Scholars win recognition for impact and engagement

  • February 12, 2025
Scholars win recognition for impact and engagement

Two Gates Cambridge Scholars have been recognised for their research's impact and engagement by the University of Cambridge

Two Gates Cambridge Scholars have been recognised in the 2024 Cambridge Awards for Research Impact and Engagement.

Stanley Onyemechalu [below right] was runner-up in the Early Career researcher category for his work on the Legacies of Biafra Heritage Project and Emma Houiellebecq was highly commended for her research on  strengthening the resilience of essential services in humanitarian crises.

Stanley’s project in Enugu south-eastern Nigeria engaged young and old through creative artistic expressions. Through workshops and an exhibition, the project aimed to promote intergenerational dialogue and historical awareness on the legacies of the Nigeria-Biafra war, a sensitive part of people’s collective history that has been suppressed by successive Nigerian governments. Stanley [2021] is doing a PhD in Archaeology.

Emma [2016 – below left], who is doing a PhD in Engineering and was a Gates Cambridge Impact Prize winner, has been working with the International Committee of the Red Cross to support humanitarian practitioners to address the challenge of maintaining access to essential services amid complex and volatile crises.

Extensive fieldwork enabled Emma to engage with local humanitarian teams and stakeholders to develop systems mapping approaches that help strengthen the resilience of essential services. This research has also helped shape operational strategies in how they approach analysis and planning in complex humanitarian crises.

Organised by the University of Cambridge Public Engagement and Impact team, the Awards for Research Impact and Engagement recognise outstanding achievement, innovation and creativity in devising and implementing ambitious engagement and impact plans which have the potential to create significant economic, social and cultural impact from, and engagement with, research.

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