People

Melinda Gates is co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Along with co-chair Bill Gates, she shapes and approves foundation strategies, review results, advocate for the foundation's issues, and help set the overall direction of the organization. They meet with local, national, and international grantees and partners to further the foundation's goal of improving equity in the United States and around the world. They also use many public appearances, including speeches, interviews, and articles, to focus attention on these issues.

Bill Gates is co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Along with co-chair Melinda Gates, he shapes and approves grantmaking strategies, advocates for the foundation’s issues, and helps set the overall direction of the organization. Bill and Melinda Gates work together to expand opportunity to the world’s most disadvantaged people by collaborating with grantees and partners. They also participate in national and international events and travel extensively to focus attention on the issues the foundation champions.

Professor Bhaskar Vira, FAcSS, is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, and Professor of Political Economy at the Department of Geography, a Fellow of Fitzwilliam Colleage, and an Honorary Fellow of St John's College. Trained as an economist, Bhaskar's research focuses on the political economy of land-use and landscape level strategies, water use and management, forest management, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and human well-being, with a specific focus on South Asia. He works with a number of PhD students and early career researchers on his broad interests in the political economy of environment and development, and has collaborations with colleagues in both academic and non-academic institutions in South Asia and around the world. He is currently leading a major initiative on Decent Work and Youth Livelihoods. He has led large scale applied research projects that involve interdisciplinary conversations across the natural and social services, and contributes regularly to policy advisory processes across the science-policy interface.

Tim Harvey-Samuel graduated in English from Queens' in 1987 and has been Bursar of Trinity Hall since March 2020, prior to which he was Bursar of Corpus Christi College for six years. He also lectures for the Master of Finance programme at the Judge Business School. He spent 26 years in investment banking, mainly at Schroders and Citigroup where he led the Equity Capital Markets business for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Amy is the Director of Community Engagement & Family Interest Grants at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington. In this role Amy manages the personal giving of the Gates family. Amy has worked at the Foundation for nearly 20 years, holding various positions including: Program Officer, Global Health (Family Planning & Reproductive Health), Special Program Officer to CEO Patty Stonesifer, and Program Officer for Special Initiatives, US Program. Prior professional experience includes: the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Population Program); Planned Parenthood Federation of America; and the Echoing Green Foundation. Amy received her BA from Mount Holyoke College (with Honors) and a MPH from Columbia University with a focus on Population and Family Health. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.

Dame Sally Davies was installed as the 40th Master of Trinity College on 8 October 2019. She joined the College after a distinguished career as a clinical academic and public servant. Dame Sally graduated from Manchester Medical School in 1972 and became a Consultant Haematologist specialising in sickle cell disease. In 1997 she was appointed as Honorary Professor of Haemoglobinopathies at Imperial College. Dame Sally was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Health from 2004-2016. In 2006 she founded the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and was the Inaugural Director. In 2013 she established and became a Non-Executive Director of Genomics England Ltd (GEL) which sequenced 100,000 whole genomes of NHS patients. Dame Sally was the Chief Medical Officer for England and Senior Medical Advisor to the UK Government from 2011-2019. She authorised 11 independent annual reports and 3 special reports: Medical Cannabis, Screen Times for Children and Obesity in Childhood. She has become a leading figure in global health including serving as a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Executive Board 2014-2016 and as co-convener of the United Nations Inter-Agency Co-ordination Group (IACG) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) reporting in 2019. She has championed the need to address AMR across all sections: human and animal health, agriculture and environment within the UN family and globally. In 2019 Dame Sally was appointed as the UK Government’s Special Envoy for Global AMR. Dame Sally received her DBE in 2009. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014 and a member of the National Academy of Medicine, USA in 2015. She has been awarded more than 30 honorary doctorate degrees.

Mimi Gardner Gates was director of the Seattle Art Museum for fifteen years and is now director emerita, overseeing the Gardner Center for Asian Art and Ideas. Previously, she spent nineteen years at Yale University Art Gallery, the last seven-and-a-half of those years as director. She is a fellow of the Yale Corporation; Chairman of the Dunhuang Foundation; Chairman of the Blakemore Foundation; a trustee of the San Francisco Asian Art Museum; a trustee of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, and serves on the boards of the Yale University Art Gallery, the Northwest African American Museum, the Terra Foundation and Copper Canyon Press. Dr. Gates formerly chaired the National Indemnity Program at the National Endowment for the Arts and served on the Getty Leadership Institute Advisory Committee.

Usha Goswami CBE FRS FBA is Professor of Cognitive Developmental Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. She is also founding Director of the Centre for Neuroscience in Education. After training as a primary school teacher, Usha decided to pursue research in child psychology, focusing on reading development and dyslexia. Most recently, she has been studying the neural mechanisms underpinning language encoding. Her research goal is to understand the brain basis of dyslexia and speech and language difficulties, to improve children’s experience of both diagnosis and remediation. She has received a number of awards for her research, including the British Psychology Society’s Spearman Medal and President’s Award and the Norman Geschwind-Rodin Prize for Dyslexia research, Sweden. Her work in developing the new discipline of neuroscience in education was recognised in 2019 by the Yidan Prize for Education Research, the largest international education research prize globally.

