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‘What is truth?’ Pontius Pilate (John 18:38)

It’s an old question. But one that has taken on new importance in an age increasingly labelled ‘post-truth’. One core part of the question is what determines truth. Some claim that truth is a subjective notion, perhaps determined by an individual's perspective. Others think truth is objective, determined by the configuration of the world. Each approach raises more questions. How does an individual's perspective/the world determine what is true? Are there really two notions here that have become confused, or is only one plausible? It also seems difficult to see how either approach explains mathematical truths such as 2+2=4.

My PhD thesis studies the concept of truth. In particular, the way the notion was understood by German mathematician-cum-philosopher Gottlob Frege. Frege holds a unique perspective on truth. He claims that truth is indefinable. And yet he also holds that it is a substantial notion that grounds all factual claims. This gives him a unique perspective on the role of logic. While science studies truths, logic studies truth itself. For logic describes the laws of truth, which are the laws by which we reason. So logic, for Frege, is the fundamental science.

This suggests a middle road. Perhaps truth resides (first and foremost) in the inter-subjective experience of correct thinking. In the law-like principles of valid reasoning. 2+2=4 is true, not because the world is arranged a certain way, nor because we have collectively or individually decided to treat this claim as true, but because we cannot reason that it is false. It is true because it is an absolute inter-subjective fact. Truth is a notion grounded in the interaction between thinking subject(s) and thought about object(s).

(While in New Zealand, I studied a BA with a double major in Philosophy and Mathematics, as well as an MA Philosophy. Since arriving in Cambridge I have completed an MPhil in Philosophy (also as a Gates scholar) and am now engaged in a PhD.)

Previous Education

Massey University
University of Cambridge

My PhD dissertation explored the evolution of linguistic pedagogy and thought in medieval Ireland. Following a year of lecturing and postdoctoral research in Cambridge, I am spending the summer working as a visiting researcher at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, School of Celtic Studies, funded by the American Association of University Women and the British Academy. In October 2011 I will begin a Junior Research Fellowship in Celtic at Christ Church, Oxford.

During my first semester as a student at the University of Pennsylvania, I developed an insatiable curiosity for astrophysics in my introductory physics class. Soon after, I became involved in research on dark matter and the transient universe, including black holes, microlensing, and supernovae. My curiosity, combined with research experience, grew into a B.A. and M.Sc. in physics from the University of Pennsylvania and a desire to pursue a PhD in astronomy. Additionally, it spurred in me a passion for encouraging more young women to pursue a STEM education, which I have enjoyed doing as a mentor and tutor. At the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, I will study supernovae in the near infrared as a probe of the accelerated expansion of the universe. In addition, I will continue my efforts to increase the involvement of women and underrepresented groups in physics through mentorship and advocacy. I look forward to being part of the Gates-Cambridge community to learn from and engage with scholars who are actively working to improve the lives of others in every field.

Previous Education

University of Pennsylvania Physics 2022

I'm a fellowship-trained attending physician practicing emergency, medical toxicology, and addiction medicine in the suburbs of Nashville, TN.

Previous Education

Rutgers University Certificate in Behavioral Pharmacology 2008
Rutgers University Cell Biology & Neuroscience, Psychology, BA Honors 2008

Links

http://www.cerberin.com
http://michaelhayoun.strikingly.com

Simone Haysom has expertise in policing and organised crime, urban change, displacement, and humanitarianism in conflict settings. Previously a Research Associate with the Overseas Development Institute in London, she is now a Senior Research Analyst at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime. Recent major work projects include documenting and analysing the heroin trade along Africa's east coast, and researching the livelihoods of Syrian refugees in Amman. Her first non-fiction book, about the recent rise of vigilantism in Cape Town and the Commission of Inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha township, is scheduled for publication by Jonathan Ball in September 2018. She will be a Visiting Academic at the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford until September 2018.

Gates Alum, Selwyn (2013), Ents Officer Selwyn MCR (2013-2014), Dreamer by choice

My field of research is Second Language Education, which I have pursued for over 10 years. However, I am also extremely interested in early education, educational policy-making and management. My career goal is to become a professional educator and help improve education in my home country. I am very glad to be able to conduct further research at Cambridge and I would particularly like to extend my thanks to the Gates Trust for generously sponsoring my study at Cambridge.

Dr. He is an assistant professor at UCLA. Her research focuses on biologically inspired materials based on stimuli-responsive polymers and micro/nano-structure fabrication, for applications in biomedicine, environment, and energy. Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University (2011-2014); Ph.D. in Chemistry, University of Cambridge (2011).

Ninety percent of a child's brain develops by age five. Investment in quality early education services has a higher economic and social return than investment in education services at any other age. And yet, early education interventions are rarely funded at-scale. Of those that do exist, few are understood by their mechanisms of effect or differential effectiveness across subpopulations. For my dissertation, I plan to address these issues by evaluating two large-scale parenting programs in the UK (VIPP-SD) and Brazil (Primeira Infancia Melhor; PIM). My hope is that evaluation findings can be leveraged to inform service delivery and program targeting (PIM) and broaden the evidence-base of these interventions to more distal child outcomes including self-regulation. Prior to Cambridge, I worked at the Harvard David Rockefeller Center in Sao Paulo, and fellow with the Mayor of Baton Rouge on the city's Cradle to K Parenting Program.

Previous Education

Harvard University International Education Policy 2019
Boston College Secondary Education, History 2016

Learning under uncertainty is a core daily demand. In an ever-changing world, we must learn to deal with its uncertain nature. How is learning under uncertainty represented in the developing brain? How does anxiety arise as a function of maladaptive uncertainty representations during development? What are important mitigating factors when uncertainty is unavoidable? My PhD research empirically investigates these questions using data-driven, computational modelling approaches. I grew up in a small harbour town in the marshlands of northern Germany – a steadfast childhood on the banks of the river Weser. When I moved to Hong Kong and started my MPhil in the wake of the 2019-2020 protests, I interviewed people for whom that same consistency was absent. My research focused on the cognitive processing of individuals who were affected by internalising psychopathology. In Cambridge, I am thrilled to join Prof. Rebecca Lawson’s Prediction and Learning Lab and address one of the world’s most prevalent mental disorders with actionable solutions.

Previous Education

University of Hong Kong Cog. Psychology / Neuroscience 2024
Universität Witten/Herdecke Psychology and Psychotherapy 2020
Universität Witten/Herdecke Management 2018

My passion for sustainable peacebuilding in post-conflict settings stems from being raised in an intergenerational, Russian-American household. Witnessing the consequences of unredressed harm following conflict in the Soviet Union drove my desire to study government, justice, and peacebuilding at Georgetown University. While at Georgetown, I worked with Ambassador Norman Eisen at the Brookings Institution on issues of legal accountability following January 6th. Prior, I supported several non-profits such as PEN America and Triangle Project. Most recently, I am a Researcher at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security where I helped create the first policy tracker in the world with a gender focus. At Cambridge, I will read for an MPhil in Development Studies. I look forward to exploring how transitional justice, democratization, and international law can meet the needs of historically neglected individuals in conflict and post-conflict states.

Previous Education

Georgetown University Government; Justice & Peace 2024

I was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before an interest in bioscience and the human condition took me to London for medical school. There, my longstanding curiosity about the inner workings of the human body, combined with exposure to patients with acute brain injury – whether on the wards, in clinics, or in the operating theatre – deepened my interest in the pathophysiology and management of these complex conditions. My research centres on understanding and targeting the molecular and cellular mechanisms driving brain injury, with a particular focus on mitochondrial dysfunction and neuroinflammation following traumatic brain injury (TBI). During my PhD in Clinical Neurosciences, my work will involve development of in vitro cellular models of TBI to investigate these secondary injury processes, identify biomarkers, and aid in the clinical translation of novel neuroprotective agents. It is an honour to join the cohort of Gates Scholars, and I look forward to growing within this mission-driven community as I work toward bridging the gap between innovative research and compassionate patient care.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Medical Science

I completed a BSc in Psychology at York University, Glendon Campus; J.D. at Columbia Law School; and Master II at Sciences Po Paris. I then spent a year as a law clerk and associate at an international law firm. During these experiences, I developed an interest in ethics, political philosophy, and legal philosophy. I became interested in how rigorous philosophical analysis can allow us to challenge our assumptions about what constitutes morally permissible behaviour, particularly in the context of interpersonal relationships. In addition, I was drawn to questions about whether the legal framework for shaping conduct in the sphere of intimate relationships is normatively justifiable and, more broadly, the extent to which the legal system is an appropriate vehicle for advancing justice in the domain of intimate relationships. During my MPhil in Philosophy at Cambridge, I aim to continue exploring these topics through research, with an eye to how insights in ethics, political philosophy, and legal philosophy can drive reform in the law and rethinking of policy.

