Awards

Awards and Grants

ACADEMIC PRIZES & AWARDS

2025. International Studies Association (ISA) ISSS Emerging Scholar Award.
2024. Institut d’Estudis de l’Autogovern (IEA) Award to the best academic journal article on territorial politics. (with Lesley-Ann Daniels and Alexander Kuo)
2023. Honorable mention. Outstanding Paper award. Democracy & Autocracy Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). (with Valeria Palanza and Elsa Voytas)
2021. Extraordinary Reviewer award. Comparative Political Studies.
2020. Outstanding Paper award from the Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration (ENMISA) section of ISA (with Juan F. Tellez and Spencer Dorsey)
2019. Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor Award. Georgetown University.
2018. Outstanding Paper award from the Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration (ENMISA) section of ISA (with Gerard Torrats-Espinosa)
2015. Honorable mention, Best Paper Award. Conflict Processes Section of the American Political Science Association (with Lesley-Ann Daniels and Abel Escribà-Folch)
2011. Gregory Luebbert Article Award for best article in Comparative Politics, American Political Science Association (with Stathis N. Kalyvas)
2009. Best Doctoral Paper Prize. ASN World Convention. Columbia University.
2007. Prize “Young Researchers”. Spanish Higher Scientific Research Council (IESA-CSIC).
2002. Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Undergraduates Studies (Premi Extraordinari de Fi d’Estudis). Best GPA in the Political Science ’02 Class. Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF).
1998. Honours Award (Matrícula de Honor) in Secondary Studies, Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture, Government of Spain.
1997. Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Secondary Studies (Premi Extraordinari de Batxillerat), Goverment of Catalonia.

FELLOWSHIPS & SCHOLARSHIPS (selected list)

2017. Excellence Chair (Cátedra de Excelencia). Carlos III University, Madrid.
2015. Niehaus Fellowship 2015-2016, School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.
2015. CASBS Fellowship 2015-2016, Stanford University [Declined].
2009. Leylan Fellowship in the Social Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Yale University.
2008. John F. Enders Fellowship, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Yale University.
2004. Ph.D. Scholarship, Graduate School of Arts and Science, Yale University (2004-2009).
2003. Scholarship from the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) to attend Essex Summer School in Social Science Data Analysis and Collection.
2002. Scholarship from the Juan March Institute to pursue graduate studies in the Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Ciencias Sociales (CEACS), Madrid.

GRANTS (selected list)

External Grants as PI

2019. Folke Bernadotte Academy (Sweden) Research Grant: “Memories in Conflict” (with Elsa Voytas)
2018. ESRC (UK) Research Grant: “Inequality and Governance in Unstable Democracies: The Mediating Role of Trust.” (PI of the Georgetown subaward)
2017. Research Council of Norway Research Grant. Project: “Micro-Foundations of Conflict Escalation (MiCE)”. (PI of the Georgetown subaward)
2011. RICIP Grant (Catalan Institute of Peace). Project on “Technologies of Rebellion and Violence during Civil War.
2011. Grant “Càtedra Pasqual Maragall” (with José Fernández Albertos and Alexander Kuo). Project: "Territorio, Identidad y Preferencias Redistributivas. Una Aproximación Experimental." (co-PI)
2010. The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Research Grant. Project: “Conventional Civil Wars.”
2009. Dissertation Grant (Ayuda para la finalización de tesis doctorales). Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, Government of Spain.
2008-09. Macmillan Center Dissertation Grant, Yale University.
2008. George Walter Leitner Program in International and Comparative Political Economy, Yale University.
2008. Survey Grant (Módulo de Encuesta), Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (co-PI with Paloma Aguilar and Héctor Cebolla).

External Grants as Collaborator

2025. Research Grant, Institut d’Estudis d’Autogovern (IEA), Government of Catalonia. Project: “Federalism and democratic backsliding: safeguard or pathway?” (PI: Marc Sanjaume, UPF)
2021. Spanish Ministry of Science Project “La polarización en torno a la memoria histórica en España: Distribución y factores que contribuyen a su intensificación (POLMEMO)” (PI: Irene Martín)
2017. Research Grant, Institut d’Estudis d’Autogovern (IEA), Government of Catalonia. Project: “Expectations and effects of regional independence: A comparison of Catalonia and Scotland.” (PI: Lesley-Ann Daniels, IBEI)
2011. “Recercaixa” Grant. Project: “Social Conflict and Economic, Ethnic and Religious Polarization.” (PI: Joan Maria Esteban, IAE-CSIC)

Consultancy with International Organizations

2024. UNU-WIDER: “The impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on other countries.”
2020. DFID-World Bank-UNHCR: “Preventing social conflict and promoting social cohesion in forced displacement contexts.” (with Juan F. Tellez)
2020. UNU-WIDER: “Institutional Legacies of Violent Conflict.”

Internal University & Departmental Grants

2025. Georgetown University Research Leave (GURL), Office of the Provost.
2023. Spring 2023 Pilot Research Project Grant competition in support of the project “International threats, national foes”. Georgetown University’s Office of the Provost.
2021. Department of Government Awards; Summer Collaborative Fellowship (with Dain Yoo), Georgetown University.
2020. Department of Government Awards; Summer Collaborative Fellowship (with Simón Ballesteros), Georgetown University.
2019. Spring 2019 Competitive Grant-in-Aid in support of the project “Sovereignty Conflicts in Western Europe”. Georgetown University’s Office of the Provost.
2019. Department of Government Awards; Summer Collaborative Fellowship (with Daniel Solomon), Georgetown University.
2018. Spring 2018 Competitive Grant-in-Aid in support of the project “Preferences for the Political Future of Catalonia.” Georgetown University’s Office of the Provost.
2018. Spring 2018 Pilot Research Project Grant competition in support of the project “Memories in Conflict.” Georgetown University’s Office of the Provost.
2015. Duke University Arts & Sciences Council Committee on Faculty Research (ASC-CFR) Grant. Pilot project: Women in Combat.

Laia Balcells, Ph.D.

Laia Balcells

Awards