Jonathan Holloway, who was appointed the 21st president of Rutgers in 2020, is an eminent historian specializing in post-emancipation United States history with a focus on social and intellectual history. Dr. Holloway is the author of several books, most recently The Cause of Freedom: A Concise History of African Americans, published last year. Prior to accepting the presidency of Rutgers, Dr. Holloway was provost of Northwestern University from 2017 to 2020 and a member of the faculty of Yale University from 1999 to 2017. At Yale, he served as Dean of Yale College and the Edmund S. Morgan Professor of African American Studies, History, and American Studies. He earned his bachelor’s degree with honors in American studies from Stanford University and a PhD in history from Yale University. Dr. Holloway serves on several boards, including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Gates Cambridge Trust, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. He is a Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Julia completed a PhD Engineering in 2012, which focused on innovative financing solutions for global health. Stemming from her PhD research at Gates Cambridge, she originated, raised and deployed the world's first $108mm Global Health Investment Fund with Lion's Head Global Partners and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The purpose of the fund was to provide financing to advance the development of drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and other interventions against diseases that disproportionately burden low-income countries. Before coming to Cambridge, Julia qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG's Canadian biotechnology practice and undertook projects for a variety of organisations including GAVI and WHO. During her time in Cambridge, Julia co-founded the African Innovation Prize, served on the University Council, and initiated and convened the Cambridge Global Health Commercialization and Funding Roundtable.

Julia is currently based in London's White City biomedical campus as Co-Founder & CEO of Micrographia Bio, a deeptech bio company focused on applying machine learning to bioimaging to accelerate drug discovery.

Lord Simon Woolley is the Founding Director of Operation Black Vote, the internationally renowned campaigning NGO which he launched in 1996. OBV works with ethnic minorities in the UK to increase understanding of civic society, participation in Parliament and public life, and to promote equality and human rights. Formerly an Equality and Human Rights Commissioner, in 2018 Lord Woolley was appointed by Prime Minister Theresa May to create and lead the UK Government’s pioneering Race Disparity Unit. The Unit collects, analyses and publishes data on how crime, education and health are affected by ethnicity. Fostered and then adopted as a small child, Lord Woolley grew up on a council estate in Leicester, and left school without A-levels. He later returned to formal study via an access course and gained a BA in Spanish and English Literature at Middlesex University and an MA in Hispanic Studies at Queen Mary University of London. He is passionate about educational access and the importance of recognising and supporting marginalised potential. Lord Woolley has a track record of addressing representational imbalances, transforming institutions, and nurturing individuals. His cross-party and cross-sector work with Operation Black Vote has seen the number of MPs from black and minority ethnic backgrounds rise from 4 to 65 over the past two decades. In collaboration with Magdalen College, Oxford, he has been instrumental in the development of Pathway to Success, a programme designed to equip future BME leaders with the tools and knowledge required for senior leadership. Repeatedly recognised in the Black Powerlist, Lord Woolley is dedicated to promoting opportunity for underrepresented communities and individuals, and to building consensus across political and community lines. Simon Woolley was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2019 and was created a life peer in December of the same year. He sits as a crossbencher in the House of Lords. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Westminster in 2012. He is a regular contributor to newspapers nationally and internationally on topics relating to equality, diversity and social justice.

Professor Eilís Ferran, FBA PhD is Professor of Company and Securities Law at the University of Cambridge, and the Tom Ivory Professorial Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. Eilís has written extensively on UK, EU and international financial regulation, company law and corporate finance law. Her publications include Brexit and Financial Services (Hart Publishing, 2018 (co-authored), The Oxford Handbook of Financial Regulation (OUP, 2015, co-edited) Principles of Corporate Finance Law (OUP, 2014, co-authored) and The Regulatory Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (CUP 2012, co-authored). She has advised UK Parliamentary committees and served as an academic member of the Stakeholder Group of the European Banking Authority. She is a non-executive director of Euroclear SA/NV and is the Chair of its Nominations and Governance Committee. Eilís is a Fellow of the British Academy and an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple. Between 2012 and 2015 she served as Chair of the Law Faculty. Between 2015 and 2021 she was the University's Pro Vice Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations. In that role, she was the academic strategic lead for staff and for significant international partnerships, led the modernisation of career paths, oversaw the University's response as an employer to COVID-19, and was instrumental in the establishment of the Strategic Partnerships Office.

Jade is the Director of Finance at Gates Cambridge. She is responsible for the Trust’s financial and investment functions and is part of the Trust’s senior management team. Prior to joining the Trust, she served as Finance Manager for Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, having previously been Finance Business Partner at the British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council. Jade is a chartered accountant and holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Cambridge.

