Directory

In the rural Indian village that my family calls home, I grew up witnessing my grandmother labor endlessly without assistive technology. Her experiences, and those of millions of women, elderly, and people with disabilities worldwide, underpin my dedication to pursue artificial intelligence solutions that bring robotic assistive technology to underprivileged communities. My background as a machine learning researcher and roboticist has enabled me to deeply appreciate the transformative power of technology, while also recognizing that technologists and governments must work together to leverage cutting-edge artificial intelligence to uplift those who need it the most. By pursuing the MPhil in technology policy, I hope to bring regulators, researchers, and the technology industry together to design policy solutions that promote bias-free, robust, and trustworthy artificial intelligence while spurring innovation. I also hope to uplift the voices of vulnerable communities in conversations about technological development and deployment. I’m thrilled to join the Gates Cambridge community and work together with such a diverse and talented group of peers to improve the lives of others.

Previous Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science 2024

Growing up in Southern Nigeria, I became fascinated with the tropical landscape and its biodiversity-rich ecosystems, this motivated me to build a career in environmental and agricultural sustainability. I am currently studying an MPhil in Biological Sciences (Zoology) at the University of Cambridge. One of the unique challenges we face is finding the best approach to co-exist with the natural world. In a world already battling with climate change, how do we bridge the gap between Biodiversity conservation and food security? As the world’s population grows, the demand for food and non-food products is ever-increasing, and as far back as human history can record man has always sought ways to manipulate the environment to derive a higher standard of living, resulting in agricultural intensification and land use changes across the globe. Food security depends on the valuable ecosystem services provided by the vast interplay of the earth’s fauna and flora. My PhD will focus on developing eco-friendly strategies to help improve biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services within agroecosystems in tropical regions with a focus on oil palm plantations. I hope to positively shape the future of sustainable agriculture in West Africa.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Biological Sciences (Zoology) 2024
University of Benin Ani. and Environmental Biology 2021

As an undergraduate studying Chemistry and Life Sciences in Taiwan, I engaged in a structural biology study about the crystal structure determination of mitochondrial nuclease MGME1. This study revealed the molecular mechanism of MGME1's function in mtDNA maintenance and motivated me to extend my knowledge of structural biology and mitochondrial biology in the Mitochondrial Biology Unit at the University of Cambridge. My future research will focus on using Cryo-EM for determining the structure of human mitochondrial ATP/ADP carriers, which play a vital role in cellular energy production. I hope my research can not only uncover the molecular mechanism of mitochondrial functions but also promote mitochondria-targeting drug discovery for the betterment of human health. Besides research, I wish that I could contribute to the scientific education in my hometown, Tainan. I want to facilitate the collaboration between local universities and high schools, making the scientific resources available for any potential and motivated young scientists. I am thrilled to meet all Gates Cambridge Scholars in this fantastic academic community.

Previous Education

National Cheng Kung University Chemistry and Life Sciences 2024

I grew up in Long Valley, New Jersey, and it was during high school that I first developed an appreciation for the beauty and complexities of physics. I then received a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University with a major in physics and minor in biology, while lettering in Varsity Lacrosse. There, I was a long standing member of Professor of Physics Ken Segall’s team where I investigated superconducting circuits for neurocomputational modeling with applications to epilepsy. During my summers, I additionally conducted research in bioelectronics and nano-optics. My undergraduate experiences have driven my passion to use research to address long standing medical issues and unmet clinical needs. I am pursuing a MPhil at Cambridge with Dr. Chris Rodger’s group to further develop Deuterium Metabolic Imaging (DMI) as a viable clinical tool for neuroimaging. Engaging in this research, I aspire to contribute significantly to the field of medical imaging throughout my predoctoral experience. I am honored to be joining the esteemed Gates Cambridge Community, and greatly look forward to beginning my work.

Previous Education

Colgate University Physics 2024

I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, and obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Medical Laboratory Science from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. As an undergraduate, I conducted research assessing lung function and biomarkers of oxidative DNA damage and inflammation among woodworkers exposed to wood dust. During this period, I developed a keen interest in understanding the dynamic relationship between the immune system and cancer, and how the former can be harnessed to treat the latter. This fascination spurred my decision to further my studies at Cambridge, where I eagerly anticipate joining the esteemed Dr. Maike de la Roche's group to explore a role for Hedgehog signaling in B-cell biology. The potential therapeutic strategies for the treatment of cancer and other diseases represented by this work particularly excite me. Ultimately, I aspire to contribute significantly to reducing the burden of cancer both within Africa and globally by actively conducting research that utilizes features of the immune system to develop more targeted and personalized therapies. I feel super elated to be joining the Gates Cambridge community and I look forward to leveraging this invaluable experience to advance my goals and improve lives.

