A new film has been launched on i-Tunes U to promote a Cambridge scholarship programme which places social responsibility at the forefront of leadership skills.

The film highlights the work of the Gates Cambridge Trust, established in 2000 as a result of a $210million benefaction to Cambridge from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Trust awards full-cost scholarships to students from outside the UK to study as postgraduates at Cambridge.

In the film, Mr William H Gates Sr, one of the Trustees, urges Gates Scholars to help transform people's lives by reducing inequality and characterises the Scholarships as promoting both intellectual excellence and ethical awareness. He says that education brings responsibility for leadership and that the Scholarships are about "making a difference".

Gates Scholars past and present say how they hope their research will change lives for the better. Oksana Trushkevych, now a Fellow of Wolfson College, is an engineer from Ukraine. She speaks of how accessible technology, such as cheaper laptops, can "visibly change lives".

US scientist Jessica Grahn, a Fellow of Clare Hall and a postdoctoral researcher on brain rehabilitation at the MRC laboratory, speaks of how her research has an impact on health-policy decisions.

Since 2001, over 800 Gates Cambridge Scholarships have been awarded to students from more than 85 countries. There are currently 250 Scholars in Cambridge, and this year's intake saw the arrival of 97 students from 28 countries.

In addition to their Colleges and Departments, the Scholars have their own room in the University Centre. They elect a Council which organises social activities. These include panel discussions for Scholars to discuss their own work, and lectures and social events which are open to the Cambridge graduate community generally.

This week Dr Roger Glass, Director of the Fogarty International Center and Associate Director for International Research at the US National Institute of Health, gave the first of this year's Gates Distinguished Lectures; he spoke on "Global Health Challenges in the 21st Century".

These events allow Scholars to network across their subject areas and provide potential for interdisciplinary research. One current student calls it "a super-experience of Cambridge".

Many of the students say they could not have envisaged studying at Cambridge without a Gates Scholarship. Jessica Grahn says simply: "It has changed my life and given me a sense of commitment to other people which I would not have gotten without the experience of being a Gates Scholar.”

Gordon Johnson, Provost of the Gates Cambridge Trust, said: "The film draws attention to the opportunities provided by a Gates Cambridge Scholarship and we hope it will encourage students from all parts of the world and in all disciplines to consider graduate study at Cambridge."

The film is produced by Lucy Capewell, Head of Cambridge Media.

 

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