Gates Cambridge Trust announces new Provost

Professor Everitt, currently Master of Downing College, Cambridge and a Fellow of both the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences, has been included on a list of the 100 most cited neuroscientists.  He succeeds the current Provost, Professor Robert Lethbridge, on 1 October 2013.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarships were established in 2000 by a donation of US$210m from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the University of Cambridge, which represents the largest ever single donation to a UK university.

The Scholarships fund outstanding international postgraduate students who are selected on the basis of their intellectual ability, capacity for leadership, and a commitment to improving the lives of other.

Competition is fierce and global - over 4,000 applicants for 90 Scholarships each year.

Scholars pursue the full range of academic subjects and form a diverse community integrated within the University.  Including the class of 2013, there are currently 1,239 Scholars and Alumni from 96 countries.

Both Bill and Melinda Gates are Honorary Patrons of Gates Cambridge. Mr Gates said: “Melinda and I are delighted that the Gates Cambridge Trust, which the Foundation established in 2000, is going from strength to strength. This high-profile appointment reinforces our confidence in the future of this prestigious international scholarship programme and its capacity to nurture future leaders who will improve the lives of others.”

The University’s Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the Gates Cambridge Trustees, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, stated: “The Gates Cambridge Scholarship programme epitomises what universities' role in society should be: to be at the forefront of addressing global challenges such as poverty reduction. I am very proud of what has been achieved so far and am delighted with the appointment of Professor Barry Everitt, who I know will take the programme through yet another successful stage of its development.”

President of Gates Cambridge Scholars’ Council Andrew Gruen commented on behalf of the 225 scholars currently resident in Cambridge: “As a well-established and well-respected leader in higher education and research, Professor Everitt brings experience and passion that will be of enormous value to the Gates Cambridge Scholar community. I have every confidence he will be a strong mentor to Scholars and will make an already incredible programme even more successful.”

Professor Everitt said: “I am honoured to have been appointed the next Provost of the Gates Cambridge Trust. The Scholarships are exceptionally important to the University and also globally. I look forward to building on the many achievements of the first two Provosts and, in particular, engaging with the Scholar and Alumni communities who are already having such an important impact on the world.”

Professor Everitt's research is in the general area of behavioural neuroscience and is concerned with the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying learning, memory and motivation. His major research focus is the neuropsychology of drug addiction. He has been President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology, the European Brain and Behaviour Society and the European Behavioural Pharmacology Society. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Neuroscience and is currently a reviewing editor for Science.

Professor Everitt received the American Psychological Association 'Distinguished Scientific Contribution' Award and the European Behavioural Pharmacology Society 'Distinguished Achievement Award' in 2011 and, in 2012, the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies European Journal of Neuroscience (FENS-EJN) Award and the British Association of Psychopharmacology Lifetime Achievement Award