Gates Cambridge is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2025 with a host of events bringing Scholars and Alumni together and recognising the impact they have had around the world. We will celebrate both what scholars have already achieved and look forward to the next 25 years.
The scholarship programme was set up in 2000, following an historic donation of US$210m from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the University of Cambridge. The first class of scholars came into residence in October 2001. Since then, the Trust has awarded 2,156 scholarships to scholars from 115 countries. There are over 250 scholars in residence at any given time. 25 additional scholarships will be awarded as part of our celebrations, meaning that the Class of 2025 will comprise 100 scholars.
The anniversary year will kick off with the announcement of our eight Impact Prize winners in January. A big focus of the year will be on the scholarship’s ‘ripple effect’ – the many ways our scholars have a positive impact across the world – in their fields, in their workplaces and in wider society, now and in the future.
Eilis Ferran, Provost of Gates Cambridge, says: “For 25 years now, students from across the globe have come to Cambridge to work with us and become part of our community. Then, when they go back out into the world as Gates Cambridge scholars, they make it a better place in ways no one could have predicted at the start. Whether a contribution as small as a poem that heals a single human heart or vast as the medicine that cures a million, the possibilities we set in motion are infinite. This is the heart – and the wonder – of the Gates Cambridge mission. To create a limitless ripple effect of possibility and change.”
The anniversary celebration highlights include:
Impact Prize ceremony – 10th January 2024. Eight winners will be announced who have made a demonstrable contribution to change in various fields, including the economy, society, culture, the environment, public policy, health and quality of life.
Anniversary Gates Cambridge Lecture: Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS – 6th March 2024
Cambridge Festival panel: Ideas that could change the world – 21st March 2024.
A panel event featuring cutting edge researchers addressing 3D bioprinting, access to healthcare and food security.
A full list of events will be posted shortly.
Follow all the celebrations on our social media pages, including:
Instagram: @gates.cambridge
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gatescambridge
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/gates-cambridge/
