Luisa Costa Named a St Gallen Symposium Leader of Tomorrow

Trinity postgraduate Luisa Costa has been recognised for her academic and professional record in social policy by the St Gallen Symposium.

Luisa was selected as one of 200 ‘leaders of tomorrow’ under the age of 30 from across the world to participate in the ST Gallen Symposium, which fosters the exchange of ideas between leaders of different generations and disciplines. The participants are selected  based on their commitment to responsible leadership and passion for engaging with complex global challenges.

Luisa was selected based on her academic and professional achievement; her academic and professional experience focuses on using data science to improve policymaking in the Brazilian Government, and her MSc and previous work in the field of evidence-based public policies.

The theme of this year’s Symposium was ‘confronting scarcity,’ looking at the emerging challenges posed by scarcity and promoting prosperity through innovation, governance, inclusive societies and more sustainable practices. 

Luisa says of the experience: ‘We had four intense days of networking and learning, with the presence of big companies' CEOs, chiefs of state and entrepreneurs who are leading the change in their own realities. In the Conference I was challenged to confront scarcity and create new models of social and economic development, that include and benefit the most vulnerable people of society. To summarise one of the other panellists: "If we are not creating shared value for society, is it value at all?". I feel inspired and committed to causing impactful changes in Brazil (and the world) and confronting scarcity in our prosperous planet. It was an honour to represent the University of Oxford and Trinity College in this event. 

Luisa Costa is an MSc student in Policy Evaluation at Oxford, where she is a Weidenfeld-Hoffmann scholar; she has a bachelor's degree in Public Administration and a specialist degree in Statistics. She has previously worked in state-level government positions in Brazil as well as a Specialist Policy Researcher at the biggest digital bank in Latin America, conducting research to improve the financial inclusion of the Brazilian population.