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Paper should be a substantial original Article that involves several techniques or approaches, provides an outlook for
future research directions and describes possible research applications.
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Launched in 2021, the Horticulturae Best PhD Thesis Award aims to recognize young scholars for producing outstanding PhD theses in the field of temperate to tropical horticulture, and to encourage the continuation of their outstanding work and further contribution to their field. The application process for this award is open from November to the following May, and winners are announced by the end of July the following year.
The Prize: – CHF 500; – An electronic certificate; – A voucher to waive the Article Processing Charges (APCs) for one submission in the journal (subject to peer review)—valid for one year.
Number of Winners: one
Horticulturae Best PhD Thesis Award
Application deadline: 31 May 2026
Winner announcement: 31 July 2026
– The candidate must be a PhD student or recently qualified PhD who has produced an outstanding PhD thesis; – The PhD thesis must be their original work; – The PhD thesis must be defended in 2025.
Required Application Documents
– An executive summary of the PhD thesis in English of around 3000 words; – A letter from the PhD supervisor recommending the candidate for consideration for this award; – The candidate’s CV, including a list of publications connected with the thesis; – An electronic copy of the PhD thesis; – A scanned copy of the PhD diploma (or certificate of studying at a school or research institute as a PhD student going to graduate or participate in graduation thesis defenses).
Past Winners
Year:
Winner
Antía González Pereira
University of Vigo, Spain
Award Committee
Prof. Dr. Luigi De Bellis
Chairperson
Università del Salento
Dr. Sergio Tombesi
Università cattolica del sacro cuore
Dr. Zi Teng
USDA-ARS
Dr. Thomas A Colquhoun
University of Florida
Dr. Seiya Saito
Winner
Michele Ciriello
University of Naples Federico II, Italy
Award Committee
Prof. Dr. Luigi De Bellis
Chairperson
Università del Salento
Prof. Dr. Isabel Lara
Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
Prof. Dr. Wilfried Rozhon
Anhalt University of Applied Sciences
Dr. Harald Scherm
University of Georgia
Prof. Sergio Roberto
State University of Londrina
Winner
María Emma García Pastor
Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Spain
Award Committee
Prof. Dr. Luigi De Bellis
Chairperson
Università del Salento
Prof. Dr. Domenico Ronga
Dr. Zhi Li
Northwest A&F University
Prof. Yuyang Zhang
Huazhong Agricultural Universit
Dr. Harald Scherm
University of Georgia
Prof. Dr. Wilfried Rozhon
Anhalt University of Applied Sciences
Prof. Sergio Roberto
State University of Londrina
Prof. Dr. Qiaomei Wang
Prof. Christian Fischer
Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
Dr. Xun Li
Prof. Qiang-Sheng Wu
Yangtze University
Dr. Giovanni Bubici
Istituto per la Protezione Sostenibile delle Piante (IPSP)
Dr. Gianluca Allegro
Department of Agriculture and Food Sciences - University of Bologna
Winner
Costanza Ceccanti
University of Pisa, Italy
Award Committee
Prof. Dr. Luigi De Bellis
Chairperson
Università del Salento
Prof. Christian Fischer
Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
Dr. Umberto Bernardo
Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection (IPSP)
Dr. Harald Scherm
University of Georgia
Dr. Rosario Mauro
Dr. Gianluca Allegro
Department of Agriculture and Food Sciences - University of Bologna
Prof. Dr. Nazim Gruda
University of Bonn
Prof. Dr. Silvana Nicola
University of Turin
Prof. Elazar Fallik
ARO-the Volcani Center
Dr. Alessandra Francini
Institute of Crop Science, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
Prof. Amit Dhingra
Texas A & M University
Prof. Dr. Wilfried Rozhon
Anhalt University of Applied Sciences
Prof. Sergio Roberto
State University of Londrina
Prof. Dr. Esmaeil Fallahi
University of Idaho
Prof. Amarat Simonne
University of Florida
Dr. Genhua Niu
Texas A&M AgriLife Research at Dallas, Texas A&M University System
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