Director of Governance and Compliance, University of Cambridge

Born in Cambridge, Jim was educated at Parkside School and Hills Road Sixth Form College; he gained a First Class Honours degree in Politics from the University of Newcastle in 1999. Upon graduation he took up a position at what is now the Cambridge Commonwealth, European & International Trust working with a range of NGOs, governments, multinational companies and individuals to fund outstanding international students at Cambridge. In 2002 he was awarded a prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship for postgraduate study in Australia, but instead took up the opportunity to become a professional musician. Jim was appointed Executive Officer of the Gates Cambridge Trust in 2005 and then it’s Programme Director in 2013 - a role which forms part of the senior management of the Trust. As Programme Director, Jim works closely with the Provost and Director of Finance and manages the Programme team. He has also served on the Social Sciences interview panel to select Gates Cambridge Scholars. Jim is privileged to be a Senior Member of Wolfson College, Cambridge and a Trustee and Company Director of homeless charity Jimmy's Cambridge. Jim is still active musically and is involved in numerous projects and hosts regular live music nights in Cambridge.

Luisa joined Gates Cambridge in October 2015, having previously worked at Cambridge Judge Business School. She brings considerable student recruitment and admissions experience to the team. A graduate of Cardiff University, where she read European Studies, in her spare time Luisa enjoys reading, travel and is a regular Parkrunner on a Saturday. She looks forward to working with the diverse Gates Cambridge community.

Carlos joined Gates Cambridge in February 2019 after a nine year stint at the International Programmes Department of Pembroke College, Cambridge University, where he was the Senior Coordinator of the Pembroke-King’s Programme and the Tutor of a group of Spring Semester Programme students. In parallel to that he obtained his PhD on Gothic narrative conventions and Spanish literature of the fin de siècle in Anglia Ruskin University in 2018. In his spare time he enjoys reading crime fiction and he is a big fan of Ian Rankin’s John Rebus novels.

Lucy joined the team at Gates in April 2022 after four years at Fitzwilliam College as Sales and Events Coordinator, liaising with students, staff, Fellows and alumni to host a range of academic and social events. Lucy studied Psychology at undergraduate level with an interest in early development, with the final project focusing on consumer behaviour. Hobbies include embroidery and macramé whilst listening to true crime or storytelling podcasts. Lucy also enjoys attending music events and travelling

Usha Virdee joined the Gates Cambridge Trust in March 2009 and holds the position of Accounts Officer. Previously she worked as an Accounts Administrator for Magdalene College. Usha studied Pharmacology at university. She enjoys travelling and visiting many different countries.

As well as working as Gates Cambridge's Communuciations Officer one and half days a week, Mandy works on the Festival of Ideas and the Cambridge Series at the Hay Festival, organising debates and publicising events. Mandy’s background is in education and health journalism. She was features editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement and also worked for the BBC as a senior broadcast journalist as well as for the writers' association International PEN as a researcher on freedom of expression issues.

Born in a family of doctors in India, I grew up looking at the world through a lens of seasoned physicians battling to save lives in resource-poor settings. While the academic in me developed an insatiable curiosity about the biological mechanisms of diseases, the social activist in me realized that exploring drivers of diseases at a population level is important to solve global health problems. My graduate studies at IIT Bombay and University of Cambridge cemented this understanding; extensive field research and work experience with UNICEF impressed upon me the importance of translating research findings into actionable evidence. My PhD seeks to explore the nutritional, lifestyle and metabolic risk factors of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in South Asians; integrating clinical knowledge, statistics and public health. South Asians, constituting a fourth of the global population, experience a disproportionately high burden of these diseases, aggravated by inequities in biological risk, behavioural factors and access to health services. Through my research I wish to comprehensively examine the importance of modifiable risk factors in mitigating cardiometabolic disease risks in this population and inform country-specific policies and disease prevention strategies.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Epidemiology 2021
Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay Technology and Development 2019
West Bengal University of Technology Biotechnology 2017

My research uses network analysis and other quantitative methods to study police misconduct and related phenomena. In particular, I am interested in developing methods to identify both misconduct-prone officers and officers who are resilient to negative peer influences. Additionally, my research examines how sanctions for misconduct and other official responses affect future misconduct. My other research interests include progressive prosecution and the intersections of local government law and criminal justice reform.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Criminological Research 2021
Williams College Political Science and Math 2020

Some of my earliest childhood memories are of pulling apart my toys, understanding how they worked and trying to put them back together before anyone else realised. I believe this same curiosity (and ambition) led me to study engineering and has continued to open many doors that I would have otherwise never considered. Towards the end of my undergraduate degree, I was fortunate to travel abroad and study wind turbines with Siemens and Vestas (two of the world’s largest manufacturers). Over the following years, I have chosen to learn more about the interaction between the power sector and the environment. I have started to build my career forecasting the development of electricity markets with the express aim of tangibly contributing to their rapid decarbonisation. The Masters that I have now applied to study will further my understanding of the technologies that will govern this future and the targets needed to mitigate existential climate change.

