Gates Cambridge Scholars’ Council is very excited to share details of the UK Global Scholars’ Exchange bringing Gates Cambridge, Rhodes, Clarendon and Marshall scholars to Cambridge this year on Friday 26 June.
The Clarendon Scholarship, housed at Oxford, offers over 200 new, fully-funded scholarships each year to support outstanding graduate scholars, with a focus on fostering international diversity and interdisciplinary research.
The Rhodes Scholarship, the oldest international fellowship in the world, brings together exceptional students from across the globe to the University of Oxford, emphasising a commitment to public service and moral force of character.
The Marshall Scholarship commemorates the humane ideals of the Marshall Plan by supporting young Americans of high ability to study in the UK, seeking to develop future leaders who will bridge the gap between nations through a shared commitment to global progress.
This year Rhodes, Clarendon and Marshall Scholars will be travelling to Cambridge, continuing a tradition of annual swaps between Oxford and Cambridge universities and fostering deeper engagement between scholars from different institutions.
A key part of the Exchange will be the Gates-Clarendon-Rhodes-Marshall Conference with its theme ‘Global Scholarship and Responsibility’, where Scholars from all communities have the chance to present their work.
Event Schedule:
10:00am – 10:45am: Registration @ Newnham College
10:30am – 11am: Arrival of External Scholars & Refreshments
11am – 11:15am: Welcoming Remarks by Senior Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge Professor Kamal Munir (Cynthia Beerbower Room)
— 5 min to migrate to smaller break out rooms —
11:20am – 1:30pm: Interdisciplinary Student Conference across 4 Scholarships
1:30pm – 2:30pm: Lunch (Newnham Gardens Old Hall Lawn Marquee)
2:30pm – 3:45pm: Keynote Speaker Presentations (Cynthia Beerbower Room)
3:45pm – 4:30pm: Speaker Panel Discussions (Cynthia Beerbower Room)
4:30pm – 5:30pm: College Tours at King’s, John’s, Jesus, Pembroke and Cambridge Tour OR “Your Leadership Journey: Navigating Academia with Purpose” Roundtable Co-Led by Rhodes Trust at Bill Gates Sr. House
5:30pm – 7:10pm: Pub Socialising and Informal Networking
7:10pm – 7:30pm: Evening Migration to Churchill College
7:30pm: Conference Formal Dinner at Churchill and Closing Remarks by Gates Cambridge Scholars’ Council President/Chair, Sonia Fereidooni & Clarendon President Gabriel Maxemin.
Keynote speakers and panellists
Dr Ola Osman [2019] is Assistant Professor of African Politics at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Trinity Hall and a senior gender consultant with the United Nations World Food Programme. She did her PhD in Politics and International Studies. Her interdisciplinary research reframes so‑called “ethnic” conflicts in Africa by situating them within the longer history of Atlantic slavery.
Sara Wahedi is the Technology Specialist at the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice and CEO of Civaam, an AI and policy organisation dedicated to the co-creation, design and prototyping of responsible AI interventions across the global south. Her work, which includes founding Afghanistan’s community-led mobile alert system, Ehtesab, has earned her numerous awards, including inclusion in TIME Magazine’s ‘Next Generation Leaders’. In 2023, Sarah, a Clarendon Scholar, was named as One Young World’s ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’.
Dr Matt Mahmoudi is an Assistant Professor in Digital Humanities at the University of Cambridge where his work focuses on red-lining and resistance in digital cities and the “smart”-urban reproduction of racial capitalism. Matt comes from a scholar-practitioner background. He led Amnesty International’s research and advocacy work on AI-driven surveillance from the NYPD’s surveillance machine to Automated Apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territory and has taught ‘Control & Resistance in Digital Societies’ as an Affiliated Lecturer at the Department of Sociology. Matt is also a Research Associate with the Centre of Governance and Human Rights.
Dr Mona Jebril [2012] is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Business Research and a Bye-Fellow in Education and Academic Development at Queens’ College, Cambridge. Her doctoral research examined higher education in Gaza and her postdoctoral research examined the political economy of health in Gaza. A Gates Impact Prize winner, Dr Jebril’s current research explores global powers, regional orders and local dynamics in labour market governance in Gaza and the West Bank. She was recently awarded a British Academy Global Innovation Fellowship to work with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC. She is also the host of the podcast A Life Lived in Conflict.
Jennifer Gibson [2001] is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Psst.org, a nonprofit helping tech workers speak out by transforming whistleblowing from an individual act into collective action. Through its platform, SAFE, Psst provides a smarter, safer way for people in tech to share public interest information and raise concerns together. A human rights advocate for over 20 years, Jennifer spent a decade investigating and litigating War on Terror cases on behalf of civilians harmed by the US’s covert drone programme and also served as Legal Director at The Signals Network.
Dr Ramit Debnath [2018] is a University Associate Professor and Executive Director of Centre for Human-Inspired AI (CHIA) at the University of Cambridge, where his group pioneers responsible AI systems for climate and environmental sustainability. His work advances environmental computational social sciences, designing tools to mitigate emissions and align AI with public good. He leads the Cambridge Collective Intelligence and Design Group and climaTRACES Lab, advises the UK Government on AI methods and co-leads Caltech’s Climate and Social Intelligence Lab.
*Full bios
Full schedule of breakout sessions
The Gates Cambridge Scholars’ Council organising committee for the event consisted of Luisa Dell [2024], Jane Clarke [2025], Muaz Chaudhry [2025], Kate O’Brien [2025], Tess Stanley [2025], Aneisa Babkir [2024], Isabelle Hoover [2025] and Sonia Fereidooni [2024].
**Tickets for those who are outside the four sister scholarships can be purchased through this form.
***Top picture credit: Photo by Suad Kamardeen on Unsplash
