The Ministry of Defence announced a scholarship competition for defence related master’s theses, in the framework of which eight EUR 4250 scholarships will be awarded.
Participants in the scholarship competition may choose from 11 topics, which have been selected by the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Forces, the Defence Resources Board, the Estonian National Defence College and the Estonian War Museum. The designated topics cover, among other things, sociology, technology, personnel policies and military history.
Unlike earlier years, master’s students have the option this year to submit their own topic to the scholarship competition, on the condition that it involves the field of defence and the research will contribute to raising our defence capability.
The broader objective of the scholarship competition is, on the one hand, to raise the level of scientific research involving national defence, and secondly to more broadly popularise the field of defence, involving master’s students from private institutions of higher learning and fields of study.
According to Kusti Salm, Director of the Defence Investments Department at the Ministry of Defence, the scholarship programme has proved itself over the years.
‘Our goal is to create and enliven interest among talented young students, to bring them closer to the field of defence. The given scholarship programme is a notable investment in defence related research activity and popularising the field of defence among young people’, said Salm.
According to Salm, this year’s selection of master’s thesis topics is narrower than in previous years, but all of the concerns are realistic.
‘Thus, in addition to the monetary scholarship, candidates are also definitely motivated by the knowledge that that their research will not be left to gather dust in an archive, but will be applied towards raising Estonia’s defence capability’, said Salm.
Eight scholarship recipients will be selected from the candidates for all topics. In order to ensure the high level of the master’s theses, the Ministry of Defence is offering experts from their area of government to serve as co-instructors.
The competition is open to all public universities and institutions of professional higher education in Estonia (excluding the Estonian National Defence College) as well as Estonian citizens who are master’s students attending foreign universities or institutions of professional higher education. To apply for a scholarship, a master’s thesis plan, along with other required documentation, must be submitted to the Ministry of Defence, at the address [email protected], by 29 September, at the latest.
Further information (In Estonian)