Previous Education

Queensland University of Technology Mechanical Engineering 2017

Growing up in bucolic Connecticut, I am the girl who saved ants from being squished on the playground, the girl who sat still for hours waiting for a dragonfly to land on my nose. My fate was sealed from an early age: I am an insect lover. As an undergraduate at Pomona College, I studied the impacts of habitat fragmentation, urbanization, and fire on pollinator assemblages. In a time of intense land use change, I am interested in how targeted habitat modifications can help conserve insect diversity. For example, planting native wildflowers next to monocrop agricultural fields enhances bee habitat, increases bee abundances, and may also improve crop yields. I am passionate about igniting sustainable action through education. I am committed to mentoring the next generation to preserve insect biodiversity. With my PhD in Zoology, I hope to become a professor. In the long-term, I aspire to work with global organizations such as the United Nations to champion agricultural mitigation efforts that may be adopted worldwide, allowing pollinators and humans to more harmoniously coexist. I am honored to be selected as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, joining an extraordinary community of learners committed to promoting positive change worldwide.

Previous Education

Pomona College Biology 2022

I grew up in Central Virginia and went to Virginia Military Institute, where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering alongside an Associate of Science in Applied Mathematics. At VMI, I was exposed to a wide variety of different areas in the ECE discipline such as Optoelectronics and Microelectronics. I also got the opportunity to involve myself in rewarding engineering initiatives involving robotics and embedded systems. During my PhD in Engineering, I will work toward developing next generation miniaturized spectrometers using novel nano materials. Implementing a miniature spectrometer capable of spectral reconstruction in both the visible and near to mid infrared spectrum will contribute toward critical areas of application such as sensors, surveillance, and spectral imaging. It is exciting to have the opportunity to contribute toward the forefront of spectroscopic analysis, which is characterized by a demand for shrinking devices and improved resolution – such advancements in this field will contribute to the day-to-day lives of countless people. I am truly privileged to be joining the Gates Cambridge community where I can work to positively impact the lives of others.

Previous Education

Virginia Military Institute Electrical&Computer Eng. 2021

I was raised in Marion, Arkansas and attended the University of Georgia as a Foundation Fellow and Stamps Scholar to study genetics. I devoted much of my time on campus to researching protein kinases using bioinformatic and biochemical approaches and working as a campus tour guide. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I began researching developmental lung biology at Vanderbilt. I quickly realized my interest at the intersection of developmental and cancer biology and the wide therapeutic potential the field offers. As an aspiring physician-scientist, I also took time to research public health in my home region as a Delta Scholar and wrote for the Boston Congress of Public Health. At Cambridge, I will pursue a PhD in the Department of Physiology, Development, and Neuroscience to functionally assess the cell extrinsic and intrinsic mechanisms controlling human lung airway fate specification. Through this research, I hope to deepen our understanding of fundamental biological processes to guide personalized medical therapies that are accessible to all populations. I am grateful to be joining the Gates Cambridge community and am honored to have been selected for a cohort in which intellectual acumen and compassion are equally valued.

Previous Education

University of Georgia Genetics, Minor in Statistics 2022

I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and completed my B.Sc. in Biochemistry at Covenant University, Nigeria. My research interest is in the mechanisms that control body weight and how they can be exploited to improve obesity outcomes. Metabolic diseases, like obesity and diabetes, are a significant health challenge affecting millions of people globally. During my undergraduate study, I developed a keen interest in the interplay of biological processes and lifestyle in the pathophysiology of metabolic diseases. Moreover, growing up in Africa where the rates are alarmingly rising with sub-minimal health research output and public policy efforts strengthened my resolve to address these challenges. At Cambridge, I will study the mechanisms by which gut hormones control body weight and blood sugar levels aiming to develop treatments that modulate gut hormone signaling. This fascinates me because these strategies present the most promising therapeutic avenue to combat the obesity epidemic. I hope to contribute to the development of biomedical infrastructure that can alleviate the burden of metabolic diseases in Africa. I am honoured to be part of the Gates Cambridge community and hope to leverage the platform to pursue my goals and impact lives.

Previous Education

Covenant University Biochemistry 2020

I grew up in North Carolina and London, determined from a young age to disallow what I saw as unjust, particularly when it befell my childhood peers. This innate desire kindled in me a dedication to equitable education and mental health care. Earning my BA in psychology at Colgate University, with minors in education and creative writing, I seized opportunities to work directly with youth, an ardent believer in the importance of meeting children where they are and understanding their diverse needs as they learn to exert agency in response to the complexities of the ever-agitated world. I conducted research in the US, UK, Ghana, Samoa, and among several refugee communities, driven by increasing rates of mental illness and decreasing age of onset — both exacerbated by the global pandemic. After graduation, I joined the Center for Autism Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. My PhD, a coalescence of my experiences, will focus on effectively supporting youth at the community level and within contexts of demographics, neurodiversity, and personal/political disruption. Understanding which interventions are beneficial long-term for children with internalising difficulties will enable individualised optimisation of care.

