Current Scholars

My interest in untangling the 'grand challenge' of climate change mitigation was sparked as a National Geographic documentary intern in 2007. Since then, my education and professional work has delved into understanding the complexities of this issue from a Management perspective. After earning an MPhil in Geography & the Environment at the University of Oxford, I worked as a Research Fellow at Babson College, conducting studies on clean energy entrepreneurship and female-led, high growth, high-potential firms. I intend to research climate change mitigation and transition strategies for my PhD. More specifically, I am interested in challenges that large organizations -- particularly those in the oil and gas industry -- face while pursuing alternative energy-related innovations. Given the potential severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts of many climate change-related phenomena on Earth systems, research in this area is necessary to produce theories and evidence on which we can base organizational decisions and public policies for the long-term well-being of global society. I am excited and honoured to be joining the Gates Cambridge community this year.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Innovation, Strategy, and Orga 2020
Bentley College Business Administration 2016
University of Oxford Geography and the Environment 2014

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

I grew up in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and went to Universidad Autonoma Gabriel Rene Moreno where I received a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry. During my time as an undergrad student, I developed an interest in improving the health system of my country by performing research in those diseases that mostly affect Bolivia. The following year, I became part of a training program in charge of Professor Robert H. Gilman from the Johns Hopkins University, who gave me the opportunity of doing a master degree in Epidemiological research at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia where I studied the development of the most important chronic manifestation of Chagas disease (cardiomyopathy). During my training, I also completed courses in Argentina, Chile, Peru and the United States, which later allowed me to present my work at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH). I was also awarded a fellowship in research at the Johns Hopkins University. At Cambridge, I will perform a PhD in Biochemistry studying the interaction of Toxoplasma gondii with the host cell under the supervision of Professor Ross Waller. Besides my academic work, I am interested in youth development for which I have been selected as a Bolivian Youth Ambassador, a program sponsored by the Department of State of the United States

Previous Education

Universidad Peruana Cayetano H Epidemiology and Research 2019
Universidad A Gabriel Rene M. Biochemistry 2017

I am a young geneticist who is ambitious about improving healthcare and stratified medicine. At the age of 16, I attended to United World Colleges of Atlantic, an institute with a mission to use education as a force to unite people, nations and cultures for world peace and sustainable future. While at UWC, academically I became interested in studying disease genetics due to its potential to improve the lives of others. Thus, I studied BSc Human Genetics at UCL, where I developed an interest on the genetic basis of complex diseases. Afterwards, I studied MPhil in Genomic Medicine at Cambridge University as a Gates Scholar. During my master's, I worked at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute under Prof Zeggini's supervision on two complex disease bioinformatics projects where I worked with large datasets including UKBioBank. For my PhD, I will be studying the rare and low-frequency variants underlying diabetes using data from several biological levels under the supervision of Dr Langenberg. I am very intrigued about this project addressing the knowledge gap in complex disease genomics, given its potential to improve healthcare and stratified medicine. I am very excited to be a part of the influential Gates Cambridge community again.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Genomic Medicine 2018
University College London Human Genetics 2017

The year 2020 marked the first time in history the anthropomass - the total amount of material generated by people worldwide - exceeded the planetary biomass. This inverted reality, resulting in the existential pressures of climate change, pollution, and resource depletion, combined with the need to continue enlarging the anthropomass to equip the ongoing growth and rural to urban migration of human populations, places a herculean responsibility upon those individuals and organizations orchestrating the creation of anthropogenic materials to lead the radical changes needed for transformations to a “good” Anthropocene. Makers of the built environment especially have outstanding prospects to contribute, as our buildings are the single largest source of carbon emissions when accounting for the production of their materials, construction processes, and operations. In this context, realizing future buildings and cities which follow the principles of natural ecosystems to promote life requires the traditional practitioners’ skill sets in architecture, landscape, infrastructure, urban design and policy; along with expertise in ecology, biology, computation, manufacturing, and beyond. Nature, combined with technology, graciously rewards such broad study with boundless innovative potentials we can leverage in human habitats. As a child in a remote corner of the Rocky Mountains, I grew up shaping, and being shaped by, non-human nature. My career began with assembling humble forts of pine, mud, and snow, then proceeded to harness environmental forces through the construction of communal rainwater catchment pavilions in Rwanda, solar and geo-thermal powered neighborhoods in Colorado, and prototypical engineered timber homes in Spain. During my doctorate, I’ll continue to collaborate across borders and disciplines investigating how geospatial data can inform locally appropriate, nature-based value chains for development which catalyze the sustainable regional economies we’ll need to meet the projected demand for a doubling of global built floor area by 2060 - while achieving carbon neutrality. I'm honored to have been offered this privileged opportunity by the Gates Cambridge Trust and the University of Cambridge, as well as to be counted among such a diversely accomplished cohort, and extend my profound gratitude to everyone who has empowered my accomplishments to date.

