The Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia (Ombudsman) today, on 29 September 2025, for the fourth consecutive time, held a public competition for bachelor's, master's, and doctoral theses in the field of human rights. With this, it aims to encourage research activities in the field of human rights among mentors and students at all three levels of higher education.

This year, 11 candidates from Slovenia applied for the competition, who successfully defended their bachelor's, master's, or doctoral theses at a university or higher education institution in Slovenia between 1 January and 31 December 2024.

Deputy Human Rights Ombudsman Ivan Šelih, who has been leading the Office of the Ombudsman since February this year, presented awards to the winners today, 29 September 2025. "We received research papers from various Slovenian universities and their faculties, such as law faculties, the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Social Work, and the Faculty of Health Sciences. The submissions show that the study of human rights cannot be limited solely to the field of law, but is important in all social spheres and across various research areas. Through this competition, we also aim to amplify the voice of young people engaged in the field of human rights, as together we can seek paths toward a more inclusive and just society," Deputy Šelih emphasised at the award ceremony.

All submitted bachelor's, master's, and doctoral theses were reviewed by a professional committee, which consisted of the Deputy Ombudsman and Head of the Human Rights Center Miha Horvat, Deputy Ombudsman Dr. Jože Ruparčič, and Dr. Simona Drenik Bavdek, Assistant Head of the Center for Human Rights. The members of the committee evaluated the originality of the topic, the comprehensiveness of the approach to the topic, the professionalism and complexity, the relevance of the work in terms of addressing current aspects of human rights in the Republic of Slovenia, and the overall quality of the work.

They decided to award the first place in the category of doctoral works to Dr. Aljoša Polajžar for the doctoral dissertation entitled Collective Labour Rights of Platform Workers (Faculty of Law, University of Maribor). The award for second place was not given. Third place was awarded to Dr. Tjaša Fajdiga for the doctoral dissertation entitled Challenges of Constitutional Democracy in the Republic of Slovenia (European Faculty of Law, Nova univerza).

First place among the submitted master's theses was awarded to Teodora Kordiš for the work titled European Investigation Order – Development, Innovations, and its Use by the Defence: Selected Aspects (Faculty of Law, University of Maribor). Blaž Ferkulj achieved second place for the work titled Differences in Cultural Competence Among Students of Health Sciences (Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Primorska). The award for third place was not given.

The awards for master's theses are received by Lovro Bobnar for the thesis titled International Legal Aspects of the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Freedom of (Political) Expression (Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana), Katja Fidler for the thesis titled Ethnography of Structural Violence in the Everyday Life of Families with a Temporary Residence Permit Status (Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana), and Ema Turnšek for the thesis titled Data Protection as a Fundamental Human and Patient Right (Faculty of Law, University of Maribor).

The award for thesis goes to Erazem Žigon for the work titled The Child as a Bearer of Rights and Freedoms (Faculty of Education, University of Primorska).

The award-winning works, which the recipients also briefly presented at the event, will be available to the public at the Bežigrad Public Library in Ljubljana, where the Ombudsman opened a special Ombudsman's Corner on 1 June 2022.