On Friday, 21 June 2024, the presentation of the Diversity Thesis Awards 2024 took place. This award is presented annually to one outstanding Bachelor and one outstanding Master student, whose theses not only explore crucial aspects of diversity, but also are of academic excellence, achieving a score of 8.0 or higher.
This year’s winners include Gregor Kloepfer, a student of the International Bachelor Economics and Business Economics, for the Bachelor’s thesis and Deepshikha Dey, a student of the Master Economics and Business Economics – Financial economics specialisation for the Master’s thesis. They were guided by respectively Anne Boring and Daniel Urban.
“Racial Discrimination and its Negative Relationship with Trust in Political Institutions: A European Immigrant Study” – by Gregor Kloepfer
What really made this Bachelor’s thesis the winner of 2024 was that it explores the relationship between racial discrimination and trust in political European institutions. By allowing for heterogenous effects (making detailed distinctions between different ethnicities) and exploring the underlying mechanisms of the examined relationship, this thesis contributes to research. Also, this paper shows that racial discrimination is negatively related to political institutions which can undermine social cohesion. This may have important social implications for countering discrimination in a world with increasing migration and increasing perceived discrimination. On top of that, Gregor had been well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the paper and made his analysis stronger by providing several robustness checks. His policy implications in the end were also useful, as his conclusion was that trust is beneficial towards well-functioning democratic societies and the importance of fighting discrimination. He created this meaningful thesis and presented his research in an impressive visual manner.
That is why we are proud to hand Gregor Kloepfer the Bachelor’s Diversity Thesis Award of 2024.
“Big Three institutional ownership and ethnic diversity in U.S. boards” – By Deepshikha Dey
As the Big Three have a big impact and this research is interesting for firms looking for policies to improve Diversity & Inclusion policies, this is a very relevant thesis. It clearly shows the importance of the lacking diversity in leadership positions. Although societies become increasingly diverse, diversity in leadership positions lags. Large companies can lead the way in creating this transformation to a more diverse work/leadership environment. This thesis examines how influential firms influence the changes made to improve ethnic diversity on U.S. boards of directors. By examining the effect of quotas on ethnic diversity rather than the effect of quotas on gender diversity where much research has been done, this thesis really contributes to research. The results show a (surprisingly) limited positive relationship between Big Three ownership and ethnic diversity on U.S. boards of directors. Deepshikha’s thesis has important societal implications for improving diversity in leadership positions and it touches on interesting questions.
Therefore it is more than deserved for Deepshikha Dey to receive the Master’s Diversity Thesis Award of 2024.
A special thanks to the Jury of the Thesis Diversity Awards 2024 : Prof. dr. Enrico Pennings, dr. Anne Boring (Erasmus School of Economics expert on gender economics), dr. Teresa Bago d’Uva (Erasmus School of Economics diversity officer) and dr. D.L. Urban.
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For more information, please contact Ronald de Groot, Media & Public Relations Officer at Erasmus School of Economics: rdegroot@ese.eur.nl and +316 53 641 846.