Directory

As an undergraduate at Yale, I studied the history of relations between the United States and Mexico in the 20th century. I focused particularly on the movement of people and ideas during the early decades of the 20th century and the Cold War years. By highlighting the historical fluctuations in migration, my work hopes to frame current conversations about migrations across borderlands. At Cambridge, I will interrogate Mexico’s cultural response to decolonization movements around the world during the 1960s and 1970s. While scholars have written about the cultural exchange between countries like Cuba, South Africa, and Vietnam during decolonization, it is necessary to continue this dialogue to include more movements. Outside classes, I have developed an immense appreciation for museums and galleries. These public-facing institutions shape the way societies engage and discuss ideas. To connect my research with broader audiences, I have devoted time to working in a variety of museum spaces. In the summer of 2016, I developed a temporary exhibit about the segregation of Mexican children in 1920 Topeka, Kansas. The exhibit was researched and funded by the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. I hope to maintain this tradition of breaking past academic circles by seeking novel ways to discuss important moments of the past with increasingly larger audiences. It is an incredible honour to join the Gates Cambridge community.

Previous Education

Yale University BA & MA in Global History 2019

Romance languages constitute a rich area of linguistic variation yet to be properly explored. The superficial similarities among varieties and the inheritance of a long-standing prescriptive tradition have contributed to keep the highly valuable internal variation of this family in the shade. The aim of my research is to explore one of the many puzzles of Romance, that is verb-placement, and try to provide a non-stipulative account for this phenomenon. The first step of my work will thus include the collection of as many data as possible, across a selection of both standard and non-standard varieties, in the strong belief that the theory must always be driven by data. Hopefully, my reasearch will demonstrate the importance of looking at intra-Romance variation in detail, not only to achieve a more complete descriptive adequacy, but also because this may provide a challenge for those theoretical approaches whose adequacy crucially relies on the apparent homogeneity of this family.

Having been raised a Muslim, I have always carried in my heart a fascination with the vastness of the Islamic scholarly tradition and the richness of the lived experience of modern Muslims. After graduating from Highland Park High School in Dallas, Texas, I pursued an A.B. in History at Princeton University, where my interests in the history of Islam and the practice of medicine converged in research inquiring into the history of medicine in the Muslim world. This culminated in my graduating thesis which looked at paradigms of health in the late Nation of Islam. Through my MPhil in the History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine at Cambridge, I hope to focus on how a key socio-intellectual class in diasporic Muslim communities, the ulama (traditionally educated Islamic scholars), have engaged modern biomedicine and promoted varied paradigms and practices of health within Western Muslim populations. These important yet neglected histories will contribute to the project of building critical intellectual bridges between physicians/public-health experts and Muslim leaders like the ulama, with the goal of said enterprise laying not in producing a unilateral relationship between either of these domains but a symbiotic one. **Shaffin will commence his MPhil study in 2023.

Previous Education

Princeton University History 2022

Across the world, alternative political communities fight to represent the masses, ranging from that of alternative political parties, NGOs, to protesters that gather in the city. Through studying, conducting research, and teaching at the National University of Singapore, I have explored this at various urban scales, with the goal of illuminating political inequalities embedded in the city. I further pursued this goal as an MPhil student at the University of Cambridge, which deepened my understanding of these issues beyond Singaporean shores. Concurrently, I have also been involved in events designed to bring related theories into the everyday context. My proposed PhD study aims to explore the urban spatialities of diasporic communities in the UK, examining the social spaces required for political expression and relevant other issues such as social integration. I hope for my research to be a platform documenting the complexity of their stories, in so broadening traditional conceptions of migratory urbanisms. I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to continue my education at Cambridge as a Gates Scholar, and will continue developing my capacity as a leader and researcher who can meaningfully impact the community around me.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Architecture and Urban Studies 2022
National University of Singapore Architecture 2021

