Best Dissertation Award

The Best Dissertation Award goes to the doctoral work that makes the field sit up.

Every year, a new generation of scholars finishes years of research and hands the discipline something it didn’t have before. This award exists to catch that moment early, before tenure, before a book deal, when a dissertation is still fresh enough to shape a career. Winners are judged on theoretical grounding, methodological rigor, and relevance to public management, the same standard the field’s best-known work has always been held to. The real payoff is being marked, on day one of your career, as someone worth watching.

Nominations Closed for 2026

Check back January 1, 2027

2026 Winner

“Channel, Communication and Composition: Improving Reporting of Domestic Violence”

Marylis C. Fantoni

Brigham Young University

Drawing on comparative evidence from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the State of Indiana, the dissertation applies administrative burden theory and cutting-edge causal methods to demonstrate how reporting channels, communication framing, and the gender composition of the judiciary each shape outcomes for survivors of domestic violence. Dr. Fantoni completed her PhD in May 2025 at the Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Bloomington, under the supervision of Claudia Avellaneda.

To be eligible for consideration, dissertations must have been completed and successfully defended between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025.

Nominees must be current members of the Public Management Research Association (PMRA) or be willing to become members in order to receive the award. Nominators are expected to inform nominees of the nomination and confirm eligibility prior to submission.

Nominations will be accepted January 1 through February 1, 2026. 

Nominations must include the following materials:

• A letter explaining why the nominated dissertation merits recognition
• A PDF copy of the dissertation
• A PDF copy of the nominee’s curriculum vitae

Each submission will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• Considers relevant theoretical and empirical literature;
• Employs an appropriate research design for the research question at hand;
• Provides thoughtful interpretation of research findings, validly infers theoretical and applied implications of the results, appropriately caveats the research results, and suggests promising directions for future research;
• Generates knowledge that is both practically and theoretically relevant;
• Is logically, concisely, and clearly written.

The award will be presented at the 2026 Public Management Research Conference, June 4 to 6, 2026, at American University in Washington, D.C. The award also includes a $750 USD cash award.

Sebawit Bishu, University of Washington

2025 | Lianne Visser, Assistant Professor, Leiden University

2024 | Chelsea Pennick McIver, Associate Director of Policy Analysis Group and Research Assistant Professor, University of Idaho

2023 | Danyao Li, Assistant Professor, University of Southern California

2022 | Marija Aleksovska, Assistant Professor, Utrecht University

2021 | Shelena Keulemans, Assistant Professor, Public Administration, Radboud University

2020 | Miyeon Song, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of South Carolina

2019 | Andrea Headley, Assistant Professor, John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University

2018 | Huafang Li, Assistant Professor, Grand Valley State University

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