IES Director presented the Awards for Distinguished Master’s and Bachelor’s Theses in September 2025

The IES Director's Award for Distinguished Master’s and Bachelor’s Theses has been awarded since the beginning of 2024 at the occasion of each Bachelor's and Master's Final State Exams. These are organized as a thesis defense with a follow-up general discussion on the thesis topic and are held three times a year - usually in January, June and September. 

Apart from the IES Director, the Directors of the Master’s and Bachelor’s Study Programs and the members of the State Final Exam committees jointly assess the exceptional quality of the theses and the excellent performance at the thesis defense. 

For those receiving the IES Director's Award, this is a sign that their thesis was among the best defended at IES in a given round. It is also a signal that it is advisable to submit it to various student competitions (e.g. Bolzano Award, etc.) or that there is a high chance that the work will be nominated directly by the IES for other student prizes (e.g. DOT Award or Prof. JUDr. Karel Engliš Award) 

The award is presented in a symbolic and ecological way in the form of a certificate in an electronic version, which the awardees can further use e.g. on their LinkedIn profile or attach to their applications for universities abroad or job interviews. There is no financial reward associated with the award.

In June, the IES Director's Award was presented to the following graduates:   

Bachelor’s theses: 

• Can Granular Social Media Emotions Help Identify Herd Behavior? First Empirical Evidence from U.S. Equities
  author: Bc. Ondřej Beneš
  advisor: PhDr. František Čech, Ph.D.
   
• The Impact of EU-Ukraine Trade Regimes on European Agriculture
  author: Bc. Matěj Čvančara
  advisor: Mgr. Michal Paulus
   
• Quantitative Analysis of ESG Rating Impact on Company Performance in the EU and the USA
  author: Bc. Kryštof Doubek
  advisor: prof. PhDr. Petr Teplý Ph.D.
   
• Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty in the Czech Republic
  author: Bc. Alena Jechová
  advisor: PhDr. Martina Mysíková Ph.D.
   
• Are childbearing decisions based on family size history?
  author: Bc. Anna Kovácsová
  advisor: PhDr. Jana Votápková. Ph.D.
   
• The Impact of Railways on Population Development in Czech Municipalities
  author: Bc. Tereza Kučerová
  advisor: Matěj Bajgar, M.Sc., DPhil.
   
• Effects of internet use on trust in institutions
  author: Bc. Jakub Lovecký
  advisor: PhDr. Jiří Schwarz Ph.D.
   
• How Does ESG Performance Affect Earnings? A Meta-Analysis
  author: Bc. Karel Maryško
  advisor: prof. PhDr. Tomáš Havránek, Ph.D.
   
• Registration Fee Reforms and Their Impact on Passenger Vehicle Registrations in Slovakia
  author: Bc. Marián Sedlák
  advisor: Mgr. Milan Ščasný. PhD.
   
• Reaction to new information in live football betting markets
  author: Bc. Samuel Šmíd
  advisor: PhDr. Jiří Kukačka. Ph.D.

Master’s theses: 

• Household Heterogeneity and Monetary Policy Transmission in the Czech Economy
  author: Mgr. Tomáš Fencl
  advisor: PhDr. Jaromír Baxa, Ph.D.
   
• Legislative Behavior and Emotional Narratives: National and Political Drivers of Climate Policy Voting in the European Parliament
  author: Mgr. David Chaloupka
  advisor: doc. PhDr. Martin Gregor, Ph.D.
   
• Copper Price, Exchange Rate, and Monetary Policy: Assessing their Relative Importance for the Economy of Zambia.
  author: Mgr. Nundo Chilima
  advisor: PhDr. Jaromír Baxa, Ph.D.
   
• Volatility transmission of quarterly earnings
  author: Mgr. Matej Leško
  advisor: Mgr. Lukáš Vácha. Ph.D.
   
• Democracy and Economic Growth: A Meta-Analysis
  author: Mgr. Tereza Markalousová
  advisor: prof. PhDr. Tomáš Havránek, Ph.D.
   
• Last-mile delivery – empirical study of economies of scale
  author: Mgr. Roman Ružica
  advisor: Mgr. Milan Ščasný. PhD.

The theses will be available during fall 2025 in the electronic thesis repository at Charles University at https://dspace.cuni.cz/.

We would like to congratulate all the awarded students and wish them many more successes in their professional or academic life!