Directory

During my undergraduate studies in Munich I discovered organic electronics to be a promising field. Specifically, very cheap, flexible and disposable organic solar cells could lead to a new and sustainable energy source. In my PhD in Cambridge I plan to explore the physics behind singlet exciton fission in organic materials and its use in photovoltaics to reach efficiencies beyond the Shockley-Queisser limit. The final goal is to obtain an understanding of the physics behind singlet exciton fission and the dynamics of the resulting triplet excitons. Most importantly, I want to use this insight to design new systems with lower losses in excitonic energy transport and to exploit the potential of singlet fission for the efficiency to go beyond the Shockley-Queisser limit. Considering the cheap production costs, higher efficiencies can make organic solar cells attractive for large-scale use. In my PhD I would like to contribute to such a sustainable energy source.

In college my research culminated in a philosophical and historiographical investigation of the teleology at work in evolutionary theory. Recently I've become more interested in a different branch of my discipline – the philosophy of psychiatry and psychology, particularly contemporary clinical treatment and diagnostic practices.

I have always been inspired by the focus, tenacity and courage of wildlife. As a wildlife lawyer, I endeavour to apply that same conviction in my research into the ways in which law and policy affect wildlife, the communities that come into contact with them and the outcomes of conservation projects. While studying Law and International Studies at the University of New South Wales, I developed an appreciation of the profound and dramatic impact that the law can have on a person’s life. This principle similarly applies to animals, as I witnessed firsthand while working in Namibia, researching human-wildlife conflict, the illegal wildlife trade and endangered species conservation. As growing populations and environmental changes bring humans and wildlife into more frequent contact, proactive conservation strategies are an increasingly important factor in protecting the lives of both wildlife and the people who coexist with them. At Cambridge, I intend to research the ways in which interdisciplinary conservation approaches can deliver more effective solutions to key environmental challenges. I look forward to developing the skills to design and manage conservation projects in the future, as well as bridging the gap between conservation and the law, in theory and in practice. It is an incredible opportunity and privilege to join the Gates Cambridge community and I look forward to researching this important area to improve the lives of humans and wildlife around the world.

Previous Education

University of Copenhagen
University of New South Wales

I am currently on the MB PhD course aspiring to become a Physician-Scientist.Studying medicine at Cambridge and doing my part II in pharmacology allowed to discover my passion for the science that medicine is built on, especially the science of cellular signalling. My PhD would be about the interactions between calcium signals and cAMP signals in vascular smooth muscle cells mediated by the inflammatory mediators Histamine and Prostaglandin E2 respectively. The topic especially appeals to me because it has implications both for further understanding of vascular biology/pathology and also for further understanding of calcium and cAMP interactions, which are crucially important for many physiological processes. On completion of the MB PhD course , I hope to return to Palestine and help in the development of the field of medical research there, and I hope that my contributions into medical research will one day cause major advancements in clinical practice. As a physician scientist, I also hope to have a role in the field of health policy in my country.I am very pleased to be joining the Gates family , not only because the scholarship will allow me to pursue my PhD but also because I will be joining a community of like minded people with the common goal of improving the world and the lives of others.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge

The focus of my PhD will be on the origins of the feeling of guilt. I will look at this question from philosophical and psychoanalytic sources mainly in the works of Nietzsche, Freud and Lacan.

As a medical student and even later, while working as a physician, I became very frustrated by the fact that by using the current medical knowledge we’re still not able to help our patients as much as we want to. I would be extremely happy if, by doing research, I managed to contribute to the understanding of mechanisms underlying certain diseases.

I'm now an assistant professor in applied math at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. I run a fluids lab for basic and interdisciplinary research related to biology, engineering, and geophysics. Past projects include the flow of viscous fluids, granular materials, and synthetic microswimmers. Modeling their movements in the lab offers insight into microbial dispersion, lava flows, and many other phenomena in nature.

Born in Tokyo, I became inspired by the impact of microbiologists’ discoveries in the ”Microbe Hunters” and realised that as a physician-scientist, I could engage in translational research to contribute to society in a meaningful way. During my studies in Medicine at the University of Tokyo, I had the opportunity to engage in public health projects - including initiating a project to use black soldier fly larvae to decompose organic waste. Academically, I became interested in how the behaviour of cells in our body causes the emergent properties associated with diseases. To better understand these behaviours, I chose to intermit my studies in Tokyo to gain a more theoretical background through an undergraduate Computer Science degree at the University of Cambridge. My current interest lies in understanding cell behaviour in both the stem cell compartment and the immune response. For my PhD, I aim to uncover how clonal behaviours affect an immune response's success, with the hope that any finding can be translated to the clinic. I have a strong interest in academia's role in progressing society and am looking forward to working and collaborating with like-minded scholars.

Previous Education

University of Tokyo Medicine (intermitted) 2023

My first hands-on exposure to international health was as an undergraduate student researching Lassa fever in Sierra Leone. However, it was after working with a non-governmental organization in Colombia that I became fully aware of the increasing burden of cancer in regions also affected by infectious diseases. I am currently a medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and aim to be involved in the development of cancer prevention and treatment infrastructures in low and middle income countries. At Cambridge I will be studying for an MPhil in Oncology.

