Central European - 12 month ago

Irene Tello Arsta, a recipient of the 2024-25 Presidential Scholarship, is a PhD candidate in CEU’s Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations. Her dissertation focuses on use of beneficial ownership data for anti-corruption efforts.  At the doctoral level, the Presidential Scholar Award recognizes the achievements of exceptional students enrolled in the second year of a PhD program. It supports academic excellence, leadership potential and community-oriented activities. Students may individually apply or be nominated by faculty, staff or peers.   CEU spoke with Tello Arista, who is from Mexico City, to learn about her research and path to CEU.      What does this award mean to you?   The award for me was a huge surprise, but was also a recognition and reminder that investigating corruption is important. Researching this topic can be challenging and the scholarship felt like a wave of hope and new inspiration to keep going.  What is your research aim?  For my dissertation, I m researching how we can use beneficial ownership data, which is the data that indicates who the real owners of companies are. I’m interested in how we can use this data to prevent, detect and investigate corruption networks.  In the years leading up to my research at CEU, I was the executive director of an NGO called Impunidad Cero, where we published studies on impunity and corruption cases and designed two digital platforms to fight impunity and corruption. I led the investigation of corruption and irregularities in the Mexican public health system. I also worked with a multi-disciplinary team there to investigate the use of shell companies to embezzle public funds from the health system. This led to another investigation to research the scarcity of medications in Mexico.  What other experience do you have working with civil society?   Action 4 Justice is another civil society organization I am involved with, which is dedicated to generating legal materials to help people uphold their human rights and protect their environment. I think one of the main challenges to accessing justice is that people don t understand these processes and sometimes the jargon involved.  It can be complicated, and of course, depending on the country, you may not have the money to pay for lawyers. Therefore, we try to make these materials accessible and create networks in several countries that ... connect lawyers with important cases, and also make sure the citizens know their rights.  What drives you in your work?   I think it s personal for me. I grew up in a very poor area of Mexico City, but I had access to the best education because I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship. So, I was always living between two worlds.   I deeply believe that we can live in a more inclusive and just society, and that one big part of why we do not have that is corruption. For me, this research is not only about the data and the statistics, it s about the people that don t have access to good public services because of the corruption in their countries.  What was your path to CEU?   It started when I was the executive director of the NGO in Mexico dedicated to impunity and corruption. We were looking at how shell companies were used to divert public funds from the Mexican health system. In the end, we found evidence of more than 22,000 fake invoices paid to 90 public institutions for about 200 million euros, to put a number, so people can think about the impact. This equates to the amount of treatment costs for 41,000 breast cancer patients in Mexico.   In the end, we only had the name of the fake companies, not the people who actually benefited from this diversion of funds. Based on that experience, I really wanted to know how beneficial ownership data works. When we started looking at the scarcity of medicines that occurred because of failed anti-corruption strategy in Mexico and researching how kids with cancer were dying and other stories, it was completely heartbreaking, and I burnt out.  At that point, the best thing for me and for my country was to heal myself and continue my education. I was drawn to CEU for the amazing professors. For example, Agnes Batory, Mihály Fazekas, Cristina Corduneanu-Huci are experts in anti-corruption, so I also wanted to learn from them and decided to pursue my doctoral studies at the university.  What advice do you have for others applying for this scholarship?   I think that students shouldn t underestimate their work. This is something that I see a lot. Of course, we re learning and you may have some imposter syndrome in the back of your mind, and you may wonder if you re doing enough for your research. But I think expressing what you re doing, explaining what brought you there and being honest about the motivations behind your research – I think that that s a very good place to start.  What else would you like to express to the CEU community?  Don’t forget that the research we do can really have an impact on the outside world. I always see myself as having a foot in academia and a foot in the broader world with the social problems I observe. I think this is something that, as a community, we should try to always keep in mind because I think it s very important work that we re doing that we should be communicating that and trying to get it to the outside world. 
Video of CEU Celebrates the World Science Day for Peace and Development The Presidential Scholars Fund was established by Michael Ignatieff and Zsuzsanna Zsohar. It supports four Presidential Graduate Research Awards for exceptional master’s and Doctoral students whose research shows promise for the next generation. The Fund also awards two scholarships per year to incoming bachelor s students demonstrating exceptional academic credentials and leadership promise.   Publications by Irene Tello Arista: Public Procurement Corruption, Elgar Encyclopedia of Corruption and S  Using Beneficial Ownership Data for Large-Scale Risk Assessment in Public Procurement, Government Transparency Institute Working Paper Series  Unit: Department of Public PolicyDoctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy, and International RelationsCategory: NewsGivingImage: Content Priority: High

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