Previous Education

Colgate University Psychology 2021

The goal of my PhD research is to explore prosody (stress, rhythm, intonation) and socioeconomic status as factors influencing the development of reading abilities, and I am particularly interested in silent reading (implicit prosody). During my undergraduate studies in English Language and Literature at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, I was exposed to aspects of first and second language acquisition, and as an Erasmus+ student at the University of Edinburgh, I became increasingly interested in language processing and psycholinguistics. During my MPhil in Applied Linguistics at Trinity College Dublin, I focused on dyslexia, prosodic processing, and Computer-Assisted Language Learning. By investigating reading abilities among typically developing readers, my aim is to shed light on the role of prosodic processing and production in reading comprehension, to unveil the impact of hidden socioeconomic inequalities on literacy acquisition, and to investigate the extent to which reading difficulties remain undiagnosed. This research will aid in the diagnosis and the development of accommodations for reading difficulties and a more thorough understanding of how these difficulties can go undetected by educators.

Previous Education

University of Dublin Trinity College Applied Linguistics 2020
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki English Language & Literature 2018

Links

https://linktr.ee/ct620
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ct620

I have always had a fascination for how ‘education’ is designed. But it was an unlikely success story from North India that brought this diffused interest into sharp focus in the form of child-centric education. The story was that of an NGO running non-formal (alternative) schools for children living in slums. Every year, its makeshift schoolrooms would see child labourers become advocates for completion of schooling, the ‘reverse-education’ of illiterate parents through their children, and students outperforming their peers upon entering formal (mainstream) schools. The principle at the heart of this NGO: child-centricity.Across the country are many such scattered initiatives solving globally-prioritised problems of access, retention, and quality that nations have grappled with for decades. Studying similar efforts so as to identify patterns in their success could reveal how schools may be better designed to serve children from low-income families, with the particularities of their needs and circumstances.My PhD research will compare how non-formal and formal schools empower such children, identifying the factors that influence their academic, social, and economic agency. Holding potential solutions to the policy-practice gap in India and wider developing contexts, this research will be a step towards my hope of helping to pave the way to more child-centric, context-sensitive education systems that better serve all by serving those most at risk.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Education (EGID) 2020
The University of Edinburgh Social Policy (with SPS) 2019

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Sociology 2020
McGill University Honours Geography 2017

As a Biochemistry Master’s student, in India, I developed an interest in Plant Sciences. As a Research Fellow, in New Delhi, my research focused on understanding the evolution of photosynthesis, which is useful to plant breeders for varietal trait development and Food Security. Previously, in a collaborative research project at Cambridge, we identified that monocots graft at the root-shoot interface, this pivotal work overturned the long-standing consensus that monocots cannot graft. Further, I am working on translational impact of the grafting approach using perennial monocots, which will be useful in imparting disease resistance in economically relevant crops like banana and oil palms. During my Gates Cambridge PhD Scholarship, I will aim to integrate the most efficient version of photosynthesis, known as the C4 pathway in rice, using the newly developed technique of cereal grafting and hybridisation. Rice is a global food staple and converting rice to use C4 photosynthesis is expected to not only increase yields by 50% but will also enhance water and nitrogen use efficiency. My research vision is to carry out cutting-edge fundamental and translational research that will lead to real impact to farmers both in India and globally.

Previous Education

University of Lucknow Biochemistry 2010
University of Lucknow Botany/Chemistry/Zoology 2008

I was drawn into the curious and complex world of immunology during my Honours degree in the Horsnell group at the University of Cape Town, where I studied lung pathology in the acute immune response to helminth infections. This, against my background as a clinician and further education in public health, has led my professional interests towards the intersection of these three areas: fundamental science, clinical medicine and population health. By identifying important health concerns and addressing them across scales, I hope to improve global health outcomes through my career in a cost-effective and context-relevant manner which prioritises reaching under-served people. In partnership with global leaders in the field, my PhD aims to develop and test a novel vaccine platform to generate broadly-protective vaccines against Betacoronaviruses. The idea underlying this work is ‘pandemic preparedness’ – aiming to ensure the next human viral pandemic is comparatively minor by pre-emptively improving the breadth and efficacy of available vaccines. I am privileged to be joining the Gates Cambridge community, and am very grateful to the Trust for this wonderful opportunity.

Previous Education

University of Cape Town Public Health (Epi & Biostats) 2022
University of Cape Town Medicine 2017
University of Cape Town Infectious Disease, Immunology 2014

Growing up on one of the most fertile river islands in Europe, surrounded by industrial-scale farms and greenhouses, I had the chance to witness the workings of the commercial agro-food sector firsthand. It seems everyone around me was incorporated within the agricultural apparatus in some shape or form. Childhood friends grew imported seedlings in high-tech hothouses; cousins gained employment as seasonal labourers; whilst older relatives regaled stories of unified agricultural cooperatives and lamented the loss of collective farms. Hearing these stories, it soon became apparent that any account of agricultural history or theory entailed noticing material relations and affective encounters - drawing humans, machinery, crops, chemicals, and animal beings into a complex fold. This observation led me to study both plant pathology and immunology in tandem with sociology and cultural studies, granting an intimate view into scientific knowledge production. During my PhD, I hope to examine the biopolitics of historical and contemporary seed banking initiatives, with special emphasis on patent laws and ownership structures surrounding wild landrace varieties. Additionally, I am also interested in anti-capitalist, non-institutional, and insurgent forms of agroscience. I am grateful to be a part of the Gates program and its interdisciplinary community of scholars.

