Oxford University Essay Prize

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Submissions for the Oxford University Prize for Eastern European Perspectives on Science, Theology and Humane Philosophy are invited from students and early career researchers at institutions in eligible Central and Eastern European countries.*

A prize of $1200 will be awarded to the best submission, and prizes of $300 will be awarded to each of the four runners-up. The winner will be invited to present his or her paper at a public event in Oxford. Essays should be 4000-6000 words in length and should address topics at the interface of science, theology, and/or philosophy. Examples of topics include:

▪ Differences between scientific and non-scientific modes of enquiry;

▪ The relations of brains, minds and human persons;

▪ The role of religion in the historical development of science;

▪ The place of values in the natural world;

▪ Free will and scientific determinism and/or divine foreknowledge;

▪ Empirical psychology and the second person perspective;

▪ Philosophical/theological understandings of totalitarianism;

▪ Phenomenological approaches to religion;

▪ Science-engaged theology and theologically-engaged science;

▪ Understanding notions of God, good and evil in a scientific age.

Submissions should be written in English, and should exhibit the highest standards of clarity and rigour, engagement with recent scholarship, and an interest in questions of real human concern. They should not be published at the time of submission. All submissions should be anonymised and should include an abstract of 200-300 words and a full bibliography. The word count of 4000-6000 words includes footnotes but excludes abstract and bibliography.

Authors should be graduate students enrolled on degree programmes at institutions in eligible Central and Eastern European countries, or researchers employed at these institutions who have completed a doctoral degree within the last five years.

Submissions should be sent to mikolaj.slawkowski-rode@bfriars.ox.ac.uk by 15 February 2019.

*Eligible countries are: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, former East Germany, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

This prize is part of the John Templeton Foundation project, Science, Theology and Humane Philosophy: Central and Eastern European Perspectives organised by the Ian Ramsey Centre for Sciecne and Religion, University of Oxford.