By Elektra Favre, Lavinia Hauschildt, Isabella Sadur Sutherland, and Tim Schmid
As students of the Master’s in Global Affairs at King’s College London, we were drawn to this program not only for its engaging curriculum but also for its practical and immersive approach to global politics. One of the program’s most distinctive features is the Capstone Project—a collaborative alternative to the traditional academic dissertation. It offers students the opportunity to engage directly with real-world issues, develop meaningful professional skills, and produce policy-relevant work with potential impact. The Capstone Project consists of three stages: a group research paper, an individual policy paper, and a call to action.
As three of us are women, the topic of femicide felt urgent and personally significant. Our research focused on the question: What explains regional variations in femicide rates across Mexico in the context of the War on Drugs?
Over five months, we studied four states—Nuevo León, Morelos, Querétaro, and Yucatán—and uncovered complex links between gender-based violence and structural factors such as militarization, governance, and security policy.
By comparing regions with both high and low levels of violence, we identified multiple variables: homicide rates, cartel presence, political appointments, leadership stability, gender policy environments, and socioeconomic conditions.
Although our findings support existing theories that higher levels of violence correlate with higher femicide rates, we also revealed the extent to which this is a multicausal and multifactorial phenomenon. Our research suggests that simplistic explanations are inadequate and that effective public policy responses must address broader institutional and social dimensions.
The King’s–UNAM collaboration, which connected us with leading academics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), was instrumental in our project. Their support and expertise were essential in shaping the depth and quality of our research. Working with UNAM faculty allowed us to access regional data, learn from field experts, and integrate local knowledge into our policy analysis.
Midway through the Capstone Project, we learned about the Global Research Grant—a unique King’s funding opportunity designed to support international research and collaboration with partner institutions. With the help of our academic supervisor and the King’s UNAM–UK coordinator, we submitted a successful group application and received a grant that covered our travel, shared accommodation, and transportation expenses in Mexico.
This support allowed us to spend two weeks in Mexico City, immersing ourselves academically, linguistically, and culturally in the context of our research.
The experience proved especially valuable as we began drafting our individual policy papers—each building upon the group research while focusing on a specific aspect of the issue. Being on the ground enabled us to conduct in-depth interviews, refine our Spanish in academic and professional settings, and directly engage with affected communities and institutions. It transformed our understanding of challenges we had previously only known from afar.
Our stay in Mexico City centered around UNAM’s main campus, Ciudad Universitaria. There, we made full use of the libraries, met with researchers from the Institute for Economic Research and the Institute for Legal Research, and interacted with local students. These exchanges helped us explore the socioeconomic and legal dimensions of violence, corruption, and governance—adding vital nuance to our work.
One of the highlights was our visit to UNAM’s Juriquilla Campus in Querétaro, generously facilitated by UNAM–UK Coordinator Grecia Suárez, who kindly accompanied us on the six-hour journey. There, we met and interviewed Dr. Iliana Padilla, whose work on femicide had influenced our research. We also engaged with UNAM students and Dr. Heriberto Ruiz Tafoya, discussing our research, their academic pursuits, and university experiences in both countries. Conversations also turned to postgraduate opportunities at King’s College London and how our program could align with their interests.
Hearing firsthand accounts from Mexican students offered a deeply personal perspective on the issues we studied. These conversations sparked interest in future collaborations between King’s and UNAM, including the potential for joint courses or exchange programs.
While the trip had a strong academic focus, it also provided invaluable cultural immersion that grounded our research in lived experience.
An unforgettable day was our hike through El Tepozteco National Park with Grecia, where we climbed to an ancient Aztec temple 2,300 meters above sea level. That same day, we visited Cuernavaca, the capital of Morelos and one of our case study states. Walking its streets deepened our historical and cultural understanding of the region.
Over the weekends, we explored vibrant neighborhoods in Mexico City such as Roma, Coyoacán, and San Ángel. We attended a local nopal festival and visited cultural landmarks including Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul, Diego Rivera’s murals, the Palacio de Bellas Artes, and the Teotihuacan Pyramids, where we even climbed the Pyramid of the Moon. These experiences brought Mexico’s rich history to life and allowed us to connect more deeply with the context of our work.
A particularly moving moment was visiting the Ángel de la Independencia, near which stood a wall covered with posters of missing persons. These public displays of grief and protest were a visceral reminder of Mexico’s human rights challenges. We also visited the Antimonumenta across from the Palacio de Bellas Artes—a powerful symbol of the demand for justice for women victims of gender-based violence in Mexico. Having chosen this image as the cover of our research paper, seeing it in person was profoundly meaningful.
On our return to London, we made a brief stop in Yucatán, another of our study states. There, we observed regional differences in militarization and the presence of the National Guard—elements we had previously examined only in theory, now witnessed firsthand. This final visit offered visual and spatial validation for many of the themes analyzed in our group research.
This research trip was immensely productive and personally transformative. We were able to visit three of the four states central to our project, conduct high-level academic interviews, and engage in valuable scholarly and cultural exchanges with students and faculty.
Conducting interviews in Spanish not only improved our language skills but also strengthened our confidence to communicate in professional settings.
The experience also deepened institutional ties between King’s College London and UNAM, creating genuine momentum toward future collaborations. Beyond institutional value, we gained cultural insights, built professional relationships, and witnessed how our academic training can be applied to real-world challenges.
None of this would have been possible without the Capstone Project, the Global Research Grant, and the support of the wonderful UNAM–UK team. This journey brought our research to life, helped us grow as scholars and professionals, and prepared us to contribute meaningfully to global policy discussions.
We are excited to integrate all we have learned into our final policy papers and to continue strengthening the relationship between King’s and UNAM.