Previous Education

University of Sydney Environmental Sociology 2020
University of Sydney Sociology, Cultural Studies 2017
University of Sydney Faculty Scholars Program 2017

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zsuzsannaihar

Growing up in eastern Kentucky, in the heart of the Appalachian region of the United States, I was fascinated by questions of meaning in life and devastated by the hardship I witnessed at home and abroad. Education has been my ticket to exploring these two themes: meaning and inequity. With generous support through the Brown Fellows Program, I immersed myself in the liberal arts and sciences at Centre College, studying neuroscience and mathematics as well as philosophy and religion. I lived as a monastic for a summer in a Buddhist monastery in Taiwan, investigated crime scenes and defended the underserved in Washington, DC, and carried out a final-year thesis on spiritual memoirs and autobiographies. After examining the association between the immune system and mental illness through the MPhil in Epidemiology at Cambridge, I joined research teams at Dartmouth College, where we have explored self-regulation as a mechanism of behaviour change and conducted policy-focused research on the US opioid crisis. During my PhD I will address a critical question: Given similar histories of adversity, why do some children do better than others? Studying resilience may help us improve well-being and could lead toward greater health and educational equity. I look forward to working with others in the Gates Cambridge community as we explore fundamental life questions and help others thrive.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Master of Philosophy Epidemiology 2015
Centre College Bachelor of Science Behavioral Neuroscience 2014

Links

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-tyJuPAAAAAJ&hl=en
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenmetcalf

Growing up in New York City and South India, I developed a lifelong appreciation for biodiversity and curiosity about global change. I completed my B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, where I conducted research on South and Southeast Asian mammal biogeography. Upon graduating in 2020, I worked on COVID-19 response at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. My academic and work experiences have led me to explore the human-wildlife interface where viral spillover occurs. I will pursue a PhD in Biology at the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge. My research employs a One Health approach to modeling anthropogenic drivers of zoonotic emergence from bat populations. This work will inform solutions to both biodiversity loss and future pandemics, particularly in regions with threatened habitats, high spillover risk, and limited health infrastructure. I strongly believe in accessible and inclusive science, and will continue prioritizing creative science communication during my PhD. I look forward to collaborating with the Gates Cambridge community to tackle pressing issues at the intersection of public and planetary health.

Previous Education

Yale University Ecology & Evolutionary Biology 2020

I came to anthropology through an interest in narrative, and a desire to rethink my engagement with fiction, life writing, reportage, and research – writing forms that I have been moving between since I was an undergraduate. As a journalist and a university teacher, I often found myself returning to read ethnographies, with their focus on producing work that centred our different subjectivities, and grappling with the ethical and conceptual challenges of navigating these. So far, my research has been concerned with the political lives of Indian students, what Indian higher educational spaces engender, and who they exclude. For my PhD, I hope to trace how young people from ‘Northeast’ India navigate the moral and affective aspects of their ‘becoming’ when they travel to ‘mainland’ Indian cities to study. Given the region’s history of state repression, ethnic tensions, and the racialised tendency of many Indians to homogenise their identities, I am interested in foregrounding friendship, intimacy, and aspiration, to understand how these young students relate to each other from across their social subjectivities and ethnic and class locations. I’m excited and humbled to be part of the Gates Cambridge community, and to continue to be challenged by and learn from my peers.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Social Anthropology 2022
School of Oriental & African Studies (University o Gender Studies 2018
St. Joseph's College, BU English, Journalism,Psychology 2017

I am curious about the ways people understand and create discourses around environmental issues. As an undergraduate—first at Brandeis University, then, after transferring, at Harvard University—I studied environmental challenges and became immersed in the expansive discipline of Science and Technology Studies. Simultaneously, I developed a love of journalism, particularly radio storytelling. In the years following my undergraduate education, I cultivated both of these interests. I worked with Schmidt Futures to understand and support effective philanthropic approaches at the intersection of science, technology, and society. I also worked as a reporter at KOTO, the community radio station in Telluride, CO. Reporting for a small mountain region during a global pandemic gave me firsthand appreciation for the ways journalism can foster community. But I’m also uncertain how journalism can help humanity face larger environmental challenges. As climate change alters our world, I believe unifying and clarifying storytelling will be all the more essential. I hope to use this MPhil in Anthropocene Studies to examine the roles journalists can and should play in helping people understand and respond to climate change.

