Sixty of the world's most brilliant students have been awarded a prestigious Gates scholarship, including for the first time students from Bolivia, Tanzania and Brunei Darussalam.

The 60 scholars from 29 countries were selected after interviews at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge at the end of March and will join 30 US scholars selected after interviews in New York in February.

Of the 60 Scholars selected in Cambridge, ten are from Canada, six from the United States, five from Germany and four from India and Australia.

The full list of countries stretches from Peru and Argentina to New Zealand, Singapore and China. The majority of scholars this year will study for a PhD with subjects ranging from Zoology, Public Health and Primary Care and Engineering for Sustainable Development to Astronomy, Gender Studies and Classics.

Several thousands of applicants applied for the Scholarship, after which academic departments in Cambridge ranked around 350 of the very best candidates. A committee shortlisted 96 candidates for interview and interview panels selected 60 Gates Cambridge Scholars.

The scholarship programme, set up in 2000 and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, enables academically gifted postgraduates with a strong interest in social leadership and responsibility to study at the University of Cambridge.

The new scholars include:

- George Suleman, who will be studying for a PhD in Public Health and Primary Care. He has a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University and a Doctor of Medicine (MD) from the University of Dar es salaam, Tanzania. His PhD will study the burden of non-communicable diseases, their risk factors, and their impact on infectious and cardiometabolic risk factors and diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa.

- Edward Yapp, from Brunei, will be studying for a PhD in Chemical Engineering. Born in Brunei, he completed a double degree in Chemical Engineering and Finance at the University of Adelaide on an international scholarship. In addition to his studies, he is a part-time tutor.

- Eduardo Machicado Murillo, from Bolivia, who will be studying for a PhD in Archaeology. He did his undergraduate degree at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Bolivia, and his MPhil in Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge. For his PhD he will be conducting research in the Llanos de Moxos, eastern Bolivia, on the development of early complex societies in the Amazon Basin. He is also the Vice President for Development at FFMV, a small non-profit organisation based in La Paz, Bolivia whose mission is to support young professional Bolivian scholars and artists and to promote free access to research resources in the fields of Music, Arts and Humanities.

Professor Robert Lethbridge, Provost (CEO) of the Gates Cambridge Trust, said: "We are delighted to have selected 60 Gates Cambridge Scholars in the international round. This is an outstanding group of young men and women with a wide range of backgrounds, interests and career trajectories; what binds them together is a desire to ‘give back’ by using their education and leadership to tackle global problems and improve the lives of others. We are sure they will make significant contributions in the future.”

A list of the Scholars who have accepted is available at www.gatescambridge.org.
 

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