The Dr. C. Louise Thijssen-Schoute Foundation is soliciting nominations for the 2026 award for the best MA-thesis on early modern Dutch intellectual history. In honor of the winner of the Award of 2024, the Foundation has renamed the bi-annual Award as the Tanne Bloks MA Thesis Award. Tanne Bloks MA/MSc won the 2024 Award posthumously with her thesis De verborgen natuurkennis van vrouwen in de vroegmoderne tijd. Het contrast tussen de beeldvorming over Johanna Petronella de Timmerman, Elisabeth Maria Post en Rachel Ruysch, en de natuurkennis die uit hun eigen werk blijkt.

Established in 1961, the Dr. C. Louise Thijssen-Schoute Foundation aims to encourage research in the history of ideas of the early modern Netherlands. According to the will of Dr. Thijssen-Schoute – the author of an influential work on Dutch Cartesianism – financial support could be given to projects and publications devoted to the emergence and dissemination of new philosophical ideas, as well as the intersections of literature and science in the seventeenth- and early eighteenth century. Tanne Bloks was a promising young researcher. She graduated cum laude from two research masters at Utrecht University, Nederlandse literatuur and cultuur and History and Philosophy of Science. As such, she combined disciplines at the heart of the Foundation’s aims.

The Tanne Bloks Thesis Award recognizes original and distinguished research for a final thesis at a (research)master’s level, either submitted to a university in the Netherlands or abroad. The thesis should be within the aims of the statutes of the dr. C. Louise Thijssen-Schoute Foundation, as summarized above. The award consists of a prize of 2000 Euros, and a certificate of appreciation. Any final-year student who has completed a Master’s thesis with distinction (80% or higher, or in the Dutch rating at least an 8 out of 10) can apply. The thesis must be written in Dutch, English, French or German. An expert jury will judge the applications submitted, and advise the board of the Thijssen-Schoute Foundation. The Board’s decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

The Tanne Bloks MA Thesis Award 2026 is open for students who have earned their master’s degree between 31 August 2024 and 31 August 2026. All nominations should be submitted electronically as a pdf file before 1 December 2026 to the Foundation’s Secretary. These should consist of a digital copy of the thesis, a document confirming graduation issued by the faculty (including grade), and a cv.

For more information please contact the Foundation’s Secretary, dr. Nina Geerdink (n.geerdink@uu.nl).