Lucy Maycox wins top PSA prize for dissertation on women’s economic empowerment in Kosovo

Congratulations to DPIR DPhil student Lucy Maycox, who has been awarded the Political Studies Association’s Shirin Rai Prize for the best PhD Dissertation in International Relations. 

Commenting on her winning dissertation – ‘Implementing Global Gender Norms at the Global-Local Nexus: The Case of Kosovo’ - the judges remarked: 

“The thesis provides a thoughtful, rigorous and well-presented analysis of an under-explored topic with much wider significance. The author demonstrates a confident and considered engagement with a range of academic literatures and with the living experience of post-conflict work on women's economic empowerment in Kosovo. Using a rich set of data sources, this articulates very clearly not only the mechanisms at play in the specific case but also a model for application elsewhere. It is an excellent example of how practitioner insights can be combined with academic methods to produce an analysis that advances our collective understanding.” 

We caught up with Lucy to ask all about her award, how she felt to win it and her future studies: 

Why do you think you won the prize? – tell us about your dissertation. 

The dissertation explores the implementation of global policy frameworks addressing women’s economic empowerment through an analysis of the case of Kosovo. The thesis presents a novel framework for understanding the complex dynamics of fragmented norm implementation in internationalized post-conflict and development contexts. Theoretically, the thesis sought to engage debates from feminist international political economy, especially those centred on social reproduction, with IR scholarship on global norm diffusion and international organizations to understand the disjuncture between the local-level implementation of women’s economic empowerment policies and women’s lived realities and needs. The dissertation was developed through field research in Kosovo as well as extensive analysis of a wide range of written sources published by international organizations, government institutions and civil society. 

What was your reaction when you heard the news? 

I was thrilled to receive this recognition from the Political Studies Association and honoured to be associated with the work of Shirin Rai in particular, whose scholarship has profoundly shaped my own research. This research would not have been possible without the insight, resilience, and openness of everyone in Kosovo who shared their stories and experiences with me. I am deeply grateful to them and hope that this thesis reflects their contributions with the respect and thoughtfulness they deserve. 

What does this mean to you? And your future studies? 

I am currently developing several articles from the dissertation and look forward to sharing the findings with local stakeholders in Kosovo.