Thirsk-Feinstein PhD Dissertation Prize
This is an annual prize of £1,000 for the best doctoral dissertation in Economic and/or Social History.
All dissertations must be written in English and must have been awarded during the calendar year preceding the prize. For example, to be eligible for the 2027 prize (which will be presented at the 2027 annual conference) the thesis must have been awarded during 2026.
Eligible candidates should nominate their work by uploading a single PDF document containing:
- Their contact details
- A full abstract of their dissertation containing a link to their thesis
- A letter of endorsement, either from their supervisor, external examiner or a member of their committee
Nominations must be received by the deadline and must be made using the form below. Nominations by email/mail cannot be accepted.
If the Prize Committee deems that the dissertation merits serious consideration, a copy of the thesis may be requested. Please note that we will be unable to return these. We are unable to offer feedback on individual theses, or the judging process.
The winner of the Thirsk-Feinstein Prize will be announced each year at the annual conference.
Deadline: 5pm, 31 December 2026
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Past Winners
Prizes have been awarded to:
- 2026: Christoph Hess (University of Cambridge), ‘Inheritance, Family Structure, and Economic Development in the Lower Yangzi Region, c.1650–1950’
- 2025: Louis Henderson (University of Oxford), ‘Innocence and experience: Early childhood education and industrialisation in England and Wales, 1767-1876’
- 2024: Sam Geens (University of Antwerp), ‘A Golden Age for labour? Income and wealth before and after the Black Death in the Southern Low Countries and the Republic of Florence, 1275-1550’.
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Robert Yee (Princeton University), ‘The rise of expert opinion: The Bank of England and interwar economic governance, 1914-1940’ - 2023: Victoria Gierok (University of Oxford), ‘The development of wealth inequality in the German territories of the Holy Roman Empire, 1300-1800’.
- 2022: Èric Gómez-i-Aznar (University of Barcelona), ‘Three essays in human capital’.
- 2021: Joseph la Hausse de Lalouvière (Harvard University), ‘Enslavement and Empire in the French Caribbean, 1793-1851’.
- 2020: Robin Adams (University of Oxford), ‘Shadow of a Taxman: how, and by whom, was the Republican Government financed in the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921)?’
- 2019: Volha Lazuka (Lund University), ‘Defeating disease: The lasting effects of public health and medical breakthroughs between 1880 and 1945 on health and income in Sweden’.
- 2018: Corinne Boter (Wageningen University) ‘Women’s work, structural change, and household living standards in the Netherlands, 1830-1914’.
- 2017: Charles Read (University of Cambridge) ‘British economic policy and Ireland c.1841-53’.
- 2016: Pim de Zwart (Wageningen University) ‘Globalization and the colonial origins of the Great Divergence: intercontinental trade and living standards in the Dutch East India Company’s commercial empire, c.1600-1800‘.
- 2015: Duncan Needham (University of Cambridge) ‘UK monetary policy from devaluation to Mrs Thatcher’.
- 2014: Luciana Quaranta (Lund University) ‘Scarred for life. How conditions in early life affect socioeconomic status, reproduction and mortality in Southern Sweden, 1813-68’.
- 2013: Dr Sean Bottomley (University of Cambridge), ‘The British patent system during the industrial revolution, 1700-1852’.
- 2012: Dr Peter Koudijs (Stanford University), ‘Trading and financial market efficiency in 18th-century Holland’.
- 2011: Dr Leigh Gardner (University of Oxford), ‘Making an Empire pay for itself: taxation and government expenditure in Kenya and Northern Rhodesia, 1900-70’.
- 2010: Dr Aashish Velkar (London School of Economics) ‘Markets, standards and measurements in 19th-century British economy’.
- 2009: Dr Jonathan Healey (University of Oxford) ‘Marginality and Misfortune: poverty and social welfare in Lancashire, c.1630-1760’.
- 2008: Dr Danielle van de Heuvel (University of Cambridge) ‘Women and Entrepreneurship: female traders in the Northern Netherlands, c. 1580-1815’.
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