Directory

The global burden of neurological diseases increases every year, affecting the quality of lives of billions of people. Having seen first-hand the sequelae of severe trauma and the limited options for those who have lost the ability to see, to hear, to move, I am deeply motivated to complement my background in engineering with molecular techniques to open new avenues of treatment. To this end, I plan to develop the use of molecular biological techniques as a viable means of therapy, diagnosis, and research. I believe this PhD will help me launch my career as an academic clinician working on translational research where I am close to both the patients and the research that will help them. Ultimately, I aspire to lead work to develop methods towards the understanding and treatment of sensorineural deficits using molecular biology for interface design, signal recording, manipulation and analysis, with applications for molecular-level control and sensing, allowing for high throughput neurological research. I am extremely grateful to Gates Cambridge for allowing me the opportunity to pursue this aspiration.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Preclinical Medical Studies 2019

Being born and brought up in India, where crimes against women are inescapable realities, I had always wanted to pursue a career in the area of criminal justice reform. My professional stint as a journalist further deepened my interest in this area and motivated me to pursue an MA in Social Work in Criminology and Justice from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. As part of my academic journey, I conducted field work in correctional settings in the area of legal aid, gender equity and penal reform. Post my Masters degree, I started working for an anti-human trafficking organisation, conducting rescue operations of children from child labor, domestic servitude and sex slavery. In 2018, I completed my MPhil in Criminological Research from the University of Cambridge where I explored prison intimacies as a form of resistance for women in India. The following year, I worked as a Chief Minister's Urban Leadership fellow in the Delhi government providing analytical support in formulation of policies related to women. Since October, 2019, I am pursuing a PhD in Criminology at the Institute of Criminology exploring women’s imprisonment and resettlement experiences in India through the lens of their intimate relationships. I intend to explore the ways in which women use informal communication channels and social networks inside prison to find new alliances for love, and the myriad ways in which these practices transcend into prison policy and reform. My study hopes to enhance the current understanding of prisons in a non-western context and enable policymakers to frame policies that are gender-responsive to the specific needs of women in India and elsewhere. Apart from this, I am also the founding member of the Cambridge Decolonising Criminology Network which aims to bring together students, researchers and eminent scholars in the field of criminology and related fields to discuss and engage with decolonial thoughts and perspectives. The network largely aims at installing colonial structures of power at the centre of the contemporary criminological debate and encourage more scholarly, indigenous voices from the non-west. Set up in January 2020, the network currently has more than 50 active members and contributors.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Criminological Research 2018
Tata Institute of Social Sciences Social Work (Criminology) 2015

As a researcher at a think tank in New Delhi, I have developed an interest in how research can feed into policy discourse. My PhD project will focus on studying the state in Assam, in Northeast India, from the perspective of recurring violence. In particular, I will look at how everyday practices of governance influence the way conflict unfolds in the Bodoland region of Assam, where violence has been a persistent phenomenon for several decades. At the undergraduate level, I studied Economics, before moving on to studying Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Masters level. During this period, I developed an interest in field-based research, which I was able to pursue further as a policy researcher. For this project, I plan to employ an interdisciplinary approach towards the study of the state and conflict, using primarily ethnographic methods, and considering factors of contested resources, territoriality and political economy as well. I’m excited to be undertaking this research at Cambridge, and hope to remain engaged with research and writing on the state in India in the future.

Previous Education

University of Delhi
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic Universit

Physics Department: Nanotechnology & Optoelectronics

Previous Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Greetings from Cairo, Egypt! My academic background was mainly in Economics. After graduation I felt that a more informed role in contributing to my country required a more interdisciplinary approach. Thus I studied Economics in International Development which included courses from Sociology, Political Science, and Management and received the Merit Graduate Fellowship Award from the American University in Cairo. Through my research at Cambridge I aim at connecting both the realm of ideas and the empirical world while analyzing social change with respect to consumption. I hope to examine economic decisions reflecting pieties that negotiate new social relationships in different geographical and ideological contexts in comparison to Egypt.

