EFNIL (the European Federation of National Institutions for Language) calls on students to participate in a competition to find the best master’s theses in Europe within the area of language use, language policy and multilingualism.

The award

The students that submit the best three theses will each be awarded:

1. the EFNIL Master’s Thesis Award (1500 Euro)
2. an invitation to present their thesis at the annual international EFNIL conference (all expenses paid)
3. the opportunity to publish an article based on their thesis in EFNIL’s annual conference proceedings
4. the opportunity to publish the full thesis on EFNIL’s website www.efnil.org. 

About EFNIL

EFNIL is an independent organisation that brings together representatives from the major language organisations and other national language bodies of the member states of the European Union and associated countries. The Federation seeks to promote European linguistic diversity, with particular reference to the national languages of the European Union. 

The Federation’s objectives include:

• To promote European linguistic diversity as a means of preserving and extending the richness of European culture and developing a sense of shared European identity
• To support the European national languages as the best guarantors of linguistic opportunity within their respective member states
• To support the European language organisations in their roles as centres of excellence for linguistic analysis and description and as advisory bodies on language policy to relevant political institutions
• To facilitate the exchange of information and the development and promotion of joint European linguistic research projects between language institutions
• To encourage, within each member state:

   o the teaching of the national language or languages at all educational levels in schools, in order to promote the written and oral competence that is necessary to enable people to play a full role in society

   o the teaching of foreign languages within the educational system (in accordance with common European performance standards) from the earliest possible age

   o opportunities for non-native speakers (both children and adults) to learn the national language of the state in which they reside, and also to maintain competence in their native tongue

   o exchange opportunities for students and teachers within the European Union.  

Relevant topics

We are interested in studies that relate to the fields mentioned above, such as

• Language use in a multilingual setting
• Language technology and multilingualism
• Aims and effects of language policies
• Comparative studies of language policies
• Bilingual language learning
• Language teaching strategies
• Translation and interpretation.

The language(s) studied in the thesis may be any of the European languages.

The thesis should be written in one of the official languages of EFNIL member countries.

Preference will be given to theses that analyse and discuss political actions or policies.

Selection of the winners

The theses will be assessed by a jury on the basis of:

1. the academic content
2. the assessment by the university
3. a summary 3-5 pages
4. a recommendation by the supervisor of the thesis.

The jury will consist of members selected by EFNIL’s executive committee.

Conditions for participation

Participants must provide the following documents in electronic form:

1. a reasoned application for the award (one page in English)
2. a copy of the thesis (in any European national language)
3. a summary of the thesis (3-5 pages in English)
4. a copy of the assessment of the thesis conducted by the European university to which it is submitted (in any European national language)
5. a recommendation to EFNIL by the supervisor of the thesis (in English).

All documents must be submitted in electronic form as either PDF, ODF or WORD files and sent in an e-mail to efnil@nytud.hu.

Notification

The winners will be notified no later than five months after the submission deadline, and their names will be published on the EFNIL website. They will receive an invitation to present a paper based on their results at the annual EFNIL conference, which takes place in a European country in September/October, and subsequently to publish an article in the conference proceedings. Furthermore, the winners receive an offer to publish the full thesis on EFNIL’s website.

Submission deadlines

The deadline for submission is 15 January 2026 for the awards in 2026.

Theses assessed by a European university in 2025, and until 15 January 2026, are accepted.

Contact information

For further information, please contact the EFNIL Secretariat at efnil@nytud.hu.

You can download the call from here. 

Aliki Vasiliki Tzoutza (University College Cork)
Supervisor: Dr. Seána Ryan
Title: The case of Gender Neutral Language in bilingual speakers of Greek and English
Thesis

Olve Godø Sæther (University of Agder)
Supervisor: Prof. Marita Kristiansen
Title: Engelsk tryggleik eller samfunnsbærende norsk. Ei tilstandsanalyse av det parallellspråklege tilhøvet til sjøs, og sjøfolk sine haldningar til eige fagspråk (English safety or socially sustaining Norwegian: A status analysis of the parallel language situation at sea, and seafarers’ attitudes toward their own professional language)
Thesis

Jillian Bainbridge (Åbo Akademi University)
Supervisor: Martin Gill, Ph.D.
Title: Renaming Bannau Brycheiniog: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Comments Below-the-Line at Two British Newspapers
Thesis

Mention of Honour:

Athena Fanaie (Manchester Metropolitan University): Examining Raciolinguistic Ideologies in Accent Training Programs for International Academic Staff and Students

Joana Pena-Tarradelles (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) 
Supervisor: Dr. Marc Sanjaume-Calvet
Title:
Are Coercive Language Policies Fair? A Normative Approach Building on the Multilingual Convergence Mode
Thesis (revised)

Lisza-Sophie Neumeier (University of Vienna)
Supervisor: Dr. Ute Smit
Title:
Exploring the role of English in young adults’ lives in Austria: Second language engagement & enjoyment
Thesis

Welmoed Sjoerdstra (University of Groningen)
Supervisor: Dr. Wander Lowie
Title:
How to Teach Frisian in the Current Curriculum: Differentiation in the Frisian Course in the First Years of Secondary Education
Thesis

Mention of Honours:

Sol Tovar (University of Regensburg): “Never heard of zir”: Exploring what lies behind pre- and early-service EFL teachers’ acceptance of non-binary pronouns in both 
Ellen Brösterhaus (University of Münster): Crosslinguistic Influence in the L3 Acquisition of Dutch Syntax – A Study with First-Year Learners Testing the L2 Status Factor Hypothesis
Mona Schwitzer (University of Vienna): The schooling of pupils with refugee experience at Viennese schools 

Julia Elena Pardo Alonso (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) #dudaRAE
Supervisor: Prof. Joan Costa I Carreras
Title:
A merging analysis of folk prescriptivism and dialectology (note: “RAE” = Real Academia Española)
Presentation

Fani Morali (Hellenic Open University)
Supervisor: Dr. Polyxeni Manoli
Title:
Exploring refugee children’s bilingualism through multimodal identity texts
Presentation

Denise Weghofer (Universität Wien)
Supervisor: Prof. Inci Dirim
Title:
Scaffolding and Reading in German Lessons in Lower Secondary Education – Using Scaffolding Tools to Become Successful Second Language Readers
Presentation

Riccardo Bravi (Università di Bologna)
Supervisor: Prof.ssa Cristiana Cervini
Title: 
Deutsche Bundesbank e Banca d’Italia. La conoscenza enciclopedica condivisa in una comunità socioprofessionale di parlanti
Information asymmetry in conference interpreting – traces of encyclopaedic knowledge shared in the socio-professional community of Deutsche Bundesbank and Banca d’Italia
Thesis

Agnes Kim (Universitat Wien)
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Alexandra N. Lenz
Title: 
Sprache und Gesellschaft im Wandel. Eine historisch-soziolinguistische Untersuchung am Beispiel des Marchfelds (Niederösterreich) im frühen 20. JahrhundertLanguage and Society in Change. A Historical-Sociolinguistic Investigation Using the Example of the Marchfeld (Lower Austria) in the Early 20th Century

Jury statement | Presentation (slides) | Thesis

Pia Nilsson (Göteborgs Universitet) 
Supervisor: Dr. Ingemar Bohlin
Title: 
SPRÅK PÅ MUSEUM. En undersökning av allmänhetens och språkexperters syn på ett svenskt språkmuseum
LANGUAGE IN THE MUSEUM. An investigation of the views held by the public and by language experts on a Swedish language museum
Jury statement | Presentation (slides) | Thesis

Anne-Mieke Thieme (Leiden University)
Supervisor: Em. Prof. Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade
Title:
Multilingual The Hague: Municipal language policy, politics, and practice
Jury statement | Presentation (slides) | Thesis

Nastja Slavec (University of Ljubljana)
Supervisor: Prof. Bojan Baskar & Prof. Steve Coleman
Title:
‘To have’ Irish in Corca Dhuibhne: Language ideologies and practices in a minority language community.
Thesis  Article  Presentation

Magdalena Pawlik (University of Warsaw)
Supervisor: Dr. hab. Lucja Biel
Title:
The Art of Amendment: A Genre Analysis of Amendments Tabled by Members of the European Parliament in the Ordinary Legislative Procedure.
Thesis  Article  Presentation

Kristina Babic (Universität Wien)
Supervisor: Prof. Inci Dirim
Title:
Phonetic interference in second language acquisition of German. A study of phenomena of interference of Arabic-, Kurdish-, Romanian- and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian-speaking learners of German as a second language.
Thesis  Article  Presentation

Press release

Åse Wetås (The Language Council of Norway)

Ari Páll Kristinsson (The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies | LinkedIn)