Luz Moreno
PhD
What were your reasons for deciding to do the course?
I decided to study a PhD because I strongly believe that research in education can have an impact on informing processes of policy formation and educational practices in contexts of poverty and inequality. I decided to contribute from one of the many fronts, the academic one, to critically analyse the ways to reducing the gap of educational inequalities.
Why did you choose to do it at Cambridge?
I decided to study at Cambridge because the University has an outstanding tradition of rigorous research. It was also a unique opportunity to work together with students with similar and diverse interests from all over the world and professors from diverse disciplines and educational perspectives. It was a very enriching experience to work, face to face, with the people who used to be part of your obligated "bibliography", it is a real privilege to work with them and develop your ideas in a supportive environment.
What have you gained from the course?
After these years of studying at Cambridge, my perspective of the social phenomena and its relation to research in education has changed enormously. I also learned to work independently and to trust my own work and ideas. Most members of the faculty think about students as colleague and treat them like one in a respectful and horizontal manner. That is a very strong message for a PhD student for strengthening his/her own academic identity. What would you say to other overseas students considering coming here to study?
It is an absolutely enriching experience to learn from people from different sociocultural contexts and be able to compare the situation of my own country and continent. It is very interesting to see that regardless of the so called "degrees of development" of our countries, the educational problems that we face are essentially the same. In that sense, we all feel that there is so much that can be done together in the future.