Maria Gargiulo wins A.H. Halsey Prizes for MPhil performance

Maria Gargiulo wins A.H. Halsey Prizes for MPhil performance 
 

Image of Maria Gargiulo

Maria Gargiulo © David Fisher (Fisher Studios)

 

Congratulations to student Maria Gargiulo, who was been awarded the A.H. Halsey Prizes for ‘Best Overall Performance’ and ‘Best Dissertation’ in the MPhil Examinations 2022-2023.

Maria achieved the highest average mark for her thesis and the highest average overall mark in the cohort. 

Her thesis, entitled “Silences and distortion: missing data and the population health impacts of feminicide in Mexico”, uses a mixed methods approach to examine feminicide - the intentional killing of women and girls because of their gender - in Mexico.

Maria's work first employs expert interviews with experience collecting, distributing, or analysing data about feminicide, aimed at explaining the processes that challenge accurate and complete feminicide documentation in Mexico.

After developing a deep understanding of the limitations of the existing data about feminicide in Mexico, she then uses quantitative demographic methods to develop an approximation of the impacts of feminicide on life expectancy and lifespan inequality during the period 2000–2020.

Maria said:

It’s an honour to receive this recognition for my work. I am thankful to my many mentors at Oxford, particularly my supervisor Dr José Manuel Aburto, who encouraged me to do mixed methods work, and to all of my interview participants who offered me their time, expertise, and solidarity throughout this project.

Halsey prizes have been awarded since the Department of Sociology was formed in 1999. Professor Albert Henry Halsey was a central figure in the sociology of education. He joined the University of Oxford as a Fellow at Nuffield College in 1962, and remained a part of the Oxford community for over 50 years. Focusing on the topics of inequality, social mobility and education, Professor Halsey's impact on the study of sociology and social policy was felt across the University and the academic world.

You can hear more about Maria's experiences as an MPhil student by reading her Student Spotlight.