Directory

Treating injuries and diseases of the brain and spinal cord remains one of the greatest challenges in medicine, with current therapies being insufficient to promote recovery in most instances of damage to the brain. My work at Cambridge aims to identify new targets for biochemical and genetic therapies for regenerating functional connectivity of neurons at the injury site by focusing on the genetic basis of the interaction between neurons and astrocytes in the injured central nervous system. After Cambridge, I will return to the United States to pursue a joint MD/PhD and continue researching treatment modalities for central nervous system injury and disease. Eventually, I hope to work as a physician-scientist in a setting similar to the Brain Repair Centre at Cambridge, searching for and then implementing a “cure” for previously debilitating or fatal diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord.

Previous Education

Princeton University Neuroscience and Molecular Biology 2012

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-barson-701b5b19/?originalSubdomain=uk

How do we leverage the widest possible array of human ability to confront the challenges we face as a species? Through the lens of my self-identify as a neuro- and physio- divergent individual, I am driven to seek deeper understandings of the very nature of human ability--how it can be fostered, and how it is stifled. As an undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts, I constructed an individualized program around the study of ability, continuing this interdisciplinary work with a Cambridge MPhil. For 12 years I have been part of a participatory-action research team at Boston University that designed and implemented programs to teach self-advocacy skills to youth with "disabilities." Informed by these experiences, I have become a dis/diff-ability activist and speaker, and I am currently a writing book called, "The Theory of Everyone." My PhD research will explore innovative methodologies to identify and leverage diverse human abilities - informed, I hope, by insights from this extraordinary circle that I am honored to join. Ultimately, I seek to become an academic activist and agent of change in the structures and organisations that impact the development of all human potential.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Health Medicine and Society 2020
University of Massachusetts at Amherst Social Phil. Comm. Theory 2018
Harvard Extension School Advanced Soc. Science Research 2018

Previous Education

University of Cambridge BA Theology and Religious Studies 2001
University of Delhi B.Sc. Physics 1998

During my undergraduate study at the University of Michigan, I majored in International Norms, Security, and Cooperation with a focus in the Middle East. I gained insight into the region through courses covering politics, culture, and history of the Middle East. Additionally, I had the opportunity to study in Egypt, pursue a Fulbright grant in Bahrain last year and am currently working with Syrian refugees in Turkey. Through my academic study and my experiences working and traveling abroad, I became specifically interested in the relationship between grass-roots elements like culture and language and the development of law and policy, especially in regards to human rights. Through the Gates Cambridge scholarship, I will be undertaking the MPhil in Public Policy at Cambridge in order to gain nuanced understanding into the complex process of policy development, analysis, and implementation. Through my MPP degree from Cambridge and the support from the Gates Cambridge community, I aspire to become an expert in the fields of international law and human rights policy and work to create culturally cognoscente, ethical, and effective policy for non-governmental and governmental organizations assisting in the implementation of development projects and attainment of foreign policy goals.

I recently completed my law degree from the University of California Berkeley School of Law with a specialization in International Law.

Previous Education

University of Michigan

Dr Melisa Basol is a Social Psychologist and part of the 2022 Class of Forbes 30 under 30.

In collaboration with the UK Cabinet Office (and supported by UNESCO, UN, and WHO), Melisa co-developed 'Go Viral!', a gamified intervention to combat the threat posed by COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracies. 'Go Viral!' has been played over 1.5 million times since it's launch and is now available in 10+ languages.

Melisa also collaborates with the Stanford Health Communication Initiative and Duke University's efforts to fight vaccine hesitancy. She enjoys public engagement (e.g., BBC World, TedX) and continues to advise governmental institutions (e.g. EU Commission, NATO) on evidence-based policy-making.

As a Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge, she read Psychology and focused on persuasion and resistance against misinformation through inoculation theory. Alongside numerous peer-reviewed scientific publications, Melisa was also awarded the WhatsApp Research Grant for Misinformation to help develop, test, and launch interventions against the spread of harmful misinformation on WhatsApp in India, Brazil, and the UK.

Previous Education

University of Wales, Aberystwyth
University of Cambridge

Links

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

As an infectious disease epidemiologist, I conduct research focusing on vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases. I aim to understand the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases, to assess the impact of vaccines and vaccination programs, and to determine optimal strategies for communicable disease prevention and control. Currently, I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McGill University.

Previous Education

Princeton University A.B. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 2003

Links

http://www.nicolebasta.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-e-basta

I was born and raised in California's Silicon Valley, and studied mathematics at Yale University. I enjoy using math to solve problems, both practical and theoretical. In internships, I have analyzed internet activity at Advertising.com and modeled interest rate volatility at a hedge fund.  I recently spoke on my work at a seminar New York and a conference in San Diego, and submitted a paper to the Journal of Number Theory. In addition to being elected to Phi Beta Kappa, I was awarded six prizes at Yale: five for mathematics and one for literary criticism. Having seen the value and beauty of mathematics in my own life, I want to share it with others.  To that end, I tutored students in high school and college and founded the Yale Undergraduate Math Society. At Cambridge, I will undertake Part III of the Mathematical Tripos en route to a doctorate.  As a professor, I plan to work to improve the way universities teach undergraduate mathematics.

