How a the Chevening Scholarship helped Cristina rethink prosperity for Latin America
Discover how Chevening Scholar Cristina is using her scholarship to drive climate resilience and inclusive development across Latin America. Learn how a scholarship can empower changemakers.
It’s not about GDP, it’s about people.
Cristina Guevara: Rethinking Prosperity for Latin America
Cristina Guevara’s path to the Global Prosperity MSc at the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity began with a question: What does true prosperity look like for people, cities, and the planet?
Originally from Panama City, Panama, Cristina has spent the last eight years working across Latin America and the Caribbean on policy, public-private partnerships, and regional development. From climate resilience to education reform, her focus has always been the same: equity, sustainability, and systems that centre people.
Now, as a Chevening Scholar at UCL’s Institute for Global Prosperity, she’s taking that mission even further.
I chose this course because it challenges conventional development thinking. It’s interdisciplinary, solutions-oriented, and deeply aligned with my values.
After nearly a decade of crafting policy, shaping strategy, and working to improve systems from within, returning to postgraduate study was a bold leap.
It wasn’t an easy decision to leave behind the career I had carefully built or to be apart from my family, but I also knew I was ready to grow in a new direction, and that required space, support, and vision.
The Chevening Scholarship gave her all three.
It didn’t just make study possible; it gave me the confidence and freedom to fully embrace this next chapter. It empowered me to step into the next version of who I want to be as a leader.
At UCL, Cristina has explored transformative case studies like the regeneration of Medellín, Colombia, an example that particularly resonated due to its parallels with Panama City. Both cities face challenges around inequality, urbanisation, and the need for inclusive development. Cristina found inspiration in how Medellín addressed these through infrastructure, governance, and community-driven innovation.
Alongside this, her own research has focused on climate adaptation and urban cooling in Panama City; work that directly builds on the themes explored in class.
These modules haven’t just shaped my thinking, they’ve sharpened my direction. They’ve helped me see how models of change elsewhere can inform the solutions we design at home.
Looking ahead, Cristina is committed to working at the intersection of environmental sustainability, urban development, and policy innovation, whether in government, international organisations, or cross-sector collaborations.
I want to help design systems that are inclusive, resilient, and grounded in people’s lived experiences.
Her advice to future scholarship applicants?
Be honest about your journey and your purpose. It’s not about having the perfect CV, it’s about knowing the change you want to create, and sharing that story with conviction.
Study Global Prosperity MSc at UCL
Discover more about the course and the career opportunities it could unlock
Learn more