Global Prosperity MSc Alumni Spotlight: Mar Layesca

About Mar Layesca

Mar Layesca came to the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in architecture, however she chose not to follow a traditional career as an architect.

Q&A with Mar

What is your background and why did you choose to study the Global Prosperity MSc?

I've dedicated most of my professional life to the design and development of social, urban and cultural projects and programmes in Peru. With an inherent passion for arts and design, combined with an interest in increasing social justice and human development, I question the ways in which the built environment affected and reflected people - including how the built environment becomes a tangible expression of our identity, our past, power, and vulnerabilities. I chose the Global Prosperity MSc because I felt aligned to the idea of rethinking and reshaping the social and economic paradigms that currently rule the world.

What have you been doing since graduating and how did your MSc help you progress in your career?

I have continued my path working on socio-cultural projects and programmes and also as a consultant in policy research and design. I’ve been honored to collaborate with institutions like the Ministry of Housing, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank Group, the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima and UNESCO. I have worked on many different topics:

• Articulating public and private sectors, professionals, and citizens to improve low-income families’ access to healthy, safe, adequate housing
• Encouraging citizen participation in public service design in order to improve early childhood development in the city
• Supporting teachers in creating and implementing projects for educational innovation and sustainable development in public schools
• Researching and designing for new rental housing policies, etc.

I'm now completing another master's in cultural mediation in Valencia, Spain. Cultural mediation is about rethinking and reshaping cultural institutions, decolonising them, re-evaluating what culture means and acknowledging that it is not a matter of the elite - it's about bringing people and institutions closer. I know all the knowledge I gained at the IGP has been crucial for making my experience completing another master's even more meaningful and unique. I’m really grateful.

What did you enjoy the most about studying with the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity?

Above all, the people. My fellow classmates, the teachers, the administratives. I loved that the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity felt like a small family where everybody was close and knew our names, and I think it's rare to find that kind of connection within academia or any organisation. I met some of my best friends during my master’s, and some of the best teachers I’ve ever had who I now consider my mentors and keep in touch with to today.

As well as the people, I enjoyed university life overall. The study spaces (libraries, graduate hubs), time completing my dissertation, spending long days at the student centre with my friends, the mind-blowing conversations that took everything I learned in classes to another level… All the memories I have there, even in busier periods with more deadlines, are invaluable to me.

Which topics, extracurriculars, or electives did you find most interesting and why?

I really enjoyed taking the amazing elective modules from other departments inside The Bartlett faculty. This was the perfect time for me to open up the scope of the knowledge and critical thinking I was developing inside the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity. I loved connecting with students taking other master's courses and viewing concepts from others' perspectives. It also enreaching meeting with professors from other specialisms across the faculty. I chose modules from The Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU) and had the privilege of auditing an extra module, where I followed along with the classes alongside the modules I was being assessed on. I audited the 'Contemporary Approaches to Development Management' module with Dr Kamna Patel who eventually became my dissertation supervisor.

What was the topic of your dissertation and could you share your journey around it?

My dissertation explored the role of housing in the achievement of prosperity from a Capabilities perspective, which is an approach developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. I had the opportunity to travel to Kenya and do a small qualitative study in a rural community and an urban community, too. I met beautiful people and it was an experience I will never forget.

Last December I published a paper based on my dissertation in the Journal of Housing and the Built Environment titled 'The Power of House + Home: Exploring a Capabilities Approach to Housing and Prosperity in Kenya'. My paper has also been accepted for the Human Development and Capabilities Approach 2024 Conference in Kolkata. It is a dream come true to travel to India for this.

Can you tell us about your experience of living in London as a student? How has it has shaped or inspired you?

After a period of adjusting from moving to London from the other side of world, assimilating to the autumn and winter weather, I started to feel more settled as an international student. It can initially be quite challenging finding and getting used to a new place to live but London has this very unique essence. In March, when the trees start blooming the Sakura trees become pink, and there is more and more sunshine each day. People go outside more, taking picnics in the parks. Spring is my favourite season in London. I still get surprised when I see foxes roaming the streets of London - I've seen so many! Ultimately, London is a very hectic city, full of concrete, but its humid weather makes nature grow everywhere, inside any possible crack, and you're always close enough to nature to go on a hike so it's always worth taking some time during the study breaks to explore the city.

What does prosperity mean to you?

To me, prosperity is the collective, the common, the quotidian. It is that we are together, in proximity, in contact. In exchange, in interaction, mutuality and reciprocity. With other people, with nature, with other beings. It is belonging and refuge. The experience of real empathy that triggers in our bodies the recognition of others and the inspiration to seek justice and reparation, collective liberation and wellbeing.I think it is more a process than an end. It is being able to question what is established even within ourselves. Being able to acknowledge our privileges and take action. It is rage and tenderness, not neutrality.

In a complex and contradictory world, prosperity is a constant humble evolution and transformation. I recently read that evolution means to take care of the other. I think this is true and that to evolving together brings about true prosperity.

What advice would you give to new UCL Institute for Global Prosperity students and to those thinking of applying?

At the IGP you are exploring very pressing issues which can be deeply rewarding as well as highly challenging. Being confronted with our complex realities can bring uncertainty, guilt, self-precarisation, success, failure, white-savior syndrome, emotional collapse. Pauses and self-and community-care are super important to navigate all that.

Be true to yourself and what thrives you. Show yourself as you are, bring and share the things you know and be humble enough to acknowledge the things you still don’t. Enjoy your time because it flies. Grades aren't the full experience of your studies so make new connections (not just in a corporate networking way), spend time with friends to rest and reset, and share your traditional food with them.

Are you interested in studying the Global Prosperity MSc at UCL?

Discover more about the course and the career opportunities it could unlock by visiting the UCL Graduate prospectus. 

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