The Department of Politics and International Studies is delighted to announce that Dr Alina Utrata as the 2024 Lisa Smirl PhD Prize winner.
Every year, the Department of Politics and International Studies offers a prize of £200 for the best PhD thesis completed in the previous academic year. The Prize is named in memory of Lisa Smirl, who gained her PhD in the Department in 2010, but who sadly died of cancer in February 2013. At the end of the academic year, supervisors nominate students who they believe are worthy of the prize.
Dr Utrata's PhD dissertation, titled 'Silicon Valley and the State: Towards a Political Theory of Technology Corporations' was the best of the 2023-24 academic year.
Both examiners were extremely impressed with not only the thesis, but also the force of the points made by the candidate in defending and explaining their views. They said,
“…a terrific PhD on a topic of massive contemporary interest and relevance, and has done so with a judicious set of cases, a deep appreciation for the interweaving of historical and conceptual perspectives, and has a radical set of arguments to make about what ‘new’ tech corporations are doing to ‘old’ languages and idioms of property, rights, and power.”
Her Supervisor was Professor Jason Sharman.
When asked about winning this year's prize, Dr Utrata said,
"I am very grateful and honored to have received this recognition of my thesis. Scholarship may be solo-authored, but it is never a solo endeavor. I have been so lucky to have had the support of countless friends, colleagues and mentors who have been generous in sharing their time and knowledge with me in crafting this work; and all of the scholars and scholarship that my thesis built upon and made my own work possible. I am especially grateful to my supervisor Professor Jason Sharman, for his advice and support throughout this process. "
The Department of Politics and International Studies would like to congratulate Dr Utrata on winning this year's prize.
Dr Utrata will start as a Career Development Research Fellow at St John's College, Oxford University in October 2024.