DPhil student Emma Somos among winners of Nova 111 best talent award

DPhil student Emma Somos among winners of Nova 111 best talent award
 

 
Congratulations to DPhil student Emma Somos, who has been named as one of the winners of the Nova 111 Student List 2026.

The List identifies the best talent aged 18-25 across 11 key sectors of the economy; individuals who have achieved outstanding results or show the potential to have a significant positive impact.

Emma was selected as one of the 10 winners in the Humanities and Social Sciences category in the UK.

We chatted to Emma about how she felt after receiving the award.

How do you feel to have been named one of the winners?

I am very honoured to be selected as one of the 10 winners in the Humanities & Social Sciences category, alongside peers whose work I deeply admire.

Having moved to the UK six years ago to study sociology and to work on social inequalities and climate change, this recognition means a lot to me.

Sociology is about making sense of the world and in many ways that can also involve changing it for the better. Being acknowledged for work in this area is both humbling and motivating.

I am grateful to the Department of Sociology for providing a genuinely supportive and intellectually generous environment, and to my supervisor, Professor Stephen Fisher, whose guidance and encouragement have been invaluable throughout my research journey.

I also want to acknowledge St Catherine's College and the Cambridge-Oxford Alumni Club of Hungary for their support of my work.  

What does this mean for your research?

This award offers meaningful support for my work at the intersection of inequality, politics, and the climate crisis, allowing me to explore questions regarding economic power and accountability.

My DPhil thesis examines how billionaires engage with climate change, why some of the world's wealthiest individuals are more climate-conscious than others, and how economic influence shapes climate policy in ways that often bypass democratic accountability.

These are not comfortable questions, but I believe they are essential ones if we are serious about finding effective and just responses to the climate crisis.

Being named on the Nova 111 List encourages me to keep pursuing this line of inquiry with rigour and ambition, and to continue bridging academic research with broader policy conversations which I have had the opportunity to do through my work with the UN Development Programme's Independent Evaluation Office and as a COP29 delegate with the UK Youth Climate Coalition.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently working on a paper with collaborators from the University of Amsterdam on billionaires’ engagement with climate change.

I have recently presented this work at the annual conferences of the British Sociological Association and the British Journal of Sociology, which have been wonderful opportunities to engage with the wider sociological community.

Outside of research, I have recently been awarded a place on the Europaeum Scholars' Program, a two-year leadership and policy fellowship for doctoral researchers from leading European universities and I am also the incoming Curator of the Oxford Global Shapers Hub, a local hub within the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers Community.

These roles reflect my commitment to translating academic research into real-world impact and to amplifying youth voices in global conversations about our collective futures, including, above all, the future of our climate.