The Kellogg Institute is proud to announce that former Doctoral Student Affiliate Isabel Güiza-Gómez (PhD ’25) has been named the recipient of the 2025 Kellogg Institute Award for Distinguished Dissertation. She received the award for her exceptional research in “Landing Peace: Rural-Poor Mobilization and Land Redistribution in Civil War Political Transitions.”
Her dissertation explains why some peace settlements include and implement land redistribution. It argues that unarmed rural movements – especially Indigenous, Afrodescendant, and peasant groups – drive these outcomes when they combine strong mobilization with independence from armed actors. By building legitimacy and bridging political divides, such movements shape both negotiations and postwar reforms. Drawing on Colombia’s two major peace processes and comparative cases in El Salvador and Guatemala, Güiza-Gómez’s research shows that land redistribution succeeds when movements pair mobilization with political incorporation, revealing their crucial role in transforming property rights after conflict.
“Isabel’s doctoral dissertation findings will not only be important for Colombia, but also for our general understanding of dynamics of war and peace in protracted civil conflicts,” stated Kellogg Faculty Fellow Guillermo Trejo in nominating Güiza-Gómez for the award. “I am persuaded that Isabel’s outstanding dissertation will produce an impressive book and a stream of influential articles and that she will become in a few years an influential voice in the study of peace and conflict.”
Trejo, along with Keough faculty member Caroline Hughes, co-advised Güiza-Gómez on her dissertation. Other committee members were Susanne Wengle and Keough School faculty member Abby Córdova, both Kellogg faculty fellows.
Beyond her dissertation, Güiza-Gómez is developing a university-press book manuscript and two peer-reviewed journal articles based on her award-winning dissertation. Her work has appeared at Comparative Politics and Studies in Comparative International Development. Güiza-Gómez is also collaborating on several projects, including two studies that examine government strategies to delay land restitution for Indigenous and Afro-descendant victims, as well as the role of grassroots mobilization in influencing judicial decisions on land restitution for mestizo peasants in Colombia. At the Notre Dame Eliminating Violence Against Women (EVAW) Lab, she is also engaged in research on the micro-foundations of public attitudes and behavior toward assassinations of grassroots activists and human rights trials involving both state and rebel actors in post-accord Colombia.
Throughout her doctoral studies, Güiza-Gómez was an active and valued member of the Kellogg and broader Notre Dame communities. Her leadership and engagement earned her the 2025 Kellogg Institute Award for Outstanding Doctoral Student Contributions. She has consistently worked to connect scholarship with policy and practice – first through the Institute's Violence and Transitional Justice (V-TJ) Lab, later at the EVAW Lab, and as a key organizer of the Institute’s Global Stage podcast series.
Before beginning her PhD work in political science and peace studies at Notre Dame, Güiza-Gómez trained as a lawyer in her native Colombia and conducted policy research at one of the country’s leading think tanks, DeJusticia. She now serves as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Inter-American Policy and Research at Tulane University, while continuing her collaboration with the Kellogg Institute through the EVAW Lab and coauthoring a series of peer-reviewed papers and policy reports with Abby Córdova.
“We’re proud to celebrate Isabel’s remarkable scholarship and the impact she continues to make,” said Guadalupe Ramírez, Kellogg’s senior program manager for visiting fellowships and graduate student affairs. “Her achievements exemplify the excellence and global engagement we seek to foster at Kellogg.”
The Kellogg Institute annually gives the Award for Distinguished Dissertation to a former doctoral student affiliate for excellence in research consistent with the mission and research themes of the institute. Nominations for the competitive award are submitted by faculty dissertation advisors, and the award includes a plaque and a monetary prize.