Directory

Pradipta Biswas is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing of Indian Institute of Science. His research focuses on user modelling and multimodal human-machine interaction for aviation and automotive environments and for assistive technology. Earlier, he was a Senior Research Associate at Engineering Department, Research Fellow at Wolfson College and Research Associate at Trinity Hall of University of Cambridge. He completed PhD in Computer Science at the Rainbow Group of University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and Trinity College in 2010 and was awarded a Gates-Cambridge Scholarship in 2006. He undertook a first degree in Information Technology at the University of Kalyani and a master degree at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He conducts a course on Human Computer Interaction at Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, guest lecture at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and was a vice chairman of ITU-T Focus Group on Smart TV.

At heart, I’m a runner who finds the time to study theoretical physics: although in reality, it’s often the other way around. Growing up in the sun, sand and bush of Perth, Western Australia, I uncovered a passion for science – which took me across the country to the Australian National University in Canberra. I lived at Bruce Hall, and helping the community there survive our building being demolished and rebuilt instilled in me a love of working with people. At the same time, my studies fostered an excitement for uncovering a theory of quantum gravity; but it became apparent I’d have to travel overseas to fulfil that dream. Thus, I came to Cambridge to complete the Part III Maths, and prepare myself for a PhD here. In my PhD, I’ll be studying and proposing thought experiments examining quantum gravity, to inform how we build theories in future. I ultimately want to combine my passions for people and physics as an educator, and take ideas about quantum gravity to places (like Australia) where the field is still very small. Being a Gates Scholar will allow me to learn from other scholars how to make my impact as an educator felt not just in Australia, but all over the world.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Mathematics 2022
Australian National University Physics 2020

Alongside my undergraduate study of archaeology and the ancient Mediterranean world at the George Washington University, I developed an intense interest in the complexities of cultural heritage. Heritage is an immensely powerful tool in creating feelings of belonging. Simultaneously, our heritage can also be used for exclusionary purposes: to justify violence and silence minority voices. Through the MPhil in Heritage Studies at Cambridge, I intend to further my understanding of how tangible and intangible heritage shapes identity, memory, and culture in the present. Namely, I will continue research into the root causes of continued looting, theft, and destruction of cultural heritage in West Africa. My ongoing work will foreground local voices to inform meaningful heritage management in the region.

Previous Education

George Washington University Archaeology; Classical Studies 2023

I was born to a Quebecois family in Montreal and grew up in English speaking Halifax, Canada. There I completed a BA in History of Science and Technology at the University of King's College. Though I was a humanities student I spent much of my undergraduate working in laboratories, learning and reflecting on the experimental methods of scientists. Stepping between different research cultures gave me a fascination for the different ways in which we can study the natural world. More than ethical advice, I believe that philosophy and history can contribute genuine methodological insights for the sciences. During my MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine at Cambridge I hope to examine the ways in which model organisms are shaped by their experimental contexts. What kind of generalizations can be drawn from organisms that change constantly and situationally? I believe that answering this question calls for interdisciplinary and inter-cultural approaches, and I hope to continue my collaborations with scientists during my time at Cambridge. I am honoured to join the Gates community, where I will be able to take part in scholarly conversations that reach across disciplines and nationalities.

Previous Education

University of King's College History of Science&Technology 2020

I am from Jamaica, and previously studied law in the Caribbean and at Cambridge. With the Gates scholarship I hope to pursue research leading to the award of a PhD in International Law. More specifically, I will look at the implementation of international human rights through regional mechanisms in the Americas and Africa. Subsequently, I hope to mix an academic career with international law practice.

I arrived at Cambridge in 2012 to pursue an MPhil in Environment, Society and Development to learn how best to negotiate environmental pressures when alleviating poverty through economic growth. I am particularly interested in developing policies that address both extreme poverty and biodiversity loss--two of the most critical challenges of our era. In 2013, I received a second Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue a PhD that addresses climate change policy and environmental justice, and received my PhD in 2017. Before Cambridge, I worked for six years directing international development and conservation initiatives for a coffee importing company. In this role, I raised over $4 million for livelihood improvement programs, some of which were featured at the Clinton Global Initiative and in National Geographic's Wild Chronicles series.

