The Gates Cambridge Scholarship is one of the world's most sought after awards. The scholarship programme was established in 2000 after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $210 million to the University of Cambridge to fund an international postgraduate scholarship programme for students who are both academically outstanding and show a strong commitment to improving the lives of others. It remains the largest single donation to a UK university.
Since the first cohort of Gates Cambridge Scholars in 2001, over 1,700 scholars have been selected from over 100 countries. This year’s cohort of 77 Scholars - the Class of 2020 - includes citizens from 30 different countries.
Eighty per cent of the scholars-elect will pursue PhDs and their subjects range from the impact of climate change on coastal birds and rabies control to indigenous rights in New Zealand, the history of uncertainty in polar climate science and the moral basis of identity-based harm.
Image: Sayam Chowdhury, from Bangladesh, will do a PhD in Zoology focused on migratory shorebirds in the coastal areas of Bangladesh.
Photo Credit: Nazim Uddin Prince
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge