Kellogg Institute Award for Distinguished Dissertation
From 2019 to 2025, the Kellogg Institute annually presented the Award for Distinguished Dissertation to a doctoral student affiliate for exceptional research aligned with the Institute's mission. The honor recognizes superior original work that significantly impacts the recipient's discipline and offers potential for future influence. Along with this distinction, the award included a $1,000 monetary prize.
Recipients
2025
"Landing Peace: Rural-Poor Mobilization and Land Redistribution in Civil War Political Transitions"
Isabel Güiza-Gómez (PhD ’25), a Doctoral Student Affiliate, is the recipient of the 2025 Kellogg Institute Award for Distinguished Dissertation. Her award-winning dissertation explains how unarmed rural movements (Indigenous, Afrodescendant, and peasant groups) achieve land redistribution in peace settlements through strong, independent mobilization.
2024
“Challenging Stigma from Below: How Human Rights Movements Contest Repressive States and Shape Democratic Citizenship"
Former Kellogg PhD Fellow Natán Skigin was awarded the 2024 Kellogg Institute Award for Distinguished Dissertation on Democracy and Human Development .
2023
"Crises, Rights, and Futurity: Youth in 1980s Mexico City"
Former Doctoral Student Affiliate Noe Pliego Campos is the recipient of the 2023 Kellogg Institute Award for Distinguished Dissertation on Democracy and Human Development.
2022
"Democratic Enculturation - Explaining Inaugural Party Resilience in Sub-Saharhan Africa"
Former Kellogg PhD Fellow and Dissertation Year Fellow Paul Friesen is a co-recipient of the 2022 Kellogg Institute Award for Distinguished Dissertation on Democracy and Human Development.
2022
"Constituting Peace: Foreign Actors, Constitution-Making, and Armed Conflict"
Ilana Rothkopf, former Kellogg doctoral student who's dissertation analyzes the involvement of international actors in constitution-making during armed conflict received the annual Kellogg Institute Award for Distinguished Dissertation on Democracy and Human Development.
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2021
"The Political Economy of Insecurity: Livelihoods, Mobilities, and Social Networks of Women Traders on the Congo-Rwanda Border"
Former Doctoral Student Affiliate Maryam Rokhideh is the recipient of the 2021 Kellogg Institute Award for Distinguished Dissertation on Democracy and Human Development.
2020
"When the Ukrainain World Was Destroyed": Genocidal Narrative Convergence and Stakeholder Interactions During National Crises"
Kristina Hook, former Kellogg doctoral student and PhD fellow who studies genocide and mass violence against civilians received the second annual Kellogg Institute Award for Distinguished Dissertation on Democracy and Human Development.
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2019
"Pursuing a Mirage: Authoritarian Persistence and Regime Change in the Arab Middle East and North Africa"
M Tahir Kilavuz, a former dissertation year fellow who studies democratization in the Middle East and North Africa, is the first recipient of the Kellogg Institute Award for Distinguished Dissertation on Democracy and Human Development.
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