Previous Education

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia Advanced Ecological Buildings 2019
University of Colorado at Boulder Env. Design: Architecture 2014

Links

https://valldaura.net
https://www.instagram.com/mnmnsalka
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsalka

I want to gain a deeper understanding of how viruses engage with its host (us) and the arsenals we deploy to strike back. I did my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Jacobs University in Germany. Early exposure to research and extensive mentoring from my professors motivated me to pursue both on-campus and international research opportunities. I designed polyelectrolyte microcapsules for T-cell staining at Jacobs University and studied the cytokine-mediated death of intestinal organoids to understand the pathogenesis of Crohn’s disease at NYU. For my thesis, I investigated the role of cathepsin K in the choroid plexus of mice brains. I also worked at a start-up company in Frankfurt conducting cognitive and neuroscience research. Simultaneously, I have explored my passions for science writing, education and health access, and community service. I served as an Assistant Editor in ‘The Journal of Young Investigators’ where I reviewed scientific manuscripts submitted by undergraduate researchers. I also served as the President of ‘Explore Bremen’, a student-initiated outreach club that mentors socio-economic disadvantaged and refugee kids. I am actively involved in science communication through blogging and graphic designing to help science reach a wider audience. At Cambridge, I am working in the lab of Dr. Mark Wills to investigate the modulation of Natural Killer (NK) cell responses by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). Since HCMV infection can be fatal in immunocompromised patients, therapeutically targeting the viral reservoir via NK cells could have far-reaching clinical implications. I am incredibly honored and excited to be a part of the passionate and dynamic Gates Cambridge community.

Previous Education

Jacobs University Biochemistry and Cell Biology 2019

As an undergraduate studying Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech, I became fascinated with medical imaging during internships and research focused on minimally invasive device design for radiology procedures. In my post-graduate work as a consultant, I sought to create impact through healthcare innovation but realized that subconscious bias in tactical solution design often excludes patients with the greatest need. We witnessed this during the COVID-19 crisis as those unable to access or afford care suffered disproportionately.While innovation is key to society’s well-being and progress, I believe we are also obligated to ensure that it reaches those who need it most. Through my PhD research in radiogenomics, an emerging field that combines medical imaging with genomic data, I seek to develop imaging biomarkers and predictive models for liver cancer. Ultimately, this research aims to improve access to care and reduce the resource burden on health professionals by creating tools that enhance diagnostics, enable remote assessment, and improve precision care for an under-funded yet deadly cancer. My research is supervised by Dr. Evis Sala in the Radiogenomics and Quantitative Imaging Group within the Department of Radiology.

Previous Education

Georgia Institute of Technology Biomedical Engineering 2018

Most have a favourite colour, I have a favourite cell. Macrophages are tissue-resident immune cells that are the ‘first ones in and last ones out’ in most tissue insults. This crush started in 2018, while investigating a rare immune disorder where chronic EBV infection drove uncontrolled macrophage activation, corrupting our biggest ally into a fatal enemy. I went on to study these cells in other contexts, including pregnancy, where placental macrophages have a plethora of roles essential for fetal health. By the midpoint of my medical studies at Cambridge University, I was committed to dedicating more time to immunology research, which has the potential to transform all fields of medicine. For my PhD, I bring my interests in tissue-resident immunity to triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). TNBC is the most aggressive form of breast cancer and the lack of effective therapies in TNBC is a major unmet clinical need. By combining computational methods with functional disease models, I hope to derive translatable insights to antibody and macrophage-directed responses within tumours, which may yield novel therapeutic strategies in TNBC. Outside of the lab, I am passionate about sports, education outreach and medical education.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Medicine 2020

I am passionate about archival research and aspire to a career as a historian of science who closely examines local contexts and everyday practices, paying special attention to understudied voices. My doctoral research explores how knowledge about plants was consolidated in seventeenth-century English homes through list-keeping. From the kitchen hearth, extending out to gardens and global networks of exchange, lists were used to amass, process, and communicate information about plants. I trace the impact of this simple technology within and beyond the home and will contribute to an understanding of how technology can shift our relationship with nature. These interests emerged while I was studying an English BA in the UNAM and were consolidated during my Early Modern Studies MA at UCL. Nevertheless, the seeds were planted when I was growing up in rural Mexico. Having witnessed educational inequality, I am committed to addressing this issue by exploring the role of archives and digital technologies in bridging disparity, in allowing marginalised communities to reclaim repositories, and in nourishing and disseminating alternative modes of knowledge production.

