About the EAC Thesis Award

As an organisation that welcomes researchers from around the world, the EAC seeks high-quality academic works that improve our understanding of expatriate life. Expatriates as a group tend to ‘fall through the cracks’ when it comes to being represented in official government archives, as well as in global migration studies. With this thesis award, we wish to support critical scholarship that endeavours to shift and expand understandings of what an 'expatriate' is.

Instead of choosing a research theme, we ask that submissions engage with the mission and objectives of the EAC. 

Learn more about applying for the EAC Thesis Award.

The following list is not exhaustive, but it gives an idea of the different types of expatriates from whom the EAC collects material:

  • Business: entrepreneurs, self-employed, and employees of international or local businesses;
  • Economic: workers in search of temporary work;
  • Diplomatic: embassy and consular staff;
  • Intergovernmental: employees of the UN and other international organisations;
  • Academic: researchers or lecturers on an exchange programme or research assignment or international students;
  • Non-profit/NGO: people working in non-governmental, non-profit, and charitable organisations;
  • Religious: missionaries and workers in religious associations;
  • Sport: athletes assigned to clubs and/or teaching/coaching;
  • Cultural: artists, musicians, etc.;
  • Military: on missions or stationed;
  • Expatriate spouses, partners and children accompanying any of the above;
  • Repatriates and returnees.

The term ‘expatriate’ can be used to distinguish temporary migrants from more settled migrants. Yet it has long been heavily loaded with classist and racist connotations. Why is it, for example, that a Canadian retiree wintering in Mexico is more readily described in common parlance as an ‘expat’ than a Filipina domestic worker on a temporary contract in Singapore, even though both are temporary migrants?

The EAC will choose each year a submission that amplifies the importance of expatriation studies and improves our understanding of expatriate life. Each year the award jury includes three guest jurors who specialise in expatriation issues. Read more about this year's award jury on the Jurors page.

Award Prize

Following the official announcement of the first-place thesis, the winner of the EAC Thesis Award will receive €500. Additionally, the executive summary of the thesis will be published online by the EAC and organisations involved in this project. Please see the Partner Organisations page for a list of participating organisations.

The executive summaries of the first-, second- and third-place thesis applications will be published on the EAC website and promoted via social media channels.

Please direct any questions about the EAC Thesis Award to welcome@xpatarchive.com or call +31 (0)70 427 2014.

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