MA Global Development alumnus, Desideria Benini, has dissertation published as a peer-reviewed article

Desideria Benini's MA dissertation research was in partnership with WaterAid and focussed on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector.

Desideria’s dissertation “A feminist study on the impact of COVID-19 on WASH access and the WASH sector response” has now been published as a peer-reviewed article in the feminist journal DEP (Deportate, Esuli, Profughe) of the Ca' Foscari University of Venice.

I am thrilled and proud to see my dissertation published as a peer-review article. This achievement fulfils my ambition of writing a dissertation that engages with and responds to real-world issues, which was the main reason why I decided to apply to Lata Narayanaswamy's partnership dissertation pathway.

“The topic I chose and the approach I took were grounded in intersectional feminist theories and fuelled by my passion for gender justice. By presenting my findings to the public, this article allows me to advocate for a feminist response to the pandemic, making a little but tangible contribution to the advancement of gender equality and women’s rights. This is the best outcome I could have ever asked for” explained Desideria. 

Desideria’s dissertation tutor, Dr Lata Narayanaswamy, said “not only are we, as a scholarly community, excited to celebrate Desideria’s outstanding achievement in having her dissertation published in a peer-reviewed journal, the multiple ways in which she has managed to engage across academic-NGO (non-governmental organisation) spaces and discourses is testament to the pedagogical value of supporting students to think concretely about how theory links to practice. We will continue to reflect on how we can create more opportunities for students to benefit from this sort of cross-sectoral engagement”.

Desideria has also written a blog article entitled “The gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and girls” based on research undertaken for her MA dissertation in partnership with WaterAid. Find out more about the dissertation partnership project and Desideria’s experience researching and writing for WaterAid.