Born to academicians, I started pursuing my academic interests right from school days. I studied in Vidyaranya High School (Hyderabad) Rishi Valley School (Madanapalle), both in India. Their emphasis on holistic education gave me an opportunity to pursue not only scientific ideas, but I was able to actively participate in lively discussions on philosophy and literature. The exposure to primary school teaching during my school days, led to my passion for education, especially in the context of rural India. Over time, I have developed special interests in understanding the neural basis of cognition. With the increased understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the brain, it is clear that any breakthrough in this field comes only when all disciplines of science and humanities are integrated. With this in mind, I studied Physics and Mathematics during my Bachelor’s degree (at Fergusson College, Pune, India). I then went to Göttingen, Germany for a Master's in Neuroscience. This program provided me with hands-on experience on diverse aspects of neuroscience. At Cambridge, I would like to investigate neurocognitive framework of Attention: specifically interactions between the frontal and parietal networks during the deployment of attention. My long-term goal is to take up teaching and research in India and work on memory, attention and ultimately consciousness. Interests: books, movies, traveling and walking.

Previous Education

University of Pune
Universität Göttingen

I am committed to supporting the growth and survival of humans in space and on Earth by enabling access to fresh and nutritious food that is sustainably produced. My determination to grow plants in space initiated during my undergraduate studies at the University of California, Riverside where I achieved a BSc in Neuroscience with a minor in Plant Biology. Driven to learn more about how food is produced on a large scale led me to pursue a Master’s in Integrative Plant Science concentrated in Controlled Environment Agriculture at Cornell University. During my PhD in Plant Science, I aim to bridge fundamental and applied research. My research will investigate the engineering of plant circadian rhythms and controlled environments to enhance photosynthetic efficiency for resilient food production in space and on Earth. Using space agriculture as a platform to scale lab-based discoveries will not only address the challenges of food security on Earth but also drive the technological advancements required for future space missions. As we push the boundaries of agriculture in extreme environments, we contribute to the growing need for resilient food systems on Earth and play a critical role in supporting human survival beyond our planet.

Previous Education

Univ. of California, Riverside Neuroscience Minor Plant Bio
Cornell University Integrative-Plant-Science-CEA

Since leaving Syria during the war, my goal has been to try to understand human behaviour in its most fundamental aspects. What is it that makes people think and act, individually and communally, in the way that they do? To this end, I am carrying out a doctorate in biological anthropology, a discipline which seeks to answer these questions through analysis of our physical makeup and deep history. Specifically, through the application of the principles and tools of the evolutionary sciences, biological anthropology aims to uncover ‘human nature’ in its broadest and most universal aspects. My particular area of research is the cause of our success as a species: is this to be attributed more to our powers of theoretical understanding, or to our ability to follow, transmit, and refine cultural norms and practices? I intend to conduct a series of experiments and develop a range of computational models to investigate the issue. I am incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to work with the Gates Foundation. With their support, I hope to expand our understanding of the human species, i.e. each other, and thereby make a world with fewer man-made tragedies.

Previous Education

University College London Human Evolution and Behaviour 2024
Heriot-Watt University, Dubai Psychology with Management 2016

My research fits under broader interdisciplinary Sino-Iranian studies, which have demonstrated the significant influences Chinese and Iranian civilizations have had on each other as well as increasing awareness and understanding of Central Asia.

Previous Education

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Master of Arts in Iranian Studies 2017
Northeast Normal University Certificate of Completion in Chinese (Mandarin) Language 2014

My research at Cambridge is about the concept of mental disorder. I am researching how classifications and diagnoses can influence and interact with the ways that mental disorders are experienced and expressed—and how these interactions are taken into account by psychiatrists when they write patient notes and make diagnoses. These interactions are called "looping effects" when our classifications have to be updated to stay on top of the new experiences and expressions which they themselves created. My hope is that a careful analysis of these looping effects, and how they factor into practice, can help us better understand the concept of mental disorder. My previous research was focused on the foundations of quantum mechanics, in particular the Many Worlds interpretation. This work was part of my MSci at King's College London. My focus has since shifted to the philosophy of psychiatry, but my interest in the philosophy of physics and the philosophy of science remains.