Previous Education

University of Calabar Medical Laboratory Science 2022

I have always had a lifelong curiosity about science, particularly molecular biology. I am excited to be doing my PhD in Dr. Simon Bullock’s lab at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. My PhD will focus on understanding how cargos are transported around the cell. Investigating the molecular basis of how cargos are recognized and transported is important for our understanding of how cells work. It also gives insight into human health, as defects in this process are associated with diseases such as neurodegeneration.

I am also passionate about science communication, and I look forward to sharing science with others. The Gates Cambridge scholarship will allow me to do research in an exciting environment as part of a new community. My desire to move abroad for a PhD is influenced by the experience I had during my Rotary Youth exchange. I lived in the Netherlands for a year, and the chance to live in a new country with new friends and family was immensely rewarding.

Outside of the lab, I am excited to visit as many medieval castles as I can find. I look forward to riding my bicycle all around the Cambridge area. Hopefully there are castles within biking distance of Cambridge.

At the University of Cambridge, I will study how adolescents receive, share, and understand health information - in real life and online. Health communication is laden with misinformation, and, as a part of this research, I want to examine strategies, actors, and vulnerabilities within adolescent health misinformation; search for effective interventions against it; and develop health communication tactics that healthcare professionals, caregivers, schools, and technologists can employ to better reach teenagers. Currently, I am a Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Technology and Social Change project where I focus on public health, medical, and scientific misinformation. Prior to this research fellowship, I graduated from Harvard Kennedy School’s Master in Public Policy program, I lived in Malaysia through the Fulbright program, and I worked in the Minneapolis Public Schools. I am thrilled about the opportunity to study sociology at the University of Cambridge. I am eager to meet new friends and colleagues, excited to try new running routes, climbing gyms, and pottery studios, grateful for the support of the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, and dedicated to working towards progressive social change.

Previous Education

Harvard University Public Policy 2020
St Olaf College Spanish; Management Studies 2013

I hail from Nigeria, where I pursued my undergraduate studies in Geography at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. During my time there, I developed a profound appreciation for the intricate dynamics of our natural world and the role of geography in shaping societies and environments.My academic journey sparked a deep-seated passion for sustainable development, particularly in Africa's energy sector. This passion led me to co-found Greenage Technologies, a project aimed at harnessing renewable energy to combat energy poverty and environmental degradation in Africa.Inspired by the potential of technology to drive positive change, I am now embarking on a new chapter of my academic journey. As a recipient of the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, I will pursue an MPhil in Technology Policy at the University of Cambridge. This program aligns perfectly with my mission to leverage technology, education, and policy to foster sustainable change in the African energy sector.Through my studies and initiatives, I aspire to not only address the pressing challenges of our time but also to inspire others to join me in creating a more sustainable and equitable world. Outside of work and academics, I enjoy playing and watching football.

Previous Education

London School of Economics & Political Science (Un Environment and Development 2023
University of Nigeria Geograpahy 2018

My fascination with black holes was sparked when I read ‘The Theory of Everything’ as a 14 year-old girl. Driven by a desire to understand these puzzling and extreme objects, I earned a BSc in Physics at Sapienza University of Rome in 2023. There, I explored key topics in black hole physics, including black hole formation, evolution and emission of gravitational waves. I continued with a MASt in Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge, where my research focused on modeling black hole accretion in dwarf galaxies using cosmological simulations. During my PhD at the Institute of Astronomy, I will investigate the dynamics of supermassive black hole pairs that originate from galaxy mergers. I will develop and run cosmological simulations using supercomputers, introducing elements of machine learning to improve their efficiency and accuracy in making predictions for gravitational-wave missions. I look forward to joining the Gates Cambridge community, as it will give me the chance to learn from and collaborate with other scholars with different expertises and a shared vision of what it means to be a well-rounded researcher. I wish to improve inclusivity and accessibility in STEM disciplines through outreach and mentoring activities.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Astrophysics 2024
Universita Degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza Physics 2023

I grew up in Rockville, MD USA, and attended Johns Hopkins University where I double majored (Bachelor of Science) in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Mathematics and Statistics. I then completed my Master of Science in Engineering in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University with a concentration in biomedical data science. During my time at JHU, I realized that the information age we live in allows for data-driven innovation. After graduating from JHU, I began working as an associate computational biologist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. During my time at the Broad, I gained a lot of experience working with omics data to derive biological insight.