Previous Education

University College London Early Modern Studies 2019
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico English Language and lit. 2017

Growing up in south-eastern Nigeria, a recurring phrase among elderly Igbo people in the region is, “before the War…”, followed by narratives of how things used to be and how things could have been. This piqued my interest in cultural heritage and how they are impacted by tragedies and conflicts. During my B.A. at the University of Nigeria, I studied how prolonged interregnal periods in certain Igbo communities, occasioned by succession difficulties after the death of a king, could impact cultural continuity. Now, I will be exploring the destructive and generative impacts of Nigeria’s 30-month Civil war, remembered as the “Biafran War”, on the cultural identity and patrimony of the Igbo people. At Cambridge, my PhD research will focus more explicitly on the complex interaction of conflict and intangible heritage and the dissonances in memorialisation, canonisation, representation and silencing. I hope to further our understanding of the uses of heritage during conflicts and to help post-conflict communities to develop comprehensive approaches to their heritage in order to inform policies for dealing with the legacies of difficult pasts. I am thrilled to belong to the Gates community and I look forward to an impactful partnership.

Previous Education

University of Nigeria Cultural Resources Management 2020
University of Nigeria Archaeology and Tourism 2016

Since childhood, I was always fascinated by developmental biology. I wanted to understand how a single cell could become a complex organism. After matriculating as an Honors Biology student at the University of Delaware, I joined Dr. Salil A. Lachke’s developmental genetics laboratory where I studied the role of RNA-binding protein-mediated post-transcriptional regulation in mammalian ocular lens development. Simultaneously, I explored my passions for education access and science advocacy. Since 2014, I’ve worked with Leading Youth Through Empowerment – a non-profit that offers accelerated coursework to high-achieving at-risk youth. I also participated in the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s Advocacy Training Program through which I met with the offices of my senators and representative to advocate for science funding and education.At Cambridge, I will carry out my Ph.D. project in the laboratory of Dr. Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz studying the post-implantation development of human and mouse embryos. Post-implantation stages are referred to as the “black box” of development, and very little is known about these early stages when many pregnancies fail. Recently, Dr. Zernicka-Goetz’s group developed a culture system that opened this “black box” and I look forward to finding what lies within it. I am honored to join the motivated and interdisciplinary Gates Cambridge community.

Previous Education

University of Delaware Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences 2019

I am a Sudanese-Canadian student, I grew up in London, Ontario and received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Western Ontario’s Department of Women’s Studies and Feminist Research. I completed an MSt in Women’s Studies at the University of Oxford as a Clarendon and Prince Sultan Scholarships holder. During my PhD, in Multi-Disciplinary Gender Studies, I aim to map the continuities between racial slavery, its attendant gendered logics and the Liberian civil war. As a Black feminist scholar, I write to fill the archival abyss that has obliterated Black women’s stories of suffering and resistance in a world where our personal lives are urgently political.

Previous Education

Oxford University MSt Women's Studies 2019
University of Western Ontario Honours Spec. in Women's Stud. 2018

I became passionate about biological systems and epigenetic regulation while I was studying my B.Sc. in Biotechnology Engineering at Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey – Campus Estado de Mexico, but also intricated with the complexities of these systems. I am convinced that they hold the key for treating diseases with clinical unmet needs, as such during my undergraduate program I conducted research related with RNA biology and gene silencing. During my PhD in genetics at Cambridge I will work on conducting research on RNA epigenetics and posttranscriptional gene regulation, as I strongly believe that these areas of research will allow us to gain a better understanding of the functioning of biological systems and to search for potential treatments for diseases, such as Cancer. I am very proud and excited to be a part of the Gates Cambridge Community, a community of scholars who believe in the power of knowledge for transforming societies.

Previous Education

Inst Tecnológico de Monterrey Estado de Mexico Biotechnology Engineering 2020

My work focuses on the structure and content of representations in deep neural networks. State-of-the-art machine learning systems are ubiquitous in modern life. Deep neural networks exhibit a remarkable level of predictive success worthy of the popular label of artificial intelligence (AI). These systems find applications in everything from algorithmic decision assistance in medicine and criminal justice to playing board games like chess and Go. Our epistemic networks are increasingly intertwined with machine learning algorithms, and scientists rely on them in computational models. However, deep learning systems are opaque in ways that make explaining their capacities intractable. Philosophers of science are uniquely positioned to investigate critical questions concerning the widespread implementation of AI systems. How can deep neural networks teach us about the brain? How do these models generate explanations in science? To what extent does science demand transparency in AI? How should rapid technological advancements in AI inform public policy? How can we promote more humane and egalitarian implementations of AI in public life? Understanding how AI exploits abstract representations can shed light on these important questions.

Previous Education

University of Houston Philosophy 2021
University of Houston Philosophy 2019

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

I grew up in Austria, where the formal educational attainment of an individual strongly depends on their parents' education and profession. Education at all levels is not as accessible as it could and should be, and this is most harmful to the most marginalized members of our society. As a German as a second language teacher working with refugees, I have come to understand that accessibility barriers can take many forms, and that what are seemingly traits of individual learners (such as motivation) should be re-examined and understood as systemic accessibility issues.My PhD project will combine gender studies with educational research and social work practice to better understand male refugees' conceptualizations of their plural identities and their language learning motivation. I hope that my findings will contribute to making second language education more accessible and inclusive, and I am honored to be able to carry out this research as a member of the Gates Cambridge community.

I grew up in Kolkata, India and studied for a BA in English at Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University. Later, I pursued an MA in Comparative Literature at SOAS, University of London. As a student of literature, I grew deeply interested in the subversive potential and the community value of protest poetry. Through my PhD in English at Cambridge, I seek to explore the literary and cultural movements of the protest poem in the postcolonial metropolis. I find this examination increasingly relevant in light of recent worldwide resistance networks, which express international solidarity through the literary text. Through this project, I hope to not only find interventional ways of thinking about the protest poem, but also to find methodologies for making the literature classroom a socially transformative space.(she/her)

Previous Education

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) MA in Comparative Literature (Africa/Asia) 2019
Lady Shri Ram College for Women BA in English 2018

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://www.linkedin.com/in/joy-tr

I grew up in the beautiful city of Pilar in Argentina but left to pursue a BSc Politics and Philosophy at LSE. As an undergraduate, I became particularly intrigued by questions regarding the nature of goodness and evil and dedicated my dissertation to the (apparent) incompatibility between the existence of God and the evil in our world. During my MSc Political Theory at LSE, I continued to inquire into the intricate nature of moral properties and their normativity through the close study of Kant, Hobbes, Marx and Aristotle. I ultimately came to think that the normativity of ethics might not spring from rationality but from requirements of interpersonal relations. With this in mind, I devoted my MPhil Philosophy research at Cambridge to uncovering what love and friendship are all about. I will continue this study in my PhD by asking whether acting ethically is a necessary presupposition of acting with someone. I hope my project will offer a framework to understand not only the source of the normativity of moral demands but also the moral dimension of our personal and political relations with each other. I am humbled to join the Gates Cambridge community and look forward to working with such a talented group of scholars.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Philosophy 2021
London School of Economics & Political Science (Un Political theory 2020
London School of Economics & Political Science (Un Politics and Philosophy 2019

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/frodriguezx2
https://facundorodriguez.site

I was born in Detroit, Michigan and spent my teenage years in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During my studies in Anthropology and English at Bowdoin College, I explored how humans express differences in their lived experiences to each other. I was a recipient of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, where I studied how storytelling can facilitate communication across differences in the context of school district community engagement. My professional experiences after Bowdoin solidified and honed my commitment to serving people while introducing me to the intersections of law, community engagement, and the American immigration system. This MPhil in Social Anthropology allows me to continue learning about the relationship between legal systems and immigrant communities in anthropological research. I plan to continue researching immigration law, legal consciousness, and how undocumented immigrants form collective identity in order to elevate immigrant voices and to promote the autonomy of immigrant communities. I am honored to join the Gates Cambridge community, where we all strive to learn how to serve people better.

Previous Education

Bowdoin College Anthropology, English 2018