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Dr Daniela Giambruno Leal

Research Degree, 2015-2019

Dr Daniela Giambruno Leal
Doing my PhD at the UCL institute of the Americas was a very challenging intellectual experience. As an international student, I had to familiarize myself with the different language and academic culture in order to develop my research interests.

Nevertheless, I was very privileged to be guided and supported during my academic journey by my supervisor Maxine Molyneux, Professor of Sociology at the Institute. With her, I was able to develop my theoretical concerns on matters of social justice, inequality and recognition, and define my field of study (social policy).

The academic relationship I had with my supervisor gave me the space and freedom to think, make mistakes, and develop my own concerns and line of thinking as a professional and researcher. I am extremely grateful for this, as well as for the chance to get in touch with other Latin American students who were also dealing with the challenges that come with studying away from home, under a different academic culture.

It was an honor to work alongside other PhD students who were not only studying and doing research, but also working as political activists in London - trying to make the abuses and struggles experienced by different Latin American disadvantaged groups more visible. It was great to develop my studies with such politically and socially committed human beings.

Dr Daniela Giambruno Leal completed her PhD in 2019. Her dissertation was titled 'Anti-poverty social policies in Chile, and concerns for social justice in neoliberal times: a vision from below' and she worked under the supervision of Professor Maxine Molyneux and Professor Paulo Drinot. Find out more about it here.