Tililenji Phiri will harness her skills as a teacher and researcher of inclusive education as Gates Cambridge's first Community Platform Officer
I have always been fascinated by people - how they learn, connect, and build meaning together. And by communities of practice that turn shared values into collective impact. What draws me to Gates Cambridge is the chance to sit at the heart of these stories: connecting scholars, amplifying their voices, and helping shape a community that reflects the kind of change we want to see in the world.
Tililenji Phiri
Gates Cambridge is pleased to announce its first Community Platform Officer, Tililenji Phiri, who starts her role this week.
Tililenji will work in the Global Engagement Team to support the new Gates Connect platform that will link Scholars around the world.
She recently completed her PhD in inclusive education at the University of Cambridge. Her journey into scholarship began in secondary school classrooms in Zambia, where, she says, teaching History shaped how she thinks about identity, power and possibility. Alongside teaching, she became part of global scholarship communities including Chevening, Commonwealth and Cambridge Trust.
She says: “Belonging to these spaces changed my life completely! – showed me how transformative learning can be when people are seen, supported and connected. I simultaneously stepped into roles of a teacher and scholar, seamlessly due to the knowledge I gained and the networks I had built.”
Her research work sits at the intersection of identity, rurality, schooling and young people’s aspirations. For her PhD, she explored how young people make sense of who they are and who they hope to become, often in contexts where opportunity is uneven and futures feel fragile.
Tililenji says: “What has stayed with me most is how deeply identity and aspiration are shaped by community, culture and recognition – and how education becomes most powerful when it nurtures both individual growth and collective responsibility.”
In her role as Community Platform Officer, she will get to carry these insights into practice by supporting Gates Cambridge Scholars and strengthening the everyday connections that make a scholarly community thrive, with a particular focus on fostering belonging in the digital space.
She says: “I have always been fascinated by people – how they learn, connect, and build meaning together. And by communities of practice that turn shared values into collective impact. What draws me to Gates Cambridge is the chance to sit at the heart of these stories: connecting scholars, amplifying their voices, and helping shape a community that reflects the kind of change we want to see in the world.”