Previous Education

King's College London (University of London) Physics and Philosophy 2020

Links

http://hsherl.github.io

My research focuses on Hindu-Muslim relations in the public sphere of colonial North India c. 1880-1930 with particular reference to the printing of polemical and controversial works.

My research investigates the expression and perception of identity through musicking. With research interests surrounding gender, sexuality, race, religion, and disability, I study what experiences on the margins can teach us about identity's role in systems of belief and power. As an undergraduate at Louisiana State University and MPhil student at Cambridge, I focused on the foundational jazz composer and pianist Mary Lou Williams, investigating how her spiritual, supernatural, and parapsychological experiences affected her music-making and career choices. During my PhD in Music, I will continue investigating identity by exploring individual and institutional experiences of power dynamics and identity performance in American Christianity. This research will center on LGBTQ+ musicking and interdenominational choir efforts as case studies of institutional repentance and musical identity formation.

Previous Education

Louisiana State University & Agricultural & Mechan Music (Academic Studies
University of Cambridge Music

Having studied and taught in the Islamic Seminaries of Iran for almost a decade, I then joined the University of Cambridge, where I completed an MPhil and PhD. in Middle Eastern studies.
I developed a strong interest for mental health and psychology and this interest brought me back to the University of Cambridge a year after the completion of my PhD. Right now I am training as studying Psychotherapy at the faculty of education.

The main focus of my research right now is the intersection between psychotherapy and spiritual development.

Previous Education

Qom Theological Centre
University of Cambridge

My undergraduate qualification is in Mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and I have worked as a Manufacturing Manager for Unilever in India. In 2010, I decided to change my career path and study economics as I found that I had an aptitude for research and was interested in issues relevant to the social and economic problems facing India. I completed a Graduate Diploma in Economics and an MPhil in Economic Research at Cambridge and am now in the third year of my PhD. My research interests lie in the fields of Political Economics, Development Economics and Applied Microeconomics, more specifically in looking at the social, political and economic causes and effects of conflict in developing countries, the political economy of control and use of natural resources in developing countries and issues of identity in the context of politics and conflict. I am currently a visiting fellow at Université de Namur, Belgium as part of the PODER network.

Links

http://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/SitePages/anand-shrivastava.aspx
https://sites.google.com/site/anandshrivastava1984

Born in 1986 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Iryna Shuvalova has authored five award-winning books of poetry, including Pray to the Empty Wells (Lost Horse Press, 2019). Her most recent and fifth book of poetry Stoneorchardwoods (2020) has been named book of the year by Ukraine’s LitAktsent Prize for Literature and received the Special Prize of the Lviv UNESCO City of Literature Book Award. In 2009, she co-edited 120 Pages of ‘Sodom,’ the first anthology of queer writing in Ukraine. Her poetry has been translated into 25 languages and published internationally, including in Modern Poetry in Translation, The White Review, Literary Hub, Die Zeit, and others. She is a member of PEN Ukraine.

Shuvalova's work as a translator includes translations into Ukrainian of novels by Yann Martel and Virginia Woolf, as well as poems by Ted Hughes, Louise Glück, and Alice Oswald. She has also translated into English the writing of modern and contemporary Ukrainian poets, including Lesia Ukrainka, Mykola Bazhan, Iurii Klen, Mykola Zerov, Ostap Slyvynskyi, and others. Her translations appeared in Words Without Borders, Modern Poetry in Translation, and Ambit, as well as multiple anthologies.

Shuvalova's research interests lie at the intersection of culture and politics in Eastern Europe. Her forthcoming academic monograph 'Donbas Is My Sparta': Identity and Belonging in the Songs of the Russo-Ukrainian War explores the impact of the war on Ukrainian society. She holds a PhD in Slavonic Studies from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College, where she was a Fulbright scholar. In the summer of 2023, she will be joining the University of Oslo as a postdoctoral research fellow.

Previous Education

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
Dartmouth College

Links

https://irynashuvalova.com
https://cambridge.academia.edu/IrynaShuvalova
https://ua.linkedin.com/in/shuvalova