Luisa Souza Costa

Brazil

MSc Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation, 2023
Trinity College 
Funding: Oxford-Hoffmann

Luisa is a public servant who loves data science and human development. She holds a bachelor's degree in Public Administration and a Specialist diploma in Statistics from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Today, she works as a Data and Public Policy Specialist at the Minas Gerais State Department of Education, where she provides evidence and data-driven analysis for educational policy-making. During her six-year career in public service, Luisa worked to guarantee access to education to 2 million public school students, used machine learning to identify families with housing vulnerability in the country and founded Data Office - this project has taught data science to more than 200 public employees.

After completing her Master's at Oxford, she plans to lead an Evidence centre at the Brazilian Government, where she will connect academic researchers to policy-makers, helping them design more impactful and effective social interventions.