The winners of the 2026 Maria Ioannis Baganha Dissertation Award are: Dr. Emilia Helen Melossi with a dissertation entitled “Red gold and black labour: Sub-Saharan migrants’ struggles for survival in the rural ghettos of Southern Italy”, defended at the University of Sussex, in December 2024; and Dr. Billie Martiniello with a dissertation entitled “Rather Christophe than Mustapha: Understanding and Responding to Ethnic Discrimination in the Rental Housing Market”, defended at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, in June 2025.
The three shortlisted theses were highly rated and received very close scores. It was finally decided to split the prize between the two candidates with the highest and virtually identical scores, on the basis that both theses represented two different approaches: Dr Melossi’s, being more ethnographic, and Dr Martiniello’s, being more quantitative, both of which deserve to be recognised by the Maria Baganha Award. In view of the high quality of her thesis, it was also decided to award Dr Khamsy with an honourable mention.
Merits of the winning dissertations
Dr Melossi’s thesis entitled Red Gold and Black Labour: Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Struggles for Survival in the Rural Ghettos of Southern Italy examines the lived experiences of Sub-Saharan migrant workers employed in Southern Italy’s agricultural sector, exploring how border regimes, racialisation and labour exploitation shape everyday survival in informal rural settlements. It merited the Best Thesis award because, in the reviewers’ view, it is an outstanding, original and intellectually mature piece of research. They praised the exceptional depth of the author's long-term ethnographic engagement, which provided rare access to highly marginalised communities and generated rich empirical insights that are seldom found in the literature. The thesis was also commended for its methodological innovation, combining participant observation, in-depth interviews and co-created narratives into a coherent analytical framework, while maintaining remarkable ethical reflexivity and scientific rigour. Rather than simply documenting exploitation, it offers a nuanced understanding of how migrants negotiate survival, resistance and hope under conditions of extreme precarity. The reviewers further highlighted the thesis's exceptional scholarly and societal contribution. They commended its ability to integrate empirical richness with a sophisticated theoretical framework, linking macro-level migration and border regimes with the everyday realities of racialised labour exploitation. Although they noted that the theoretical framework builds largely on established critical approaches, they agreed that the originality lies in the author's unique perspective, sustained immersion in the field and analytical interpretation of lived experience. They concluded that the dissertation humanises a largely invisible population without sacrificing analytical rigour, makes an important intervention in debates on migration and agricultural labour, and stands out for its coherence, originality and exceptional empirical contribution, making it a thoroughly deserving recipient of the Best Thesis prize.
The thesis Rather Christophe than Mustapha: Understanding and Responding to Ethnic Discrimination in the Rental Housing Market, authored by Dr. Billie Martiniello, investigates the causes, mechanisms, and policy responses to ethnic discrimination in the rental housing market, with a particular focus on Belgium. It fully deserved the award because it combines exceptional methodological rigour, originality, and societal relevance. The reviewers described it as far more than a conventional doctoral dissertation, characterising it as a comprehensive research programme built around eight carefully integrated empirical studies that combine experimental, quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine not only whether discrimination occurs, but also how it operates, how it is experienced by those affected, and how public authorities can respond. The reviewers further emphasised that the thesis significantly advances the literature by moving beyond the analysis of individual discriminatory behaviour to incorporate the broader social and structural context. They praised its innovative use of complementary methods, particularly its methodological advances in correspondence testing, and noted that the quality of the research is reflected in the publication of its constituent papers in leading international journals. The reviewers also emphasised the thesis's outstanding policy relevance, highlighting its ability to bridge rigorous academic research with practical recommendations for combating housing discrimination. Rather than merely documenting unequal treatment, the thesis critically evaluates existing policy responses and proposes evidence-based strategies to improve anti-discrimination efforts and housing policy. Overall, they concluded that the thesis is methodologically exemplary, empirically compelling, and makes an outstanding contribution to both scholarship and public policy, making it a highly deserving recipient of the prize.