Directory

With increasing global food demands, chronic hunger and coinciding crop damages, food security is an important issue that requires the attention from all corners of the world. Crop availability is constantly being challenged by multiple factors, including, but not limited to, environmental impact, pests, and pathogens. My current interest in promoting food security largely developed out of my MSc work on cassava, a staple food for Sub-Saharan Africans. As I pursue my PhD studies at Cambridge, I aim to better understand how plants could increase their resistance to pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Plants have defence mechanisms that counter the attacks imposed by the aforementioned pathogens. However, the exact methods employed by various plants are not entirely known up to date. Additionally, I hope to work at the interface between the scientific community and the public, by using my scientific knowledge and bridging the gap between the two communities.

Since completing my B.A. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, my research and nonprofit work has focused on developing ecosystem-based solutions that address environmental, economic, and sociocultural issues in tandem while promoting the well-being of the environment and Indigenous communities. At Cambridge, I will work with the BEFTA Programme to investigate management strategies that support biodiversity and ecosystem processes in Malaysian oil palm plantations. Working alongside local farmers, we aim to develop oil palm agricultural management systems that are the most effective in buffering pollination services against potential climate fluctuations brought about by climate change. The resulting management solutions will provide the greatest economic and social benefits for these local communities while minimizing environmental costs. I am incredibly grateful and privileged to become part of the Gates Cambridge Network and join a community of inspiring scholars who are dedicated to improving the lives of others. I look forward to collaborating with fellow Gates scholars to develop innovative, cross-disciplinary strategies that address the greatest environmental and social issues facing our world today.

Previous Education

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Evolutionary Biology 2015
Universite de Montpellier II - ISIM Evolutionary Biology 2015
Harvard University

In Cambridge I read for the Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics (Part III). Having studied theoretical physics in Ukraine and the Netherlands, and worked as a Marie-Curie researcher in Orsay, France, I plan to expand my knowledge in probability theory, which became especially important for physicists with the invention of Stochastic Loewner Evolution (SLE, Fields Medal 2006 to W. Werner).

It is an honor to have received a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. Pursuing a PhD at Cambridge is a wonderful experience and it was a joy to meet and work with such a diverse and passionate group of people. My doctoral dissertation involved using a range of techniques, from classical anatomy to finite element modeling, to better understand diet and feeding in early plant-eating dinosaurs. My research identified key evolutionary changes in skull and tooth shape among early dinosaurs that allowed them to exploit new food sources and fueled their extraordinary success.

After a series of postdoctoral positions, I am now a lecturer in anatomy at UCL, teaching first and second year medical students and carrying out research in evolutionary biomechanics, investigating the link between form, function and large-scale evolutionary patterns in vertebrates.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge MPhil Earth Sciences 2005
University of Illinois at Chicago

As a Gates Scholar, I received my MPhil in Criminological Research in 2011 from the University of Cambridge. In 2015, I received my Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of Pennsylvania.

I am currently an assistant professor in the School of Criminology and Justice Studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. My research examines biological risk factors for antisocial behavior, aggression, and psychopathy. My primary focus is on psychophysiological, nutritional, and hormonal risk factors for antisocial behavior.

While most criminological research is either social or biological, my work contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the development of delinquency that takes into account factors across multiple levels of measurement. This research will help practitioners to develop more effective crime prevention strategies that address multiple risk domains.

Author of the award-winning book, "Points of Contact: The Shared Intellectual History of Vocalisation in Syriac, Arabic, and Hebrew," freely available here: https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0271

Previous Education

University of Chicago

Links

https://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/people/dr-nick-posegay
https://cambridge.academia.edu/NickPosegay

I completed my MPhil in Multidisciplinary Gender Studies at the Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies in 2015/16. My research focused on the ways young women use online technologies to engage in feminist thought and action and explored how these online practices are affecting feminist political progress.

I now work in Australia as Senior Social Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP.

Prior to coming to Cambridge I worked as a Social Policy Advisor at the Australian Treasury, specialising in schools policy, early childhood education and care and parental leave policy.

Previously I worked as research manager for the global food and water security program run at Australian public policy think tank Future Directions International.

