Maynooth Law Graduate, Dr Mariza Avgeri, wins European Law PhD Thesis Prize for thesis on Transgender Asylum Seekers
Dr Mariza Avgeri, a graduate of the School of Law and Criminology's PhD programme, is the joint winner of the prestigious European Law Faculties Association (ELFA) Award for the Best Doctoral Thesis on European Law for 2023. The ELFA Thesis Award "seeks to stimulate and recognize outstanding legal research" in the field of European Law. It has been in place since 2012 and has previously been won by researchers from the Universities of Leiden, Bayreuth, Oxford, Cambridge and Maastricht, and EUI Florence.
Dr Avgeri was conferred with the first prize ex aequo at the ELFA Annual Conference held at Edinburgh Law School on the 18th of April 2024. The award recognised Mariza's thesis entitled "A transgender studies approach to gender identity and expression-based asylum claims based on a critical doctrinal and discourse analysis of CJEU and ECtHR Jurisprudence". At the ceremony, ELFA President Prof. Dr. Lawrence Gormley announced the winners of the award and congratulated them for shaping the future of legal research in Europe.
Prof. Delia Ferri, Director of Postgraduate Research Programmes (PhD & M.Litt in Law) at the School of Law and Criminology, extended her warmest congratulations to Dr. Avgeri for such a prestigious award. Prof Ferri highlighted: “This award is an important achievement for Dr. Avgeri. It is a testament to her hard work and dedication, as well as to her innovative scholarly work. Further, this award is a significant recognition of the quality of the School’s doctoral programme, which provides expert supervision, pursues creativity and rigour, and encourages academic excellence."
Dr Fergus Ryan, Head of the School of Law and Criminology at Maynooth and Dr Avgeri's PhD supervisor, also congratulated Mariza on the award: "The ELFA award is a very prestigious and competitive European Award. Mariza's wonderful achievement is a well-deserved recognition of this exceptional thesis on a vitally important issue concerning a particularly marginalised group. We are delighted for Mariza, and congratulate her warmly on this Award."