After an MPhil in Theoretical Chemistry, I moved into theoretical physics to understand more about more fundamental processes in different systems. My supervisor and group in Cambridge and the support of the Trust have helped me enormously during this transition. I am now working towards my PhD in the area of ultracold atoms. I hope that at some point I will be able to make use of all the different aspects of my education.

Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, and understanding how species survive in changing landscapes is essential for effective conservation. One major threat is habitat fragmentation, which disrupts the connectivity species need to survive. I am interested in how animals move and persist in fragmented landscapes and how we can use this understanding to support their conservation. During my studies at ETH Zurich, I conducted research across multiple systems—from fish biodiversity in tropical rivers to shifting mountain treelines across Europe. My Master’s thesis at Yale examined how movement constraints influence space use predictions in endangered whooping cranes. My PhD at Cambridge will combine translocation experiments in Africa with global trait-based modeling to explore how morphology predicts dispersal and connectivity. By linking fieldwork, data synthesis, and spatial modeling, I aim to strengthen conservation planning by scaling connectivity metrics across taxa and grounding them in biological realism. Working under the supervision of Professor Robert Fletcher, I look forward to advancing ecological science and contributing to practical strategies that sustain species persistence in fragmented ecosystems.

Previous Education

Royal Institute of Technology Ecology
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Interdisciplinary Sciences

Previous Education

Barnard College
Oxford University

As an undergraduate at the University of Chicago and during my time in Cambridge, I worked on the ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. For my MPhil thesis, I analyzed rare decays of the Z boson, a well-known Standard Model particle, in order to calibrate mass measurements of the recently-discovered Higgs boson. I am currently a PhD student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow at Stanford University, where I work on the Dark Energy Survey, a wide-field cosmology survey using a 4-meter optical telescope in Chile, as well as hardware development for the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

Previous Education

University of Chicago Physics 2012

Links

https://mbaumer.github.io
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbaumer

I was born in Mongolia, a country that is the most sparsely populated and has the coldest capital in the world. I studied Environmental Economics and later Environmental Policy at Whitman College and Yale University, respectively. During my years of study, I was fascinated by how the valuation of environmental services can be used as a powerful tool to influence policies. More recently, I managed a market-based conservation project called the Sustainable Cashmere Project while at the Wildlife Conservation Society Mongolia program. As an MPhil in Conservation Leadership candidate, I am very interested in further exploring ways to incorporate sustainable practices and standards into supply chains. I believe that forging strong relations with committed industries is one of the key solutions to expanding the impact and influence of conservation principles around the world. I am also passionate about further supporting young environmentalists, which will build on the Environmental Fellowship Program that I initiated while working for the Zorig Foundation. I hope to see Mongolian conservationists play a more critical leadership role nationally by pushing to incorporate climate change sensitive policies, and globally by increasing our collaboration with other countries. As a Gates Cambridge Scholar, I am very excited to be a part of a dynamic network of bright minds around the world that can cross-fertilize a rich array of ideas and experiences on innovative and pressing topics.

Previous Education

Yale University Environmental Policy 2013
Whitman College Environmental Economics 2009

I’ve always lost myself in stories, sci-fi narratives, fantasy quests, tales of faraway places. Growing up, I became increasingly fascinated by stories of the past. How objects and traces can be brought together, giving a glimpse into the lives of those who came before. After earning an Anthropology BA from American University, I pursued a career as an educator, researcher, and project manager at the Smithsonian NMNH. My work involved developing content to highlight key concepts within exhibits and fostering understanding around culturally significant topics. Witnessing the power of museums as spaces for reconciliation, education, and care inspired me to undertake an MPhil at Cambridge, where I investigated ethnographic collections that may lack context. My proposed PhD seeks to build deeper connections with 'ordinary' objects in museum collections and establish best practices based on the needs of stakeholding communities worldwide. These everyday items weave us into the tapestry of life, linking people with their ancestors and fostering shared connections across time and cultures. Our past informs our present and future; I hope that by harnessing this potential, we can create a more empathetic and inclusive museum system.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Archaeological Research 2022
American University Washington Archaeology 2017

As a second-generation Algerian raised in the Parisian banlieue (93), I grew up attuned to the silence surrounding Algeria’s colonial past. To break this silence and uncover the buried stories of French colonisation, I turned to postcolonial studies. In 2020, I began freelancing as a journalist, writing on Algerian history, decolonial theory, and migration in France.I attended a Classe Préparatoire littéraire for my undergraduate studies before reading English at Sorbonne University. During my MPhil at the University of Cambridge, my research focused on epistemic injustice in harki narratives, literary cannibalism, and the symbolism of desert and mountain landscapes in Algerian literature. For my PhD, I will investigate the poetics and politics of the "fugitive voice" in contemporary Algerian writing, examining Francophonie not as a colonial command but as a space of aural resistance.Situated at the intersection of literature, critical theory, and history, my research adopts a decolonial approach to cultural studies, one that aims to foster civic discourse and community engagement. I look forward to joining the 2025 Gates cohort.

Previous Education

Université de Paris Sorbonne - Paris IV History
Université de Paris Sorbonne - Paris IV English Studies
University of Cambridge Literature, Culture, Thought