I grew up in New Delhi, India. At the age of three, I was diagnosed with asthma, and it was then that I developed a deep fascination with how medicines could so easily relieve my symptoms. This fascination led me to the University of Cambridge for an integrated Master's degree in Chemistry, which I could use as a tool to contribute to the development of drugs that could help so many people in need around the world. Thanks to the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, I am one step closer to this goal as I will pursue my PhD in synthesising drugs that could potentially be used to treat cancers resistant to traditional chemotherapy. I am highly grateful to become a part of this community of diverse individuals with one common goal - the betterment of mankind. I look forward to enriching discussions and projects with fellow Gates Cambridge Scholars, which will not only improve my perspective on the wider world but will also have an incredible impact on humanity.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Natural Sciences Tripos 2024
University of Cambridge Natural Sciences Tripos 2023

I am a medievalist particularly interested in the reception of antiquity and the commentary practice in the Middle Ages, with a special focus on the traditions of Dante Commentary. I am currently revising my new critical edition of Francesco da Buti’s commentary (1385-96) on Dante’s Commedia for publication (Rome: Salerno Editrice). With Ambrogio Camozzi, I have recently concluded a monograph (Brepols, 2018) on the oldest ‘Florentine’ version of the life of Alexander the Great (c. 1350), witnessed by a lavishly illuminated manuscript now at the Jagiellonian Library, Kraków. I have also started to work on my next book-length project, ‘Dante and Late Medieval Pisa’, whose aim is to explore the vibrant and influential reception of Dante’s Commedia in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Pisa, especially in relation to the city’s longstanding political and cultural rivalry with Florence. In the field of Neo-Latin Studies, I am currently preparing the critical edition of XV Century anonymous Breve Compendium et utile super tota Dantis Allegherii Comedia.

Previous Education

University of Pisa MA Italian 2005

Born in Utah, I was raised the oldest of six siblings first there and then just outside of Portland, Oregon. "Unschooled" until the age of 16 my foray into traditional education began with a handful of highschool classes, and then a dive into Spanish language, music and biology at the local community college, where I quickly developed a taste for academic work. As a non-traditional student I graduated first with an AAOT in General Studies from Clackamas Community College and then with honors from Pacific University in 2008, where I received a B.A. in Politics and Government. After graduation I lived and worked in the Alta Verapaz of Guatemala where I developed an interest in women's leadership education and the ongoing interactions between globalized western culture, local cultures and the evolution of ancient traditions.

I am a scientist and singer pursuing an MPhil at the Cambridge Centre for Music and Science. At Princeton University, I majored in neuroscience with a certificate in vocal performance. As a student of both neuroscience and music, I have always been interested in the scientific study of music’s effects on mind and body. While a dominant narrative within music and medicine focuses on music’s therapeutic effects during the illness state, I am interested in further exploring its impact on healthy individuals, from the perspective of music as a tool to enhance community health. One of the most unique stages of life during which music can exert its effects is in early infancy, when mothers and families of infants can expose their children to an enriching musical environment, which has been shown time and again to have benefits for infants along various developmental avenues. At Cambridge my research will specifically examine the reciprocal effects of infant-directed singing on mother and child, looking at how such music modulates physiological arousal/stress. I plan on pursuing a medical career and hope to engage with community music programs that operate out of healthcare settings throughout my life. In my time at Cambridge I also look forward to participating in its vibrant choral tradition.

Previous Education

Princeton University

Children have an innate ability to bring joy to and captivate those around them with their vitality and innocence. My passion for paediatric health and welfare stems from their resilience and eternal optimism - improving the lives of children is my core belief and central motivation for paediatric oncology. I derive my childhood and education from Australia, cultural heritage from India and passion for children’s healthcare and equity of access from both. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science, Medicine and Surgery from the University of New South Wales, and Masters in Medicine from the University of Sydney. Currently I am a clinical fellow with the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, developing new treatments for refractory cancers, having previously trained in paediatrics and haematology/oncology with Sydney Children’s Hospital. My research in Cambridge will focus on childhood leukaemia, and explore the role quiescent cancer stem cells play in refractory and relapsed disease. My greater goal is to continue paediatric stem cell research in Australia as a clinician scientist.