During my PhD in Biostatistics, I will formalize high-dimensional causal discovery and inference, leveraging machine learning techniques such as Differentiable Causal Discovery and graph neural networks. I will apply these methods to biological datasets for an improved understanding of gene regulatory networks and personalized medicine, addressing the gaps in current statistical methods used in research. This research is important as it will refocus data analysis on what researchers are primarily interested in, causal relationships.

Previous Education

Johns Hopkins University Applied Maths and Statistics 2022
Johns Hopkins University Biomedical Engineering 2022

I am from Seville, a city in the south of Spain. I started my academic journey at the University of Seville, where I completed a BSc in Biochemistry and a Master's in Molecular Genetics. During this time I was mesmerised by the complexity of life at the molecular level. I am particularly fascinated by the mechanisms Eukaryotic cells use to store their genetic information in the cell nucleus. Throughout my PhD, I seek to understand one of the great marvels of physical chemistry, how our meter-long DNA manages to condense dramatically to fit into the micrometre cell nucleus. This is an open question with huge implications for human health as it regulates how genes work. This question needs the lenses of physical chemistry to be solved. For this reason, the application of chromatin multiscale computational models—able to link the individual nucleosome behaviour to the whole chromatin organization—will help us to understand the basis of chromatin material properties.

Previous Education

Universidad de Sevilla Genetica Molecular 2024
Universidad de Sevilla Bioquimica 2023

With a background in Socio-Economics and Gender Studies, I began my career with a firm commitment to challenging the dominance of neoclassical mainstream economics in Vienna and London. With my most recent role at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose having been embedded in the context of Western European climate politics, I observed how dominant economic imaginaries are often positioned as objective common sense, excluding alternative viewpoints. Decolonial perspectives, in particular, remain significantly underrepresented and subordinated to national economic interests. During my Politics and International Studies PhD, I seek to investigate the barriers to a more pluralist engagement with the economics of climate change in Western European electoral politics. I intend to explore which economic imaginaries become side-lined and how this exclusion occurs. By focusing on decolonial economics, I hope to contribute to the decolonisation of national political economies, without which the green transition in Western Europe risks perpetuating inequalities at the expense of Global South countries.

Previous Education

London School of Economics & Political Science (Un Gender (Sexuality) 2021
Wirtschaftsuniversitat Wien (Vienna Univ of Ec & B Economics and Socio-Economics 2020

Each moment of our waking lives is wrought through the medium of our conscious awareness. The enigma of how our brains create, capture, and shape our experiences fascinates me. In my cognitive neuroscience research at Stanford University, I studied how aging and early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology affect our memory abilities. Through these studies, I came to wonder whether or how these processes change our experiences of each moment. Consequently, my research at Cambridge seeks to better understand the neural underpinnings of consciousness as a function of age and AD. Through these inquiries, I hope my research will both shed light on the neural correlates of consciousness themselves and offer approaches for earlier detection of AD. Beyond doing research, I believe in and have worked toward sharing scientific information and discovery widely. I am deeply honored, humbled, and inspired to join the Gates Cambridge community of scholars.

Previous Education

Stanford University Human Biology 2021

There is perhaps too little concern for the study of hope. Much of our efforts are devoted to the comprehension and contemplation of violence, to the analysis of war and its destructive force. But equally relevant is to recognise that even in scenarios where violence is present, there are stories of people who try to build something different. And that these are accounts worth paying attention to. Growing up amidst Mexico’s “War on Drugs” has deeply shaped my life and gaze as a researcher. It has led me to analyse the global dynamics that favour conflict and the legal frameworks of war, but also to the study of local peace processes linked to environmental protection. For my PhD in Development Studies, I seek to explore the emergence of collective action to address socio-environmental threats. In a global context of interrelated social and environmental crises, I want to understand how people come together, how transformative alternatives are forged, and how they may help repair the social fabric, promote healing, and enact justice. With this research, I wish to learn from local actors and everyday resistance and contribute to the efforts to outline a different future.