Previous Education

Harvard University Env. Science & Public Policy 2019
Brandeis University Environmental Studies 2017

Growing up in Australia in an Indian and Malaysian-Chinese family, I have always been surrounded by diaspora communities, connecting to people and struggles occurring miles away and learning to navigate politics, identity and belonging beyond borders. I want to explore what it means to be a citizen in diasporic contexts by utilising my research to amplify the creative repertoires and acts of solidarity generated in diaspora networks. My research stands in solidarity with diaspora activists and provides space for their voices. It defends and amplifies the political utility of solidarity as a strategy for transnational political action. Building on my MPhil research at the University of Cambridge on solidarity protest movements in the Lebanese diaspora in France, my PhD will investigate citizenship beyond borders. Through creative research methods such as visual, video and music elicitation, this PhD will explore the affective, enacted, legal and resistive forms of citizenship produced by global solidarity networks in the diaspora. I aim to combine my passion for research and my experience with documentary film-making and audio-visual podcasts to produce public-facing, community grounded research output.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Sociology 2021
Sciences PO, Institut d'etudes politiques de Paris Middle Eastern Studies 2020

Growing up in a small town in Bengal, I turned sensitive to conflicts between communities and identities from an early age. While pursuing my BA in English (Hons.) at Presidency University, Kolkata, my MA in English at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and my MPhil. in Social Sciences at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, I became interested in how literary and cultural forms share a reciprocal relationship with political ideations and events. As a firm believer in public-facing academic work, I have also curated and written extensively on gender, culture, and literature. Further, teaching undergraduate students at the Jindal Global Law School in India has taught me the transformative potential of pedagogic spaces and the need for an egalitarian academic atmosphere. The steep rise of political incarceration in contemporary India has motivated my doctoral project which traces prison experiences of Indian women activists in literary and archival expressions. Through my scholarship and community engagement, I hope to explore how conditions of marginalisation enable responsibility, solidarity, and hope.

Previous Education

Jadavpur University Social Sciences 2019
Jawaharlal Nehru University English 2017

At heart, I’m a runner who finds the time to study theoretical physics: although in reality, it’s often the other way around. Growing up in the sun, sand and bush of Perth, Western Australia, I uncovered a passion for science – which took me across the country to the Australian National University in Canberra. I lived at Bruce Hall, and helping the community there survive our building being demolished and rebuilt instilled in me a love of working with people. At the same time, my studies fostered an excitement for uncovering a theory of quantum gravity; but it became apparent I’d have to travel overseas to fulfil that dream. Thus, I came to Cambridge to complete the Part III Maths, and prepare myself for a PhD here. In my PhD, I’ll be studying and proposing thought experiments examining quantum gravity, to inform how we build theories in future. I ultimately want to combine my passions for people and physics as an educator, and take ideas about quantum gravity to places (like Australia) where the field is still very small. Being a Gates Scholar will allow me to learn from other scholars how to make my impact as an educator felt not just in Australia, but all over the world.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Mathematics 2022
Australian National University Physics 2020

Since my first biology lessons in school I have been fascinated by understanding nature and I have steadily developed the strong ambition to become a scientific researcher. I undertook my Bachelor’s and Master’s study in biochemistry at Free University of Berlin, where my research mainly focused on protein folding homeostasis during aging and neurodegenerative diseases in particular of Huntington’s disease. For my PhD I am going to join the laboratory of David Ron at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, where I will study cellular adaptations to the stress of unfolded and misfolded proteins in the secretory pathway. The unfolded protein response (UPR) defends protein folding homeostasis in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by matching the folding capacity to the unfolded protein load in the compartment. This simple feedback process impacts the function of the secretory pathway and because protein secretion is central to intercellular communication, ER stress and the response to it influences many physiological and pathophysiological processes. With this research I hope to identify new components of this regulatory network to integrate these into an understanding of the pathophysiology of common human diseases, which may one day pave the way for pharmacological intervention in UPR signalling. I am truly honoured to become a member of the Gates Cambridge family and look forward to connecting to other scholars that share the motivation to actively shape our future.

Previous Education

Free University of Berlin Biochemistry 2018
Free University of Berlin Biochemistry 2015

I was born in Tallinn, Estonia, but at the age of ten moved to Hungary with my family and then to the UK for university. I earned my Bachelors, MPhil and a PhD degree at King's College, Cambridge where I was awarded a Gates scholarship for my PhD. My doctoral research at the Department of Politics and International Studies addressed intimate partner violence against women with insecure immigration status in England and Sweden. The study combined survivor and stakeholder interviews with an analysis of theory and national politics. I have also worked with UN Women on the international women, peace and security agenda, and on gender (in)equality research projects as part of a European Commission grant programme and a European Parliament initiative. After finishing my PhD I directed a Health Estonia Foundation spin-off “Action-Metre” - a collective awareness online platform which provides accessible and evidence-based information on the large-scale societal outcomes of individual everyday micro-actions. I am now working at the European Commission on gender equality policy. Dance is one of my life-long passions and at Cambridge I competed with and captained the Cambridge University Dancesport Team.

