The CINI Data Science Lab established two Distinguished Awards for the Best Ph.D. and the Best Master Theses in the area of Big Data and Data Science. The goals of the awards are to promote and recognize outstanding theses, increase the visibility of young researchers inside the lab as well as in the larger Italian scientific community, and inspire members of the Big Data and Data Science community thus facilitating transdisciplinary collaborations.

Ph.D. and Master degree theses in all fields of Big Data and Data Science and successfully defended at an Italian university in 2023 are eligible.

The theses will be evaluated by a committee of experts based on originality and potential impact on the Big Data and Data Science community. Three candidates for each award will be selected and invited to remotely present their thesis to the committee before ITADATA2024. The two winners will be invited to participate (with full support) at the conference that will be held 17-19 September 2024 in Pisa and nominated during the awards ceremony. The Best Ph.D. Thesis awardee will be also invited to publish an extended abstract of the thesis in the ITADATA2024 proceedings and give a talk at the conference.

The candidate must submit a copy of the thesis in pdf format via https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/ITADATA2024 under tracks Awards - PhD and Awards - Master's by 31 May 2024, with the following information:

• Name of the Candidate, and email address
• Title of the Master or Ph.D. thesis
• Name of the Master degree or the Doctoral program
• Institution that has awarded the Master degree or the Ph.D.
• Date of the defense of the Master thesis or the Ph.D. thesis
• Abstract of the thesis, up to 3 pages in pdf format
• Name and email address of the Supervisor of the thesis
• Copy of a certificate proving that the thesis has been successfully defended or submitted
• Supervisor's endorsement letter and one more endorsement letter, if available, drawn up according to the template available at this link

The selection committee members for the 2024 competition are:

• Maurizio Atzori, University of Cagliari
• Devis Bianchini, University of Brescia
• Emanuela Merelli, CINI Data Science Lab (Chair)
• Gregorio Piccoli, Zucchetti Spa
• Roberto Trasarti, ISTI-CNR Pisa, General Chair of ITADATA2024

The selection committee will solicit the opinion of members of the research community as appropriate. Theses supervised by members of the selection committee are not eligible.

The CINI Data Science Lab is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes submissions of outstanding theses from all authors.