Previous Education

University of Amsterdam Conflict Resolution Governance 2020
Universidad Iberoamericana International Relations 2017

As an undergraduate researcher in the Butler Polymer Research Laboratory at the University of Florida, I developed an interest in bridging the gap between polymer chemistry innovations and biomedical applications. During my PhD in Chemistry, I intend to tackle biomedical problems from a molecular-level approach and to design stimuli-responsive materials with potential for the controlled and long-term encapsulation and release of insulin to treat type 1 diabetes. As a type 1 diabetic myself, I feel incredibly fortunate to have grown up in a country where live-saving technologies allow me to thrive. I am heartbroken by the reality that many people in under-resourced regions lack access to affordable and accessible medical care to treat chronic conditions like type 1 diabetes. I am dedicated to both the pursuit of innovations in therapeutics through polymer chemistry and the expansion of access to these innovations for those in need. I am incredibly honored to join the Gates community and to work to make a lasting impact on the medical field for individuals from all backgrounds.

Previous Education

University of Florida Chemistry 2024

My initial interest in Neuroscience emerged during my undergraduate studies at Northeastern University. However, it was my experience working as a PT/OT aide with survivors of stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI) that sparked a profound passion for working in neurorehabilitation. In this setting, I often observed that patients were not given clear prognostic outcomes. This realization served as a catalyst, pivoting my research interests towards the characterization of central nervous system conditions and utilizing precision medicine to improve therapeutic interventions. With over six years of research experience spanning both industry and academia, I’ve investigated neurodegenerative disorders, spinal cord injuries, and amputations using several modalities including MRI, EEG, and interventional neuromodulatory methods. Working directly with various populations and methodologies has deeply enriched my dedication to helping others through research. As I begin my journey towards a PhD in Medicine at Cambridge, my hope is to use novel biomarkers to improve prognostic models of TBI and to narrow the research-to-practice gap in neurorehabilitation.

Previous Education

Northeastern University Post-Baccalaureate Coursework 2021
Northeastern University Psychology 2019

I am an AI ethics and critical design researcher interested in reimagining AI from Majority World perspectives. I blend decolonial approaches with ethnographic and computational methods to analyse the implications of digital technologies on the historically marginalised populations in the Global South. I have recently completed my MPhil in Ethics of AI, Data, and Algorithms at the Leverhulme Centre for Future of Intelligence (LCFI), University of Cambridge, funded by Trinity Hall Postgraduate Research Studentship. Previously, as a Research Assistant at LCFI, I contributed to organising the Many Worlds of AI conference and co-edited its digital proceedings. I also co-designed a toolkit helping journalists worldwide in responsibly communicating AI’s harms and potentials. I completed my MA at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM), University of Warwick with Commonwealth Scholarship, achieved distinctions, and was awarded for my academic excellence. Prior, as a Senior Research Associate at BRAC University, I co-developed a Digital Strategy Primer for Bangladesh launched by the State Minister of the ICT Division in collaboration with the University of Oxford.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Ethics in AI,Data&Algorithms 2024
University of Warwick Digital Media and Culture 2022
Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology Civil Engineering 2018

Links

https://www.abdullahsafir.net
https://www.linkedin.com/in/abdullah-safir-07944122b

I grew up in San Francisco, California, and completed a B.A. in Comparative Literature & Society and Mathematics at Columbia University. I’m broadly interested in the relationship between technical knowledge and social order, particularly in the histories of eugenics and mathematics. My work at Columbia has focused on transnational collaboration in early-twentieth-century eugenics, interrogating how eugenicists in America collaborated with their European counterparts across national boundaries and political disagreements. As a Gates Cambridge scholar, I will continue to study histories of eugenics and concepts of race, transnational scientific collaboration, and mathematics and quantification. Throughout, I seek to explore what the recent past can teach us about the politics of today as eugenic thought, international right wing movements, and (frequently inscrutable) mathematical reasoning continue to grow in political relevance. As someone with interests across the humanities, the social sciences, and STEM, I am thrilled to join a community of interdisciplinary scholars dedicated to bridging the academy and the public sphere.

Previous Education

Columbia University Comparative Literature, Math 2024