Directory

Tara Patricia Cookson is a Canada Research Chair and Assistant Professor of Gender, Development and Global Public Policy at the University of British Columbia's School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, and the cofounder of Ladysmith, a feminist research consultancy that helps international organizations collect, analyze and take action on gender data. In her role at Ladysmith she has led evidence-driven projects for UN Women, UNICEF, the International Labour Organization, Global Affairs Canada, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and Facebook, among others. She is also author of the award winning book Unjust Conditions: Women's Work and the Hidden Cost of Cash Transfer Programs, based on the research she conducted while a Gates Cambridge Scholar and member of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge (2011-2015).

Links

https://ladysmithcollective.com
https://sppga.ubc.ca/profile/tara-cookson
https://www.linkedin.com/in/taracookson

At Cambridge, I pursued an MPhil studying the parasite responsible for the tropical disease known as human African trypanosomiasis. Since then, I have attended medical school at Johns Hopkins and am now a resident in ocular surgery at Harvard. I remain passionate about global health, with current research involving trachoma (a potentially blinding disease seen primarily in African and Asia) and cataract surgery in India.

Previous Education

Virginia Military Institute

Born and raised in Morocco, I developed early on an interest for politics and international relations, especially as the Arab spring unfold in neighbouring countries. In order to gain a deeper understanding of how development issues can threaten regional and global security, I majored in International Studies at Al Akhawayn University to study and research the development-security nexus. After a semester spent at Binghamton University and an internship at the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, I particularly developed interest for biopolitics and the interrelation between health and security, which has been the main focus of my undergraduate capstone research. During the course of my Mphil in International Relations and Politics at the University of Cambridge, I seek to further deepen our understanding of how failing to provide for the right to health in complex civil war humanitarian emergencies in the MENA region constitutes an emerging security threat. I want my academic research to embody my engagement towards global development and equity, which I have developed while serving the social missions of clubs such as Rotaract and volunteering to tutor refugee children in Morocco. Besides, I also enjoy reading, traveling, and writing fiction. I am honoured to join the Gates Cambridge community, and look forward engaging in an as stimulating as inspirational journey towards improving others’ lives.

Previous Education

SUNY Binghamton
Al Akhawayn University

Before coming to Cambridge, I completed my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biomedicine at the University of Würzburg in northern Bavaria. Tasting different areas of research, the possibility to observe life at its smallest unit by using high-end microscopy of single living cells fascinated me the most. During my PhD in Oncology, I want to understand how the barriers that prevent a normal cell from becoming a tumour cell are overcome. Under the supervision of Prof. Venkitaraman and Dr. Esposito at the Hutchison/MRC Research Centre, I will therefore contribute to the development of novel microscopy systems that allow us to draw a quantitative network map of the soon-to-be cancer cell at a so far unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. This map will help us to identify the nodes in the network we have to hit by therapeutic means to prevent and cure cancer. Despite science, my main interest lies in politics with a special focus on sustainable development on a local and global level.

I got a lifetime opportunity to work towards a PhD degree in Biochemistry, the field that inspires me the most. I strongly believe that our better understanding of the mechanisms that regulate translation of proteins in cells can have a tremendous number of implications. I hope that the unique expirience Cambridge Department of Biochemistry provides will help me to develop as a cutting-edge scientist. I am excited to become a part of a powerful Gates Scholars network and want to commit and gain the most of it.

Born in 1986 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Iryna Shuvalova has authored five award-winning books of poetry, including Pray to the Empty Wells (Lost Horse Press, 2019). Her most recent and fifth book of poetry Stoneorchardwoods (2020) has been named book of the year by Ukraine’s LitAktsent Prize for Literature and received the Special Prize of the Lviv UNESCO City of Literature Book Award. In 2009, she co-edited 120 Pages of ‘Sodom,’ the first anthology of queer writing in Ukraine. Her poetry has been translated into 25 languages and published internationally, including in Modern Poetry in Translation, The White Review, Literary Hub, Die Zeit, and others. She is a member of PEN Ukraine.

Shuvalova's work as a translator includes translations into Ukrainian of novels by Yann Martel and Virginia Woolf, as well as poems by Ted Hughes, Louise Glück, and Alice Oswald. She has also translated into English the writing of modern and contemporary Ukrainian poets, including Lesia Ukrainka, Mykola Bazhan, Iurii Klen, Mykola Zerov, Ostap Slyvynskyi, and others. Her translations appeared in Words Without Borders, Modern Poetry in Translation, and Ambit, as well as multiple anthologies.

Shuvalova's research interests lie at the intersection of culture and politics in Eastern Europe. Her forthcoming academic monograph 'Donbas Is My Sparta': Identity and Belonging in the Songs of the Russo-Ukrainian War explores the impact of the war on Ukrainian society. She holds a PhD in Slavonic Studies from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College, where she was a Fulbright scholar. In the summer of 2023, she will be joining the University of Oslo as a postdoctoral research fellow.

Previous Education

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
Dartmouth College

Links

https://irynashuvalova.com
https://cambridge.academia.edu/IrynaShuvalova
https://ua.linkedin.com/in/shuvalova

I grew up in Lebanon and completed my undergraduate education in Chemical Engineering at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik. My previous research primarily focused on the resource security continuum, encompassing projects related to food, water, and energy security. While addressing these critical challenges, I became increasingly mindful of the health implications of our decisions in these areas. As we navigate these transformations, it is evident that numerous diseases continue to claim lives, persisting as severe, unresolved clinical conditions. Motivated by this awareness, I resolved to channel my background in Chemical Engineering towards contributing to the field of healthcare. This led me to pursue further studies by enrolling in the MPhil program in Advanced Chemical Engineering at Cambridge, generously supported by a scholarship from the Cambridge Trust and the Bseisu Foundation. Here, my research is currently dedicated to developing theranostic metal-organic frameworks aimed at facilitating certain forms of cancer treatment. As I pursue both my master's and Ph.D., my aim is to contribute significantly to this field with the goal of improving patient outcomes and alleviating the global burden of disease.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Advanced Chemical Engineering 2024
Holy Spirit University Kaslik Chemical Engineering 2023

As far back as I can remember, I have been captivated by poetry. As a child, I was enthralled by its otherworldly images and charming prosody. This passion, which is the ultimate definition of freedom for me, has been with me ever since. I was born and raised in Kyiv where I studied international law at Kyiv Institute of International Relations. Studying and practising law proved to be a unique experience that has significantly broadened my intellectual horizons, enabled me to develop my reasoning skills and made me aware of the possibility to directly improve the lives of others. Having gained this invaluable experience, I made up my mind to pursue my innermost passion for poetry and, more broadly, for culture and its potential to change society in the long run. The Revolution of Dignity has further ignited my determination to work on Ukrainian literature and culture. For my MPhil in European Literature and Culture at Cambridge, I have been working on twentieth century Ukrainian poetry. I am truly honoured to continue my research at Cambridge as a PhD student under the supervision of Dr Rory Finnin. In my PhD dissertation, I intend to explore the questions of selfhood and nationhood in the works of Ukrainian modernist authors, and Vasyl Stus, whose exceptional poetical self-introspection has been largely undiscovered. I also believe that my research will offer important insight into European literary Modernism, and the exploration of subjectivity and the new poetic language in twentieth century poetry.

Previous Education

National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv
University of Cambridge

Previous Education

Harvard University English, South Asian Studies 2021