Previous Education

University of Sydney
University of New South Wales

Previous Education

University of Notre Dame Bachelor of Architecture 2013

While an undergraduate at Lee University, I was introduced to anthropology as a powerful tool of insight and understanding. During my M.Sc. in Social Anthropology at the University College London, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork among Pentecostal Christians in Appalachia who practice a century-old tradition of handling venomous snakes in the context of worship. During my research, a death in the serpent-handling community captured public interest leading to the community’s engagement with journalists, often framing the community as different and unusual. Over the past four years, teaching anthropology at Western Wyoming Community College has only reinforced my belief that understanding human differences and similarities is invaluable in breaking down barriers of fear and prejudice. Having worked in refugee and migrant communities in India, Egypt and Tennessee, I have seen how fear of differences can ostracize the imaginary ‘other.’ During my Ph.D. in Social Anthropology at Cambridge, my research will focus on the ethnographic study of time and the value of hope among asylum seekers waiting on asylum procedures in the Aegean. It is by focusing on the values of hope and the ideal good life that I expect some insight can be gained which situates refugees not as political nor as suffering strangers, but as morally evaluative humans distinctly and deeply informed by their unique cultural experiences.

Previous Education

Lee University
University College London

Joanna is currently building Arukah, a digital capital markets infrastructure for sustainability linked financing. She serves as an impact investment committee member for the United Nations Sanitation and Hygiene Fund, independent non-executive board director of Collectius AG, the World Bank IFC's partner for distressed asset recovery in SE Asia, and advisor to Figure Technologies, an MUFG and Apollo-backed fintech company that has scaled $12Bn of regulated financial services on blockchain.

Joanna has strong conviction on the potential to scale inclusive growth with new technology and creative financial structuring.

She was previously a private assets investor at Morgan Stanley, head of Asia and first dedicated executive hire for blockchain at Provenance Blockchain and Figure Technologies, and led a $700M global private equity portfolio at a listed financial services conglomerate. She has also been part of core teams building two new $2Bn traditional investment management businesses in Asia, including Morgan Stanley.

Joanna received her Bachelor's Summa cum Laude from Harvard, where she was elected one of four Phi Beta Kappa class marshals and was also Phi Beta Kappa (Junior 24), a John Harvard Scholar, and recipient of the Detur and Setchkarev Prizes. She has a Master's from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where she was a recipient of an A. Michael Spence Fellowship and conducted research at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and Stanford Center for International Development.

At Cambridge, Joanna read for an M.Phil in International Relations at Trinity College on a Gates Cambridge Fellowship and set up the Cambridge Society Singapore (now part of the Oxbridge Society) in conjunction with Cambridge's 800th Anniversary Capital Campaign. She is very grateful for the generosity of both the Gates Trust and Trinity College, and has served as regional coordinator for Hong Kong for the Gates Cambridge Alumni Association, and as a committee member for the Oxford and Cambridge Society of Hong Kong.

A critical question that permeates history and the media of today is how and why people become radicalized. Growing up in the USA, Europe, and the Middle East, I was intimately aware that radicalization can emerge on all sides of conflict and so is not merely a product of a particular ideology or demographic. By combining cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychology to study the psychological processes that underlie radicalization to an ideology or group, my PhD will aim to address the gap in our understanding of the cognitive susceptibilities to internalizing a doctrine and a willingness to harm and self-sacrifice for an ideological cause. Through this research, I hope to bring a fresh perspective to questions which have been traditionally only dealt with in the social and political sciences, and thereby to shape interventional and educational programs aimed at identifying vulnerabilities to radicalization. I am excited and honoured to be a part of the Gates Cambridge community.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge