Dear Colleagues,

As the Editors-in-Chief of Applied Sciences, it is our great pleasure to announce the winner of the Applied Sciences 2021 Best PhD Thesis Award. This prize will be awarded to a PhD student who is about to graduate or participate in the graduation thesis.

The award has been granted to:

“Plasma Instabilities in the Plume of High Current Hollow Cathodes” by Dr. Giulia Becatti, University of Pisa, Italy.

The winner will receive CHF 800, a certificate, and a chance to publish a featured paper in Applied Sciences with the article processing charge (APC) waived before the end of 2022.

On behalf of the Evaluation Committee, I would like to congratulate the winner on her accomplishment. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the nominated research groups of the above exceptional thesis for their contributions to Applied Sciences and the Award Committee for voting and helping with this award.

Prof. Dr. Takayoshi Kobayashi
Editors-in-Chief, Applied Sciences