NCRL Prize

The NCRL awards a prize every two years to crown a master's thesis within the field of logic. To be eligible for the prize, you must: engage in discourse in which forms of reasoning using formal or informal methods are studied (cf. art. 2 of the statutes of the NCRL, which states: "The association aims to realize, initiate and develop research in logic coordinate, and more specifically these investigations that study reasoning either using formal methods, or using informal methods.") and having submitted or defended your thesis at a Belgian university in the three years preceding the award ceremony. Works on the following topics are acceptable:

• the general study of logic systems and their semantics, including non-classical logics and algebraic logic;
• informal logic and argumentation theory;
• philosophical logic and formal epistemology, including interactions with decision theory and game theory;
• the history, philosophy and methodology of logic and mathematics, including the history of the philosophy of logic and mathematics;
• applications of logic within the sciences, such as mathematics, computer science, cognitive science and linguistics; and logical outcomes that address fundamental issues in the sciences; and
• logical models of cognition, reasoning, rationality, discovery, problem solving, explanations and/or causality.

The prize consists of a sum of 1500 euros, which applies as compensation for scientific expenses.

Applications, accompanied by an electronic version of the memo, must reach the NCNL before December 31 of the year preceding the award ceremony.

Requests for the 2026 edition, together with an electronic version of the dissertation, are sent by email to NCRL at the latest at 31 December 2025.

Laureates

2024

ex aequo

Thibaut Kouptchinsky (UCLouvain)
Master thesis : On the limits of determinacy in third-order arithmetic and extensions of Kripke-Platek set theory (2023)

Kimmo Lehtonen (UMons)
Master thesis : Existence de corps différentiellement clos rigides (2023)

2022

The prize was not awarded in 2022.

2020

De Bondt Ben (UGent)
Masters thesis : Sets Trees and Incompleteness. (2018)

2018

ex aequo

De Conick Thijs (UGent)
Masters thesis : An Investigation into the Role of Quantifiers in Deontic Logics (2017)

Berteloot Mathieu (KULeuven)
Masters thesis : Een naturalistische verklaring voor logische geldigheidende rationalistische kritiek (2017)

2016

The prize was not awarded in 2016.

2014

ex aequo

Hiernaux Quentin (ULB)
Masters thesis : Étude des relations métaphysiques entre la logique modale et la philosophie des sciences : la logique des noms propres de Saul Kripke et ses implications épistémologiques et nomologiques dans les sciences du vivant (2013)

Regnault Nathalie (ULB)
Masters thesis : A study about Hilbert's fifth problem for local groups (2012)

2013

ex aequo

Frans Joachim (VUB)
Masters thesis : Het Indispensability Argument. Analyse van het wiskundig realismedebat aan de hand van het gebruik van wiskunde in wetenschap

Van der Meeren Jeroen (UGent)
Masters thesis : Axiomatische Benaderingen van Niet-Standaard Analyse

2012

ex aequo

Brouette Quentin (UMons)
Masters thesis : Groupes définissables dans les structures o-minimales et groupes de Lie (2009) 

Genten Pierre (UCL)
Masters thesis : Le rejet du raisonnement par l’absurde par la logique intuitionniste (2010)

2011

De Vuyst Jonas (VUB)
Masters thesis : On Indexicals and Contexts: An Inquiry Into Modal Logic and Artificial Agents (2008)