Previous Education

Tulane University of Louisiana
University of Pennsylvania

Previous Education

University of Cambridge MPhil in Educational Research 2007
University of Connecticut MA Education 2004
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem BA Education & General Studies 1999

I’m a PhD student at Cambridge University specialising in techno-utopias within the Anthropocene. I investigate whether the emergence of techno-futuristic projects to colonise outer space, erect cryptodemocracies, and build seasteads on the ocean, leave a dent on international law and destabilise its philosophical foundations, or innovate it to be emancipatory. I am keen to know how 'futuristic' scales -- the oceanic, the virtual, the planetary -- stretch the sociolegal limits of the earth, and complicate the subjecthood of the mortal humans within it. Prior to my PhD, I have had the privilege of generating value across a range of policy spheres within Southeast Asia for 6 years. As technical aide to the Finance Minister, I led economic diplomacy missions to Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Vietnam, Singapore, New York, and Washington DC, as staff-level Head of Delegation (HoD). In the same stint, I held the international finance portfolio (IMF-WB, ADB, AIIB) and established strong linkages between the Philippines and multilateral institutions like the IMF-World Bank, ADB, and AIIB. I also authored white papers on development policy, specifically on tax, climate finance, and macroeconomic strategy. More recently, I spearheaded an all-Millennial, multidisciplinary task force to revamp the Philippines' Climate Change governance strategy. My team and I co-produce a climate future that is inclusive, just, and fit for the next generations. This work earned me a nomination to be the youngest Technical Expert on the National Panel of Technical Experts for climate change in the country, a nomination I declined due to conflicts of interest and scheduling.I'm open to collaborations in any of these fields, as well as to mentoring younger Filipinos who wish to access Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Anthropocene Studies 2021
London School of Economics & Political Science International Political Economy 2019

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-dl-tan-1b8290191

For much of my life, my endeavours have been fuelled by a love of learning. Thus, as an undergraduate, I frequently pursued courses and research experiences that went beyond my primary field of Biological Sciences, allowing me to gain knowledge in a diverse range of disciplines. My experiences left me with a deep appreciation of how different disciplines can complement one another in an intricate heterosis of knowledge, and it is my wish that future generations would also be able to experience the same joy in learning that I have known all my life. As such, in my pursuit of a PhD in Psychology, I hope to contribute to intervention techniques to help children for whom learning might not come easily. I believe targeting developmental language disorder and dyslexia would be a wonderful start in encouraging learning, as it is often our ability to comprehend language that allows us to understand new concepts in the first place.

Previous Education

Nanyang Technological University Biological Sciences 2020

Links

https://www.polis.cam.ac.uk/staff/benjamin-r-y-tan
https://benjamin-tan.com

My research focuses on the role of stories and storytelling to identity-formation within contexts of postcolonial migration. Growing up in Australia, in an Indian and Malaysian family, and now, studying in the UK, I have always been interested in how people, ideas, and stories travel through former imperial circuits. I am hoping to investigate how stories inform and construct identities, how stories are entangled with legacies of empire, and how various communities use stories to disrupt existing narratives of migration or colonialism. Through creative research methods such as food ethnography and music elicitation, I am specifically interested in forms of culinary and sonic storytelling.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Sociology 2021
Sciences PO, Institut d'etudes politiques de Paris Middle Eastern Studies 2020

My ultimate career goal is to become a leading researcher in the development and use of geographic information technologies, as applied to the environmental and social sciences. Having spent my childhood in Papua New Guinea, I have always been fascinated with nature and my unique life experiences have strongly connected me to social needs. I believe that environmental problems are highly complex and require a multidisciplinary approach to solve them. By pursuing my proposed studies at the University of Cambridge, I hope to gain the technical expertise and practical experience needed to specialize in the application of such technologies in a socioeconomic and public health context. Following my PhD studies, I hope to continue in academia and to teach students, while participating in consultancy work in developing countries. By pursuing these interests, I hope to make a valuable contribution to the related areas of environmental protection, conservation, and sustainable development.

I am honoured to be part of the Gates community and to be given the opportunity to pursue my further studies here at Cambridge. I will be returning to Singapore to work in the prison service upon graduation and hope to use the knowledge gained in my course to improve the offender rehabilitation programmes in the prisons back home.

I grew up in Florianópolis, southern Brazil, where I graduated as a psychologist at UFSC. I moved to Rio de Janeiro for a master's degree in Sociology and Anthropology at UFRJ. Since 2020 I lived in Roraima state, northern amazon, working for UN agencies and one Indigenous Organisation. During my master's, I researched the topic of indigenous suicide. My PhD research shifts the focus to indigenous politics in related to exctrativism, climate emergency, autonomy and colonialism.

Previous Education

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Social Anthropology 2023
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Psychology 2017
Universita Degli Studi Bologna Antropologia Culturale