Throughout my medical education in Australia, I have been fascinated by the promise of personalised medicine, of moving beyond generic treatment protocols to individualised decision making. Such an approach will make healthcare more effective and improve equity of outcomes across our community. During my specialty training in nephrology, I have had the rewarding experience of providing care to many individuals undergoing kidney transplantation. While this procedure can be life-changing, there is a pressing need for better strategies to individualise transplant immunosuppression to improve long-term outcomes. In my PhD project we will utilise next generation sequencing to study patterns of gene expression in circulating immune cells before and after kidney transplantation and correlate this data with relevant clinical events. This research will improve our understanding of the genetic and molecular basis of variable outcomes in kidney transplant recipients. I am grateful and honoured to be contributing to this field as a member of the Gates Cambridge community.

Previous Education

University of Sydney Public Health 2019
University of New South Wales Medicine 2014

Originally a Literature student from the University of Buenos Aires, I finished an MPhil in Latin American Studies at Cambridge with a Simón Bolívar Scholarship in June 2007. Focusing on guerrilla movements active during the 1970s in Argentina, I am interested in the way children of militants who disappeared during the 1976-1983 dictatorship use visual mediums to reflect on their parents’ political practices. My PhD will examine the links between Politics and Literature from 1969 to 1974. My concern over memory and militancy was fuelled during 2005 when I was invited by the Argentine Ministry of Education to participate in a team promoting discussion over these issues in schools and universities. After finishing my PhD I will continue to work for FLACSO and other institutions,

I have always been mesmerized by the world around me and by how everything seems to fit so perfectly together. During high school I tried to combine as many different courses as I could - from biology to history and from arts to math – in order to try and understand all these connections. My teachers continuously tried to explain to me that those fields would never come together in my future. Close to the registration deadline for universities, however, I was introduced to archaeology and fell instantly in love. Studying archaeology has enabled me to learn a lot about subjects ranging from ecology to geology, from history to biomolecular sciences and from arts to evolutionary processes. After a BA in archaeology at Leiden University, I continued to do a Research Master in Bioarchaeology, focusing on human skeletal remains. I have found the field I belong in and that aims to understand how all sciences interplay with each other. I am therefore thrilled to be starting my PhD in archaeology, researching how leprosy sufferers in medieval England have experienced living with their disease, both socially and biologically. I will do so by taking a multidisciplinary approach combining archaeology, osteology, paleopathology, isotope research, biomolecular approaches and historical sources.

Previous Education

Rijksuniversiteit Leiden (Leiden Univ) Human osteoarchaeology 2018
Rijksuniversiteit Leiden (Leiden Univ) Human Osteoarchaeology 2016

Kofi is an academic, a social entrepreneur and a mentor who is passionate about the development of young people and Africa. He moved to Clare Hall as a Junior Research Fellow after completing his MPhil and PhD at St Edmund’s College. His research takes an interdisciplinary approach to issues of crime and development with particular interest in youth and gender-based violence. Kofi has published widely in high-impact journals in the fields of psychology, law and criminology. He serves on several journal editorial boards. He has been a visiting fellow to universities in the US and Africa, including Cornell University School of Law, State University of New York and University of Ghana. Kofi is the founder of the Oxbridge African Mentorship Programme, a charity that provides mentoring for young talents in Africa. He is also co-founder of the African Institute for Crime, Policy and Governance Research, a think tank based in Ghana that promotes high quality research on crime, justice and governance issues to inform policy in Africa.

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kofi-boakye-0788285

I am interested in patterns of threat and extinction due to habitat loss, and the use of quantitative methods to aid in both understanding past and present patterns of species' losses and making future conservation decisions. Particularly I am interested in revisiting the Species Area Relationship and its use in predicting species' extinctions.

My research at Cambridge focuses on the production of hydrogen for fuel cells and carbon capture and storage. I was born in Austria and attended Gymnasium before returning to the US for high school. I graduated from Princeton University in 2006 with a degree in Chemical Engineering.

I am particularly interested in multimedia cartography and GIS. At Cambridge, I would like to focus on visualization of spatial data using 3D models and virtual reality for Coastal Zone Management.

Previous Education

Business College of Western Pomerania, Szczecin BA (Economics)
University of Aberdeen Erasmus scholar
University of Szczecin Msc Marine Geography