Beatriz Silva da Costa
Ph.D. candidate, University of Virginia
Predoctoral Fellow, Georgetown University (2025–26)
Ph.D. candidate, University of Virginia
Predoctoral Fellow, Georgetown University (2025–26)
I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia and a Predoctoral Fellow at the School of Foreign Service and Department of Government, Georgetown University. In the spring of 2025, I was a Visiting Researcher at the Getulio Vargas Foundation's São Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV EAESP).
My research focuses on the capture of public institutions and the inequalities it creates in the distribution of public resources. I am especially interested in the integrity of public procurement, the role of bureaucracies and oversight bodies in constraining corruption, the influence of criminal organizations over local government, and the ways economic elites convert wealth into political power.
My work has appeared in Revista E-Legis and the Journal of the General Comptroller of the Union, as well as in edited volumes on democracy and anti-corruption policy. My research has been supported by the Carl Menger Fellowship at the Mercatus Center, the Bankard Fund for Political Economy at UVA, the Institute for Humane Studies, the UVA Center for Global Inquiry & Innovation, the Quandt Fund for International Research, the UVA Quantitative Collaborative, the Lemann Foundation, and the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).
I am on the 2026–2027 academic job market. You can find my job market paper here.
“Bea is an awesome, effective, and passionate teacher who anyone would be lucky to have. I truly learned a ton in this course.”
“Bea's teaching style, which combines some lecture with small-group discussion, videos, and role-playing scenarios, really made the class time whiz by.”
“She clearly cares about her students and went out of her way to provide excellent guidance on how to write good papers.”
Student course evaluations
“Beatriz was a great instructor, very kind, understanding, and engaging. Big fan.”
“The TA clearly put in a lot of effort into the discussion section presentations and content.”
“I appreciated the effort to involve everyone in discussion. My opinions and statements felt valued, which is very important for discussions.”
Student course evaluations
“Beatriz clearly reinterpreted the material we covered in readings and lectures and helped us understand everything holistically.”
“The feedback and support she gave for our performance in exams was very helpful and warmly appreciated.”
“I have a great TA (Beatriz), who was very understanding, helpful, and patient with all her students.”
Student course evaluations
No teaching evaluation — grading role only.
“Bea is a fantastic TA who really cares about her students.”
“Beatriz did a great job summarizing the material at the end of the week, which was very helpful.”
“She was very helpful when writing our research papers and constantly looked for ways to make us better prepared to write them.”
Student course evaluations
“She's knowledgeable, receptive, and she's honestly the best TA I've had so far.”
“The topics we learned about in class would often be complex and confusing for me, but I always felt like she clarified everything for us in a very organized way.”
“She really tried her best to prepare everyone as well as possible for the midterm and final papers and gave really good feedback.”
Student course evaluations
Download the full CV for publications, presentations, teaching, and service.
Download CV (PDF)In addition to my research, I'm passionate about photography. Follow me at @lifethroughbia on Instagram.