Sanjana is an Advocacy Director at (ISC)2, the world’s largest education and membership association for cybersecurity practitioners. Sanjana has lived and worked in India, Belgium, U.S. and the U.K. Creating relevant and engaging education products and services for different age groups, sectors and geographies has been a through line in her career. She has designed and led large professional development events, formed partnerships across academia-industry-government ecosystem, built and grown teams, set vision for new products, and established go-to-market strategies. As a Gates Scholar, Sanjana completed an MPhil and a PhD in Education. Sanjana is a life-long learner. In 2020, she completed an Executive MBA from Cranfield University. More recently, she has been exploring the lives and works of different philosophers as part of an online philosophy school.

Previous Education

Bangalore University MSc Psychology 2000
Mount Carmel College, Bangalore BA Psychology, Economics & Sociol. 1998

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjana-mehta

My academic research and career has been driven by my passion for using evidence to improve the lives of others – particularly children and people who are disadvantaged and vulnerable. My PhD research examined what actually happens when juveniles are interviewed by police officers; in particular, I examined the interrogation techniques used by police officers, and the effectiveness of these techniques at eliciting different responses from the young suspects.
Since completing my doctorate in 2014 I have used my research skills to design, lead and conduct evaluations, including of UK and European public policy initiatives at RAND Europe in Cambridge, UK, and more recently of international development projects at the Centre for Evaluation and Development in Mannheim, Germany.

Kofi is an academic, a social entrepreneur and a mentor who is passionate about the development of young people and Africa. He moved to Clare Hall as a Junior Research Fellow after completing his MPhil and PhD at St Edmund’s College. His research takes an interdisciplinary approach to issues of crime and development with particular interest in youth and gender-based violence. Kofi has published widely in high-impact journals in the fields of psychology, law and criminology. He serves on several journal editorial boards. He has been a visiting fellow to universities in the US and Africa, including Cornell University School of Law, State University of New York and University of Ghana. Kofi is the founder of the Oxbridge African Mentorship Programme, a charity that provides mentoring for young talents in Africa. He is also co-founder of the African Institute for Crime, Policy and Governance Research, a think tank based in Ghana that promotes high quality research on crime, justice and governance issues to inform policy in Africa.

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kofi-boakye-0788285

At the University of Cambridge, I studied the political economy of health. During my PhD, I studied the link between privatisation policies and increased alcohol-related mortality rates. I have worked in health and healthcare research since I completed my studies because I am passionate about health and healthcare and I believe that we can use our achievements in science and technology to improve people's health all over the world. As a Gates Cambridge alumna, I strive to make people believe they can create change and improve not only their own lives but also the lives of others.

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/darja-irdam-b76365158

My experience in life taught me not to conform with the stereotypes imposed by those in power. I believe that every person can achieve greatness and should be allowed to fulfill their dreams. Being a Mexican, I see science as the means to take down the walls built by those trying to divide us, empower people to make informed decisions and appreciate that all lives have equal value. My passion for science transformed into a deep curiosity to understand our universe and the conditions that allowed for our existence. My desire to understand the world took me from Mexico to Canada where I became the first person at the University of Calgary to finish two majors in physics and astrophysics in four years. Later, I joined Dr. Rachid Ouyed and his group to study the Quark Nova, its astronomical signatures and implications. Now in Cambridge, I am honoured to join Dr. Nikku Madhusudhan and his group in studying and characterizing the atmospheres of exoplanets. We are as close as we have ever been to understanding our place in the universe and the uniqueness of our existence. The quest for habitable planets thrills me and I believe that this excitement is shared with the rest of humanity. My path to becoming a Gates-Cambridge scholar has not been linear and I owe a large amount of gratitude to every person who believed in me and helped me become who I am. I hope this opportunity will allow me to inspire others to pursue their goals and create scientific opportunities in Latin America.

Previous Education

University of Calgary

Links

https://luiswelbanks.com

Songqiao Yao is the founder and CEO of Wildbound.earth, an innovative nature-inspired education and sustainability consulting venture based in Beijing, China. After her Mphil in Geography from Cambridge as a Gates Scholar, Songqiao went on to study for an MBA as a Skoll Scholar at Oxford Said Business School.

Previous Education

Mount Holyoke College 2007

Links

http://www.wildbound.earth
http://www.linkedin.com/songqiaoyao

I arrived at Cambridge in 2012 to pursue an MPhil in Environment, Society and Development to learn how best to negotiate environmental pressures when alleviating poverty through economic growth. I am particularly interested in developing policies that address both extreme poverty and biodiversity loss--two of the most critical challenges of our era. In 2013, I received a second Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue a PhD that addresses climate change policy and environmental justice, and received my PhD in 2017. Before Cambridge, I worked for six years directing international development and conservation initiatives for a coffee importing company. In this role, I raised over $4 million for livelihood improvement programs, some of which were featured at the Clinton Global Initiative and in National Geographic's Wild Chronicles series.