On Friday October 31, 2025 the Gender Studies Dissertation Prize was awarded for the second time for the best feminist dissertation defended at a Dutch university between 1 July 2022 and 30 April 2025.
The Dissertation award has been initiated by the Dutch Feminist Culture Fund Gender&knowledge to stimulate and spread feminist knowledge with a particular focus on historical knowledge and a critical reflection on culture and science from an intersectional perspective. The prize is a collaboration between the Feminist Culture Fund Gender&knowledge and the Netherlands Research School of Gender Studies.
After a brief introductory word by the treasurer of the fund – Leontine Bijleveld – the three nominees gave a brief impression of their PhD research:
- Aranka Ballering: Twists and Turns. Sex and Gender Differences in the Illness Trajectories of Common Somatic Symptoms (University of Groningen, 2024)
- Rodante van der Waal: Birth Justice. From Obstetric Violence to Abolitionist Care (University of Humanistic Studies, 2025)
- Antonia Weiss: The City of Nature. Women and the Making of Green Space in Eighteenth-Century Amsterdam and Berlin (University of Amsterdam, 2025)
Then, the chair of the multidisciplinary jury, Lies Wesseling, announced that Dr. Aranka Ballering and Dr. Antonia Weiss had both finished in second place and therefore received an honorable mention, and that Rodante van der Waal was the winner of this year’s Gender Studies Dissertation Award. After the jury report was read aloud, the certificates were presented. The ceremony was followed by an interview with Rodante van der Waal, conducted by jury member Rosemarie Buikema, and concluded with a reception. The jury report can be found here.
