This year's 20th anniversary edition of The Scholar has gone live, with articles edited and written by Scholars and Alumni from around the world.
We want to make this year’s magazine a point of reflection, but also, more importantly, an opportunity to look forward and to conceive different possibilities for the future
Fang Liu
The 2021 edition of The Scholar, the Gates Cambridge magazine, is now out and celebrates the scholarship’s 20th anniversary with many of the articles focused on the theme of memory.
For the first time the magazine, which is edited and written by Scholars and Alumni, has gone entirely online.
Fang Liu [2020], editor of The Scholar, says: “To celebrate the 20th anniversary, we decided that this year’s theme should be ‘Memory: How the past shapes the future’. In so doing, we want to make this year’s magazine a point of reflection – focusing on how memories (re)shape our societies, understandings, and identities – but also, more importantly, an opportunity to look forward and to conceive different possibilities for the future.”
There are three sets of articles on the theme of memory. ‘From the Past’ revolves around our civilisation, history and heritage. From the lost script back in ancient Egypt, to August’s youth council, to the National Trust’s report on how heritage sites reflect the history of slavery, the articles illustrate how human beings have stumbled along the river of history from the very beginning and what can we learn from this ever-fluctuating journey that can help us inform our future.
‘Environment speaks’ consists of three different narratives from an ecological angle, showing the significant memories stored in ice, in the ocean and in human behavioural plasticity.
‘Secrets of Remembering’ draws from a biological and neurological thread, explaining the mechanisms behind memory and how that relates to and can inspire the battle against Covid-19. Four articles engage with dementia/Alzheimer’s disease from different angles, demonstrating how Gates Cambridge scholars have tackled problems of memory loss in a variety of ways.
The magazine also includes profiles of and interviews with alumni who share their trajectories and thoughts on the 20th anniversary. NASA Astronaut Kayla Barron shares her experiences in space, her everyday life at NASA and the difficulties that Covid-19 has brought. Historian Tara Westover, best-selling author of Educated, offers her insights on memory, history and her own journey. Dr Niraj Lal describes his career path after leaving Cambridge, particularly his engagement with public discourse as an active scientist. In different ways, they, among many other alumni, convey the values of and commitment to ‘improving the lives of others’ as Gates Cambridge Scholars.
The magazine’s editorial team comprises Editor Fang Liu, Deputy Editor Anis Barmada [2020] and Assistant Editor Amelia Urry [2020].
*Picture credit from the main picture on the magazine’s home page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usoceangov/8290528771/
