Past winners of the DSA Master’s dissertation and PhD thesis awards

PhD thesis prize winners:

• 2024: Francesca Chiu, from the School of Global Development at the University of East Anglia, for her thesis on “Transforming the Outskirts – Planning, Property and People in Urban Myanmar.”
• 2023: Owen Frazer, International Development Department, University of Birmingham – “The Theory and Practice of Mediation as Framing: Breaking Impasses in the El Salvador Peace Negotiations”
• 2022: Ikuno Naka, ODID, University of Oxford – “The ‘Realty’ of Cochin: from the material to the spectacular, a story of India’s emerging city”

PhD thesis prize – highly commended:

• 2024: Anna Colom Miras, DPP, Open University. “Citizenship capabilities and instant messaging in Western Kenya: an intersectional approach.”
• 2023: Kaveri Medappa, Department of International Development, University of Sussex – “Chasing Targets, Making Life : An ethnographic study of platform-based cab drivers and food delivery workers in Bengaluru, India”
• 2022: Arie Ruhyanto, IDD, University of Birmingham – “Building State Legitimacy Through Territorial Reform: Pemekeran in Papua, Indonesia” and
• 2022: Elizabeth Storer, Department of International Development, LSE – “Lugbara religion revisited: a study of social repair in West Nile, North-West Uganda“

Master’s dissertation prize winners:

• 2023: Lisa Eitinger, Department of International Development, LSE – “Ignorance for relevance? A critical assessment of the World Bank’s higher education policy”
• 2022: Joy Lin, Institute of Development Studies – “#MeToo with Chinese Characteristics– Analysis through The Lens of Chinese Feminism“
• 2021: Suzanne Loader, Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh -“Conflict or coexistence? A comparative analysis of depictions of human-wildlife interactions in the Kenyan media landscape” and
• 2021: Adela Syslova, Department of Development Studies, SOAS – “Whose Sustainability? Political Economy of renewable energy transitions in Morocco and Algeria“
• 2020: Euan Crispin, SIID, University of Sheffield – “The Dubai of Africa? Exploring the role of aesthetic representation in the construction of Eko Atlantic City, Lagos“
• 2019: Hamid Khalafallah, Division of Peace Studies & International Development, University of Bradford – “The Role of Development NGOs In the Context of Authoritarian Regimes: A Case Study of Sudan“
• 2018: Bushra Rehman, IDD, University of Birmingham – “The intersection of gender and disability in exacerbating poverty in displacement settings: Jordan as a case study” and
• 2018: Henrique Lopes Valenca, GDI, University of Manchester – “Industrial policy and structural change in Brazil after the Washington Consensus (2003 – 2014)“
• 2017: Henna Akram, SOAS – “Are private schools delivering better education? An empirical analysis of the differences in academic achievement between children in private and public schools in Pakistan” and
• 2017: Paul Fenton Villar, DEV, UEA – “Evaluating the impact of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) on corruption in Zambia“
• 2016: Robert Mwanamanga, Division of Peace Studies & International Development, University of Bradford – “Does foreign aid promote growth? Evidence from Malawi“

Master’s dissertation prize – highly commended:

• 2023: Sidonie East, IDS, Sussex – “Is Transparency Enough? An Examination of the Effect of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) on Accountability, Corruption and Trust in Zambia” and
• 2023: Misbah Haqani, IGHD, Queen Margaret University – “In Health and in Pandemic: Covid-19 Securitization and Militarization in Indian Administered Kashmir. A Critical Discourse Analysis”