Alumni News

Benjamin Bushell (MSc Global Governance and Diplomacy, 2020) was awarded Best Dissertation Prize by the Examiners for the M.Sc. Global Governance and Diplomacy and was joint winner of the Outstanding Academic Achievement Prize 2021.

Cristina Blanco Sío-López (Santander Senior Fellow, 2017) has received a medal from the Young Academy of Spain / Academia Joven de España (AJE) as Full Member in representation of the field of History. She gave the inaugural speech during the AJE’s first Award Ceremony at the Spanish Royal Academy of Pharmacy.

Rebecca Clifford (DPhil Modern History, 2013) Rebecca’s latest book, Survivors: Children’s Lives After the Holocaust was Finalist for the Cundill History Prize 2021, shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2021, winner of the Canadian Jewish Literary Awards Scholarship Prize 2021, long listed for the Wingate Literary Prize 2021, received an honourable mention in the British Association of Jewish Studies Book Prize 2021, and named a Book of the Year 2020 by the Telegraph (2020), and the Globe and Mail (Canada) in 2021.

Caroline Godard (MSt Modern Languages 2019) was invited to Oxford’s Encaenia ceremony as a student honoree, for winning the Modern Languages Faculty’s Gerard Davis Prize for the best Mst dissertation on a topic in French literary studies.

Muhammad Jawad Noon (MSc Evidence-Based Intervention and Policy Evaluation, 2016) has received the German Medical Award 2021. The prize is awarded to clinics, doctors, practices, researchers, and companies that have made a special contribution to improving patient care through medical innovation and is the leading medical prize in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Nicholas Lancaster (MSc Migration Studies, 2020) was awarded joint Runner-Up Prize for Best Dissertation 2020-2021.

Nelli Vanninen (MSc Economics for Development, 2020) was awarded the 2020–21 Luca D’Agliano Prize for Best Dissertation.

Olivia Wicki (MSc Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, 2020) was jointly awarded the 2020–21 Gil Loescher Prize for Overall Best Performance.

Nira Wickramasinghe (DPhil Modern History 1985, Senior Visitor, 2005) has been awarded the 2021 J.F. Richards Prize in South Asian History by the American Historical Association for her most recent book, Slave in a Palanquin: Colonial Servitude and Resistance in Sri Lanka, published by Columbia University in 2020.

Sonia Andolz- Rodriguez (MSc Refugee and Forced Migration Studies 2009) was appointed as Director General of Security Management at the Ministry of Interior of Catalonia.

Masahiko Asada (1988-89), has been elected to the UN International Law Commission (ILC) by the UN General Assembly in November 2021 as one of the 34 members of the Commission for 2023-2027.

Jess Auerbach (MSc Forced Migration 2009) was appointed as Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town.

Bilal Baloch (DPhil Politics 2013) runs a technology start-up in Washington, D.C., Enquire AI, which recently raised a $5.5M Series A funding to continue building the fastest way to connect businesses to subject-matter experts around the world.

Michael T. Benson (DPhil Modern History, 1991) was appointed as the third president of Coastal Carolina University in 2021.

Elife Biçer-Deveci (Academic Visitor, 2017-19) was appointed as Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for History, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in 2020.

Lasse Michael Boehm (MPhil European Politics 2001), joined the European Parliament’s in-house think tank EPRS (European Parliamentary Research Service), heading its Economic Policies Unit. The unit provides research and briefings on EU economic, financial, social, environment, health, industry and single market policies. In addition, EPRS is a hub for relations between Members of the European Parliament and policy advisers with think tanks and the academic world, in Brussels and beyond. If you are interested in its activities or just would like to get in touch do not hesitate to contact him via lasse.boehm@ep.europa.eu.

Rebecca Clifford (DPhil Modern History 2013) took up a new post as Professor of Transnational European History at the University of Durham in September 2021.

Nathan Converse (MPhil Development Studies 2003) is spending a year working as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisors, covering macroeconomic and international finance issues.

Michael Cullen (DPhil Economics 1984) was appointed Senior Advisor, Business Development and Sourcing at Terra Global Capital, a company he helped get off the ground 15 years ago, and for which he is an investor and a board member. Terra Global Capital creates carbon credits from land use projects around the world, mostly forest landscapes in the tropics.

