PhD Candidate Sarah Sharma is Awarded the Prestigious Robert W. and Jessie Cox Award

The Department of Political Studies is pleased to share that Sarah Sharma has been awarded the prestigious Robert W. and Jessie Cox Award for her paper entitled "Remaking resilience in a surging city? The political economy of the World Bank’s Urban Resilience Project in Dhaka." 

The Robert W. and Jessie Cox Award was established in 1997, and is awarded to the the best graduate student paper of critical inquiry into international relations. This award competition is administered by the International Studies Association (ISA) which is one of the oldest interdisciplinary associations dedicated to understanding international, transnational and global affairs, with members spanning across the globe. The Robert W. and Jessie Cox Award is meant to encourage critical study of the international political economy and celebrate excellent graduate research. On her thoughts on receiving the award, Sarah shared: 

I am honoured to receive this award and I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the adjudication committee for selecting my paper. This paper contributes to ongoing discussions in IR that examine the pervasive nature of “resilience” in contemporary global governance by examining the roll-out of resilience policies targeting climate change and environmental hazards at the urban scale. Through a study of The World Bank’s Urban Resilience Project in Dhaka, I examine the reactive, individualistic, and disciplinary facets of resilience as it is implemented on the ground. The paper aims to politicize the contradictions and tensions underpinning the narrative of resilient urbanization vis-à-vis sustainable development and environmental security.

Sarah is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department with a focus on International Relations and Comparative Politics. She is supervised by Dr. Susanne Soederberg. 

Congratulations to Sarah for this incredible achievement! 

Learn more about the award and the ISA here.