The Kellogg Institute for International Studies, part of the Keough School for Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, is proud to announce that Natán Skigin has won the 2024 Kellogg Institute Award for Outstanding Doctoral Student Contributions. The honor was given at the Institute’s year-end reception yesterday.
Inaugurated in 2017, the annual award recognizes a doctoral student affiliate for outstanding contributions to the intellectual life of the Kellogg Institute and carries a monetary prize. Award winners display a sustained, dynamic engagement that advances the distinctive intellectual community of the Kellogg Institute. In addition, they have made a significant contribution in advancing independent research on Kellogg themes that achieves external recognition, research collaboration with a Kellogg faculty fellow that has produced or has the potential to produce significant outputs, and/or development and/or implementation of Institute programming that benefits the graduate community as a whole.
Skigin is a Kellogg PhD Fellow and a doctoral candidate in political science who will graduate in May. His dissertation is titled “Punitive Solidarity in Violent Democracies: How Human Rights Movements Shape Altruism and Accountability,” and his committee includes Kellogg faculty fellows Aníbal Pérez-Liñán (co-chair), Guillermo Trejo (co-chair), Abby Córdova, and Luis Schiumerini, as well as Kevin Arceneaux, from the Centre for Political Research at Sciences Po Paris (CEVIPOF).
Several nominations were received recommending Skigin for the award, from faculty and fellow doctoral students alike.
“As a co-author, fellow graduate student, and friend, I can testify to Natán’s passion for research and his willingness to collaborate, help, and learn from others,” stated fellow PhD student and Kellogg Doctoral Affiliate Laura López-Pérez in her nomination. “Since I arrived, he has been one of the kindest and most helpful people in the Kellogg community.”
Kellogg PhD Fellow Bill Kakenmaster offered similar praise in his letter, stating, “Natán’s contributions to the Kellogg community, his contributions to the broader field of comparative politics, and his kind, supportive professionalism make him supremely qualified to receive this award.” He added, “These qualities also personally inspire me to be a better scholar, colleague, and friend.”
Skigin’s nomination letters all mentioned the quality of his scholarship, noting a publication record that is remarkable for a doctoral student, with five articles published in reputable journals, including three that were solo-authored. Additionally, Skigin and co-author Córdova have secured an advance book contract with Cambridge University Press to publish their collaborative research.
“His commitment to the Kellogg Institute as well as his publications and promising research projects make Natán Skigin a great example of both the human and intellectual components of our community.” shared Kellogg PhD Fellow Tomás Gold in his nomination of Skigin.
Nomination letters also recognize the many accolades Skigin has received from outside agencies. He won a US Institute of Peace (USIP) Peace Scholar Fellowship, a Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholar Award, and the 2023 American Political Science Association (APSA) Political Psychology Distinguished Junior Scholars Award. His work also has garnered funding from Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) Peace & Recovery Program, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP). In addition to his PhD fellowship, the Kellogg Institute has awarded Skigin two graduate research grants and two professionalization grants, as well as a project grant from the Institute’s Ford Program in International Development Studies and Solidarity.
"Natan has emerged as a committed scholar at the Kellogg Institute. He is undaunted by the work required to untangle complex questions within his field,” said Kellogg Assistant Director Denise Wright, who oversees the Institute's graduate student programming.
“He is also a great friend to us all and I expect that he will continue to be involved at Kellogg well after he graduates from Notre Dame," she added.
The Kellogg Institute for International Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, is an interdisciplinary community of scholars and students from across the University and around the globe that promotes research, provides educational opportunities, and builds partnerships throughout the world on the themes of global democracy and integral human development.