ERIM Awards 2025: Celebrating Research Excellence

The event showcased the remarkable breadth and impact of research produced across the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) and the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). Co-hosts Prof. dr. Inga Hoever, Scientific Director of ERIM, and Prof. dr. Pilar Garcia-Gomez, Associate Director, opened the ceremony with a warm welcome and reflections on recent developments within ERIM, including the success of ERIM’s Summer School and the launch of a new seminar series on field interventions.

PhD Dissertation Awards

The programme began with the presentation of the Best Full-time PhD Dissertation Awards by Prof. dr. Patrick Groenen, Dean of ESE, and Prof dr. Daan Stam, Dean of Faculty at RSM. Two scholars received this award:

• Dr. Ymro Nils Hoogendoorn was awarded for his dissertation Vehicle Routing with Varying Levels of Demand Information. The jury highlighted the significant scholarly impact of his work, noting its mathematical rigour and influence on foundational aspects of the field. After completing his PhD at ESE, as well as a postdoctoral appointment, Ymro now serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Technology and Operations Management at RSM.
• Dr. S M Musa was recognised for his work on Making a Life on the Margins: An Ethnographic Account from Kutupalong. Musa’s ethnographic research in one of the world’s largest refugee settlements sheds light on necessity entrepreneurship among marginalised groups and demonstrates both academic and societal relevance. Musa is currently an Assistant Professor at Singapore Management University. As he was unable to attend the ceremony in person, his former supervisor, Prof. dr. Pursey Heugens, accepted the award on his behalf.

These awards were followed by the Best Part-time Dissertation Award, also presented to two recipients:

• Dr. Alina Georgiana Andrei was awarded for her paper, Essays on Behavioural Corporate Governance. Alina pursued her PhD while serving as a lecturer at RSM, before the part-time PhD programme was formally established. Her insights challenge conventional assumptions about governance and has resulted in publications in leading journals. The methodological and theoretical excellence of her work is reflected in her publications in leading journals. She is now Assistant Professor at Texas A&M. Alina, too, was unable to join the ceremony in person, and her former supervisor, Hans van Oosterhout, accepted the award on her behalf.
• Dr. Curtis Meloy Goldsby received the award for his thesis Demystifying Digital Governance: Exploring the Mechanisms and Trade-offs of Blockchains for Organisations. Balancing his PhD with a professional career at IBM, Curtis’s work combined qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine the impact of digital technologies like blockchain on governance mechanisms. He continues to work at IBM as Enterprise Strategy Practice Leader and Senior Managing Consultant, and has remained actively engaged with the PhD programme through alumni activities.

Research Awards

The ceremony continued with the Top Article Award, presented by Prof. dr. ir. Jantine Schuit, Rector Magnificus of Erasmus University.

• Dr. Birgul Arslan (Associate Professor, Department of Technology & Operations Management, RSM) was recognised for her paper Public-private and Private-private Collaboration as Pathways for Socially Beneficial Innovation: Evidence from Antimicrobial Drug-development Tasks. This research addresses a major societal challenge: how public and private actors can jointly drive innovation. The jury lauded this paper for ambition and exceptional execution – reflected by being published in a highly reputable journal.
• Dr. Nico Lehmann (Associate Professor, Department of Business Economics, ESE) received the award for Who Shortlists? Evidence of Gender Disparities in Hiring Outcomes. While the paper analyses a policy change within a firm that shifted responsibility for shortlisting candidates from hiring managers to HR professionals, its finding speak to broader management debates. The paper has had notable societal impact, receiving attention in Forbes and inspiring follow-up work in the Harvard Business Review.

Concluding the research awards, the Outstanding Performance by a Young Researcher was presented to:

• Dr. Johannes Boegershausen (Associate Professor, Department of Marketing Management, RSM). Johannes was recognised for his innovative contributions to online research methods in the behavioural sciences. Building on this, he has developed Digital In-Context Experiments, an experimental approach enabling more realistic measurement of social media behaviour – such data is typically unavailable to academics using web scraping or A/B testing tools. Johannes actively promotes the adoption of these methods through open and responsible science practices. The practical relevance of his work is recognised by industry leaders on A/B testing, and he also publishes practitioner-focused articles in outlets like the Harvard Business Review.

In her closing remarks, Jantine emphasised the collaborative spirit and intellectual excellence represented by all nominees and awardees. Inga and Pilar acknowledged the invaluable insights of the jury members involved in the selection process, as well as the ERIM Awards organising team for their care and coordination in putting the event together.

The ERIM Awards 2025 highlighted not only exceptional academic achievements, but also the commitment to fostering and supporting such work at ERIM.