Esteban Ugalde Martínez

Esteban Ugalde Martínez is taking the Erasmus Mundus Joint Research Master’s programme in Religious Diversity in a Globalised World at both the University of Groningen and the University of Coimbra, Spain. Before starting on this path, he had already completed a Bachelor’s degree programme in International Relations with magna cum laude distinction at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP) in Mexico. As part of his Bachelor’s degree programme, Esteban conducted research on the influence of globalization and migration on the identity of the Otomi, an indigenous population that lives north of Mexico City. What makes this research extra special is that the results were published as a book. It is also notable that during this Bachelor’s degree programme, Esteban also took part in the UDLAP Honours Programme and spent a year at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the eyes of his fellow student and nominator, Esteban is a passionate, enthusiastic, and excellent student; his participation in the Knowledge is Not Neutral winter school in Cordoba, for which he was awarded a final mark of 9.5, being just an example. The faculty selection committee also considers Esteban an excellent student who has achieved incredibly good study results and who has already shown significant growth. The latter is evident in, for instance, his various teaching assistant positions, volunteering activities, and active conference participation. Esteban would like to continue in the research domain and has submitted a very well-received research proposal to this end to study the role of corn in the Islamic conversion of the Chamula people in San Christobal, Mexico. During his pitch, Esteban demonstrated that he is capable of building a bridge between events in Mexico and the interests of the University of Groningen.