLS membership for one year

• Free access to Applied Research in Quality of Life for one year

• ️ Free registration to the ISQOLS Annual Conference

• Up to five second-place prizes of $300 USD with additional benefits

Winners are recognized at the ISQOLS Annual Conference and may be invited to present their research during a dedicated session or webinar. This award celebrates academic excellence and encourages impactful contributions to global conversations on well-being and happiness.

The next call for the 2026 award will be announced in Fall 2025.
️ The nomination deadline will be 31 December 2025.

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