Previous Education

University of Western Australia

Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, I majored in Biochemistry with a minor in Data Science at the University of Notre Dame. During my undergraduate research, I became interested in identifying and developing novel cancer therapeutics to improve patient outcomes and quality of life. At the University of Cambridge, I will complete an MPhil in Medical Sciences for Oncology in Dr. Rebecca Fitzgerald’s group at the Early Cancer Institute. My project will use patient-derived organoids to identify key genes and explore potential therapeutic avenues in hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC). This research will provide a further understanding of the key molecular pathways driving this cancer to provide a better idea of how to slow or prevent the progression of HDGC. Engaging in this research, I aspire to contribute significantly to improving the prevention of HDGC and advance my scientific skill set throughout my predoctoral experience. I am honored to enter the esteemed Gates Cambridge Community and look forward to beginning my work.

Previous Education

University of Notre Dame Biochemistry

At Cambridge, I intend to pursue an MPhil in Development Studies, and in so doing return the focus of my career to anti-poverty work in the international arena. Equipped with the deeper knowledge of development theory and practice that I would gain from this interdisciplinary program, I hope to take on a leadership role in a non-governmental or multilateral development institution.

I am currently a Lecturer (assistant professor) Nineteenth-Century Literature at the University of York, UK. I studied in India, my home country, till 2009, when I completed a BA degree in English at Delhi University, Lady Shri Ram College. The same year I moved to Cambridge to pursue a BA (affiliated) degree in English at Lucy Cavendish College as a Gates Scholar (2009-11). I then completed a PhD in English, specializing in Victorian literature and aesthetics, at Rutgers University, New Jersey, and an MFA in Creative Writing at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Apart from scholarship and teaching, I enjoy reading (and writing) fiction, history, taking long walks, and trying to stuff as many activities in a London day as is possible. I am currently working on my first monograph (on details in Victorian literature and aesthetics) and my first novel.

Previous Education

Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi BA (Hons.) English 2009

Links

https://www.york.ac.uk/english/our-staff/pritikapradhan

I am a journalist in New York who writes on inequality, poverty, and social services. I'm currently a contributing writer to The California Sunday Magazine. I have also reported from Thailand, the Philippines, and Britain. At Cambridge, I studied for a master's in public policy, and previous to that, I graduated from Princeton University. My work has appeared in The California Sunday Magazine, The Guardian, The Independent, Harper’s online, and Politico, among others.

Previous Education

Princeton University Classics 2010

After completing my Ph.D. on the media coverage of DNA research between 1953 and 2003, I returned to medical school, completed a residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology and am currently completing a Fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility

I am interested in exploring and identifying the basic principles governing the generation and the behaviour of energy and matter. During my time spent in Cambridge I hope to develop the skills I need to do research in theoretical physics leading to greater understanding of the basic laws of nature. I would also like to be part of the University's ifluential international alumni network and I think that being a Gates Scholar will help to accomplish this ambition.

During my undergraduate studies, I became fascinated by first statistics, and then, after an internship at a medical research institute, by the ability of statistics to contribute to fundamental research in biology. I completed a Bachelor of Science and then a Master of Science (Mathematics and Statistics) both at the University of Melbourne. In my MSc thesis, I critically compared statistical methods for selecting genes that distinguish biological cell-types in single-cell transcriptomics data. In my PhD research, I will aim to improve the statistical methodology used in genetic colocalisation analyses, with a particular focus on the ‘coloc’ software. Colocalisation analysis aims to determine whether multiple observed traits share an underlying genetic cause, with the aim of understanding how traits may mediate each other. By incorporating recent advances in our understanding of genetics into coloc’s statistical methodology, I hope to improve its performance for both fundamental genetics research and in drug discovery pipelines.It is a great honour to be joining the Gates Cambridge community, and I look forward to commencing my research at the MRC Biostatistics Unit, with the ultimate goal of improving the lives of others.

Previous Education

University of Melbourne Maths 2021
University of Melbourne Science 2019

As an undergraduate at the University of Chicago majoring in Chemistry, I identified art conservation as a field that brings together may love of scientific research and knowledge of art history. The work of conservation scientists often goes unseen, but is crucial to understanding and preserving works of art and culture for future generations. At Cambridge, I will work in Dr. Stephen Elliott's lab on the application of Raman Spectroscopy to non-destructive analysis of paint pigments. The goal of this work is to further our understanding of the technical and aesthetic choices of artists as well as the effects of previous restoration work done on paintings. In the course of my work, I hope to use the Hamilton Kerr Institute of easel painting conservation at Cambridge to learn more about the art historical side of this field as well. I also plan to explore the great hiking and used bookstore scene around Cambridge.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Physical chemistry 2020
University of Chicago Chemistry 2019