The winners of the 2024 national student research competition were announced in Tartu on 10 December. In the field of humanities and arts, Gregor Taul won first prize in the doctoral student category for his thesis Monumentality Trouble. Monumental-Decorative Art in Late Soviet Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Taul’s doctoral thesis was also awarded a special prize by the Estonian National Heritage Board. Taul’s supervisor, Anu Allas, was awarded honorary mention for her supervision of the research.
Gregor Taul, lecturer in Interior Architecture and head of the Master’s programme, defended his thesis this summer as an external student at the EKA Doctoral School of Art History and Visual Culture. In his thesis, Taul analyses the production and functioning of monumental-decorative art in the late Soviet Baltic states from the 1960s until the restoration of independence. The final chapter of the dissertation is devoted to the problems of preserving and reinterpreting these works today. It is the first comprehensive study on this subject to look comparatively at all three Baltic States.
National Contest for University Students is a competition organised by the Estonian Research Council and the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research to promote research among students, to encourage student activity and to recognise those who have achieved outstanding results in their work. This year, 540 entries were submitted to the Research Council, including 105 in the field of humanities and arts. This year’s competition had a total prize fund of €112 900 for national prizes and €72 674.78 for special prizes. The entries were judged by a national jury of 40 experts.