The Nordic Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NASPCAN) invites students at institutions of higher education to an academic essay contest

NASPCAN is pleased to invite students across the Nordic countries to participate in a contest for undergraduate or graduate essays/theses at the bachelor or master level or equivalent. The thesis should have been evaluated at the affiliated institution during 2018 or 2019. Students studying topics or at programs relevant to the multi-disciplinary approach of NASPCAN in the prevention of child maltreatment are welcome to participate (e.g. health care, law, medicine, teacher training, police academy, psychology, psychotherapy and social work).

Theme
The topic of the essay should be linked to one of the core areas of NASPCAN; physical or emotional abuse, sexual abuse or neglect of children. The thesis could in favour focus any of the main themes in the present plan of actions:

• the impact of society’s efforts for vulnerable children
• children forced to flee
• children abusing other children
• minority children

Submission
The essay/thesis should be submitted to address: cecilia.kjellgren@lnu.se in year 2018 or 2019 as well as the examination proof/copy of the university reg- istration that certify the time when the thesis was examined. Please mark the mail “NASPCAN essay contest”. The deadline for the essay/thesis submission is January 31, 2020.

Criteria
The essays/theses will be assessed by the NASPCAN jury criteria such as scientific quality, child focus, innovation and originality. The essay should be written in a Nordic language or in English.

Jury
A jury of members from the Nordic countries will evaluate the essays. The NASPCAN board appoints the members of the jury. The jury includes one member from each member country with essays submitted to the contest.

Decision
The decision of the jury will be announced on February 28, 2020.

Award
NASPCAN will award the winner the contest conference fees, travel expenses and accommodation for the 11th NASPCAN Conference in Helsinki, Finland, May 24-27, 2020. The author/s of the winning submission will be honoured by the jury with a diploma awarded during the conference and will have the paper published on the NASPCAN website, www.nfbo.org. In addition, NASPCAN will invite the winner/s to present the paper at a session during the conference.

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