Catz MPhil Student earns Prestigious Prize for Best Overall Performance

St Catherine’s College extends its sincere congratulations to Sonakshi Grover, Catz MPhil student in International Development, who has earned the prestigious Eugene Havas Memorial Prize for best overall performance in her MPhil course.

The Eugene Havas Memorial Prize is annually awarded to the most deserving candidate in any Economics or Political Science subject. Established by a donation first accepted by the University in 1985, it remains a distinguishing mark of academic excellence across a range of subjects. Further information about this year’s honorands can be read here. Previous honorands include Josefina Lehnen (St Antony’s 2024), Oda Eide (Wolfson, 2023), and Laura Ballerini (Hertford, 2022).

Sonakshi’s thesis explored lawyer-client interactions in divorce cases in a tier-2 Indian city, and focused on how legal advice encounters can quickly become sites to actively negotiate current understandings of law and marriage. Upon commencing her DPhil at Green Templeton College and the University Department of International Development this October, Sonakshi will develop her outstanding MPhil research into a project examining the evolving interplay between court organisation, marriage, and law in contemporary India.

About the honour, Sonakshi commented: “A special thanks to my supervisor, Professor Maxim Bolt, for his mentorship – and to my friends and colleagues at ODID and at St Catherine’s College for their support, honest critique, and encouragement. I am extremely grateful for the support made available to me by the generosity of Paul Fletcher, whose scholarship empowered me to develop this MPhil project at Catz.”

Catz will be catching up with Sonakshi on her marvellous achievement in the coming weeks. Watch this space to hear more from Sonakshi!