68 new Scholar-Elects have been announced and will form the Gates Cambridge Class of 2026.
We know that our new Scholars will thrive at Cambridge and we trust that they will go on to have a significant ripple effect in their various fields and more broadly, tackling the urgent global challenges we face today.
Professor Eilís Ferran
What do the founder of a children’s health centre, an award-winning Nigerian author and a theoretical cosmologist have in common? All have been selected as Gates Cambridge Scholars in 2026.
Gates Cambridge Scholarships fund the work of outstanding, international postgraduate students who show strong leadership potential and a commitment to improving the lives of others.
Since the first class in 2001, Gates Cambridge has awarded 2,299 scholarships to scholars from 112 countries who represent nearly 800 universities globally (more than 200 in the USA) and around 90 academic departments and all 31 Colleges at Cambridge. This year, 68 new scholars have been selected and will form the Class of 2026, beginning their studies in October.
The 2026 scholars come from all regions of the world and their research covers everything from the treatment of Crimea’s Tatars to gravitational waves. They include the first Gates Cambridge Scholars from Botswana and Honduras and the first Aboriginal Scholar. Several new universities are represented including Ashoka University in India, Earlham College in the US, FLAME University in India, Gonzaga University in the US, Korea University, Paris Cité University, Privokzhsky Research Medical University in Russia, Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, University of Wales, Bangor, the University of East Anglia and Wuhan University in China.
The 2026 Scholars, 51 of whom are doing PhDs and 17 MPhils, represent 25 different countries and include:
Dr Lengwe Sinkala, the first Gates Cambridge Scholar from Botswana who will do a PhD in Engineering. A doctor with a passion for driving meaningful change in child healthcare, Lengwe will look at how paediatric surgical services can be redesigned to better support neurodivergent children.
In 2018, Lengwe co-founded the Bupalo Children’s Centre in Zambia to support children with special needs, organising outreach programmes, advocating for inclusive therapies such as music therapy, and raising awareness of their unique needs.
Aidyn Taishybay, from Kazakhstan who will do a PhD in Chemistry. He aims to explore computational approaches to addressing the limitations he has encountered in both academia and industry related to novel drug formulations and to make medicines more accessible worldwide.
He says: “I truly believe that the predictive modelling that I want to develop can significantly accelerate drug formulation and enable the development of therapies that are often overlooked by large pharmaceutical companies.”
Ayobami Adebayo, who will do a PhD in Digital Humanities. She will study the intersections between literature, technology and culture, with a focus on how African literary magazines have facilitated networks of stylistic and thematic innovations among writers and editors.
Ayobami is a prize-winning Nigerian playwright and author. Her novel ‘Stay with Me’ won the 9mobile Prize for Literature and Prix Les Afriques and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize and the Wellcome Book Prize. ‘A Spell of Good Things’ was longlisted for the Booker prize and was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Encore Award. She has also served as a judge for both the Women’s Prize for Fiction (2024) and the Booker Prize (2025).
Cong Minh Nguyen, from Vietnam, who will do a PhD in Economics. As an economist, he wants to tell stories about how market systems shape people’s lives and how they can be redesigned to expand fairness and opportunity. His PhD will focus on digital markets and will study how platforms’ information design may distort competition and facilitate algorithmic collusion among sellers’ automated pricing agents.
He says: “I want to use economics not simply to describe the world as it is, but to help build one in which information empowers rather than exploits.”
Viviana Gomez, from Colombia, who will do a PhD in Physics. She aims to extend her current work on statistical mechanics, condensed matter and systems where disorder drives emergent behaviour to the world of quantum materials. She will study how disorder shapes the materials’ magnetic properties and collective behaviour.
Alongside her work in fundamental Physics, Viviana is seeking to use her knowledge of 2D-materials like graphene to improve the lives of her fellow Colombians. She is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of start-up Seebgen which provides graphene-based products such as ballistic protection plates – protective inserts used in body armour systems which provide resistance against ballistic threats – to rural and vulnerable communities who have endured a long history of armed conflict.
Abhishek Choudhary, a well-known public historian from India who will do a PhD in History, researching colonial elections and the making of Indian executive power, 1920–47. He is best known for his award-winning two-part study of the former Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Hindu right.
His work draws on extensive archival research and has been critically acclaimed for its interdisciplinary depth and rigour, and featured and reviewed in leading South Asian and international publications.
Charlotte Louw, from South Africa, who will do a PhD in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. Her work to date has explored modified gravity, dark energy and gravitational theory and her PhD will develop accurate and quantitative predictions for primordial gravitational waves.
Charlotte, who is passionate about promoting STEM careers to women, says: “These gravitational waves provide a unique window into the very early universe, far beyond what electromagnetic radiation can reveal and thus may be used to answer fundamental questions about the universe.”
Jihad Hami, a Kurdish researcher from Syria, who will do a PhD in Sociology. His academic work is shaped by his experiences as a Kurd, including his displacement due to the Syrian war.
His research focuses on nationalism, state violence, political belonging and alternative models of democracy beyond the confines of nation-states. Alongside his academic work, he has published articles on the Kurdish question and the political theory of the Kurdish movement. He has also co-edited, with Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, a book titled Rojava in Focus: Critical Dialogues.
Tenzin Dhondup, a Tibetan-American who has helped advise on health policy for the Tibetan refugee community in India, will do an MPhil in Population Health.
His MPhil will focus on health outcomes across the life course of displaced populations, with the aim of advancing durable, evidence-driven approaches to humanitarian response, health governance and resettlement policy and building systems that extend health, dignity and the resources for people to thrive wherever they find themselves.
Professor Eilís Ferran, Provost of the Gates Cambridge Trust, said: “I’m delighted to announce our new cohort of 68 Scholars who embody our values of Community, Learning, Internationality, Compassion and Change. Our Scholars join a community built on a strong sense of belonging, that cares deeply for and supports each other, a community that is dedicated to pursuing knowledge with curiosity in all areas and to learning from others, that values people from different countries and cultures and is dedicated to improving the lives of others and to driving positive social change. We know that our new Scholars will thrive at Cambridge and we trust that they will go on to have a significant ripple effect in their various fields and more broadly, tackling the urgent global challenges we face today.”
Bill Gates Sr. House
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship programme was established through a US$210 million donation to the University of Cambridge from the then Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, driven by the vision of Bill Gates Sr.
Scholars have their own space in Cambridge – the Bill Gates Sr. House – named after him. A state-of-the-art building with sustainability at its centre, it is home to a series of dynamic spaces that are welcoming, calming and inspiring as well as versatile enough to be used for screenings, events and large or small gatherings.
Besides the rich Scholar-led community, Scholars also benefit from additional resources, including the new flagship Leading with Purpose programme and a series of On Leadership talks, with speakers including Joe Cerrell, Managing Director, Europe, Middle East & East Asia, of the Gates Foundation, Gates Cambridge Scholar and CEO of Apolitical Robyn Scott and best-selling author Alan Guarino.
Scholars are deeply engaged both locally in Cambridge and internationally, with many going on to lead their own businesses, charities or social enterprises.
And even years after leaving Cambridge Scholars continue to contribute to our podcast, So, now what?. In this year’s series, they are in conversation with current scholars about different aspects of leadership, from leading ethically to leading with hope.
Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and Chair of the Board of the Gates Cambridge Trust, said: “Gates Cambridge is a brilliant programme that, year after year, takes in exceptional students from around the globe and prepares them to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. We are enormously proud of our Gates Cambridge scholars and look forward to welcoming the Class of 2026.”
Find out more about the Class of 2026