Alan Gamlen (DPhil Geography and the Environment, 2005; SCR Member 2001-16) has been appointed Professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance, within the College of the Asia Pacific at the Australian National University.

George Gigauri (MSc Forced Migration, 2002) has been appointed as the UN Migration Agency (IOM) Chief of Mission in Iraq and was deployed in October this year.

Juan David Gutiérrez (MSc Public Policy in Latin America 2010) was appointed in July 2021 as associate professor at the faculty of politics and international relations of U. Rosario (Colombia).

Brian Kaio (PGDip Diplomatic Studies 2020) has been appointed as Samoa’s Consul General to American Samoa.

Aspram Krpeyan (MSt Diplomatic Studies, 2018) was elected Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia in 2021.

Chinnawut Techanuvat (DPhil Sociology 2004) has been appointed Head of Economic and Financial Market Research at the Siam Commercial Bank.

Tim Lau (DPhil Politics 1993), Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Guelph, started a new position as Co-Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Public Leadership at Emerald Publishing.

James Le Suer’s (SAM 2002) first feature film, The Art of Dissent (2020) about the dissident movement in Czechoslovakia after the 1968 invasion, won five international film festival awards and has shown at over a dozen film festivals.

Andrea Pietras (MPhil European Politics & Society) started in September 2021 a new position at the European Commission, DG Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, Brussels; and graduated with a Diploma in International Relations from the Institute for Continuing Education, University of Cambridge.

Michael Petrou (DPhil 2002) was appointed as ‘Historian, Veterans’ Experience’ at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

Cesare Onestini (MPhil European Politics & Society 1991) was appointed Director General for Agriculture, Fisheries, Social Affairs, and Health (LIFE), Council’s General Secretariat, European Council.

Krzysztof Szubert (Academic Visitor 2019-2020) was responsible as The Republic of Poland Plenipotentiary for organising the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF 2021) when Kawotice in Poland became the world capital of debate on the future of digital space.

Volker Then (History, 1984) has been appointed President and CEO of Fondazione AIS – Advancing Impact and Sustainability, Bologna, Italy.

Gijs de Vries (Visiting Fellow 2014) was appointed Chairman of the External Evaluation of Dutch Policy in Preparation for Brexit, 2016-2021, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands. He also moderated the UNESCO Online Regional Consultation (Europe and North America) in preparation for the World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development.

Bryony Winn (MPhil International Development, 2007) was named President of Anthem Health Solutions and listed in Business Insider’s 30 Under 40 in Healthcare and one of Fortune’s 40 under 40. Jim Winston (MLitt History, 1982) is Founder and Chair of the Winston Family Initiative in Technology and Adolescent Brain Development. This initiative funds research, education and projects exploring the effects of the Internet and social media on adolescent brain development, and was recently featured in Forbes magazine.

Pēteris Zilgalvis (Visiting Fellow 2013) was appointed as a Judge of the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union in September 2021.

Brian D. Harvey (MPhil Russian and East European Studies 1988) is a film historian, and has deposited his research papers at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academic of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars. org) in Beverly Hills, California.

Yiu-tung Suen (DPhil Sociology, 2008) was awarded Young Researcher Award in Social Sciences by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The Young Researcher Award aims to recognize research accomplishments of young faculty members, and has been established since 2002.

Jonathan M. Jackson (MSc African Studies, 2011–12; Academic Visitor 2022-23) defended his PhD thesis ‘Past Futures: Histories of Development in the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania’ at the University of Cologne, supervised by Professor David M. Anderson. The PhD was part of a broader Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and hosted by the Universities of Cologne and Bonn. The project has been awarded funding for a further four years, and Jonathan will continue into this second phase as a postdoctoral researcher.

Christopher Edwards (MPhil International Relations 2003) and Suriya Edwards (MPhil Development Studies 2003) have a new addition to their family, Leo Edwards, born 23 March 2020.

Juan David Gutiérrez (MSc Public Policy in Latin America 2010) and his wife Diana Dajer (Green Templeton College 2015) became parents to their daughter Gabriela.