Previous Education

Columbia University Law 2023
Sciences PO, Institut d'etudes politiques de Paris Economic Law 2023

My research focuses on a class of proteins called intrinsically disordered proteins. Unlike most well-studied proteins, such as those responsible for immunological responses, catalysis, and DNA replication, disordered proteins have no rigid three-dimensional structure and are instead highly dynamic. Despite their high prevalence in diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, and diabetes, these proteins receive little attention, likely a result of how difficult they are to observe experimentally. My doctoral research will combine experimental methods with high-powered modelling techniques to understand these proteins and their relation to disease. Originally from Chicago, I attended Pomona College, where I double majored in chemistry and mathematics. There, I studied topics ranging from protein-ligand binding to topological complexity in protein structures (such as knots and links). My love of working at the intersection of biochemistry, math, and physics led me to begin working with Professor Michele Vendruscolo at the University of Cambridge as a Churchill Scholar, where I am combining computational methods with experimental techniques to understand the interactions between disordered proteins and therapeutic drugs. I am keen to improve the ways in which biochemists obtain information about protein function and stability and am intrigued by the potential of such work to have direct implications on our understanding and treatment of disease.

Previous Education

Pomona College
University of Cambridge

Anne Heminger is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Tampa. Her research centres on the English Reformation, examining how the composition, dissemination, and performance of religious music shaped the early modern construction of English identity in the sixteenth century. Her book project, titled Confession Carried Aloft: Music, Religious Politics, and National Identity in Mid-Tudor London, highlights the key role religious music played in fueling competing and historically rooted notions of Englishness from Henry VIII’s break with Rome into the first years of Elizabeth I’s reign.

Anne holds a BA in music from the University of Chicago, an MPhil in musicology from Cambridge, and a PhD in historical musicology from the University of Michigan. She is the author of two articles: “Music Theory at Work: The Eton Choirbook, Rhythmic Proportions, and Musical Networks in Sixteenth-Century England,” (Early Music History, 2018) and “‘Zu dienst wan sy syngen jn eynn:’ Music, Politics, and the Reformed Livonian Service Books of 1530 and 1537,” published in Celebrating Lutheran Church Music (Uppsala University Press, 2019). She is currently at work on two further articles on English music printing and the music of Christopher Tye. Beyond the English Reformation, her research and teaching interests include late medieval devotional culture, liturgy and ritual studies, the development of music printing and technology, and twentieth-century Baltic choral music.

Previous Education

University of Chicago

I was first introduced to the enormous potential of statistical modelling and machine learning during my undergraduate degree at the LSE and master’s degree at Imperial College. Later on, I worked as a Data Scientist on industry applications in pharma and healthcare, where I noticed a large gap between what machine learning algorithms can do in theory and the degree to which they are adopted in industry. While deep learning models have the potential to help millions of patients during the screening and treatment of fatal diseases, their lack of transparency diminishes the trust of healthcare practitioners, patients, and regulators. I have explored this problem throughout my Computer Science MPhil at Cambridge by studying how we can use design intuitive clinical decision-making tools for different cancer screening tasks. During my PhD, I seek to further develop explainable and stable machine learning systems with a high human-in-the-loop component. I am very excited by the contributions that these systems could bring to the field of healthcare and beyond – improving the accessibility of ML algorithms for fatal diseases and addressing concerns about hidden biases and accountability in algorithmic decision making.

I am a technology and healthcare executive. I currently lead Enterprise Sales for DACH, Eastern Europe and Israel for VMware, a provider of multi-cloud services for all apps, enabling digital innovation with enterprise control. My mission is to enable and equip sales teams to sell more strategically, shape and close big(ger) deals. I am a big believer in empathy and a thorough understanding of customer needs to deliver superior customer value. I am also a board member for a leading European health and social care software provider. I have a background in strategy consulting, working for Bain & Company on corporate strategy & transformations for tech and healthcare clients. I have been living in Switzerland (first Geneva, now Zurich) since 2015.

Links

http://everydayservicedesign.blogspot.co.uk
http://eva-maria.hempe.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eva-maria-hempe