Topic description and stories

Stories from the people that make Cambridge University unique.

Kirstie Stage in the gardens at Christ's College

The graduate student rewriting Deaf histories and disability histories

05 January 2024

When Kirstie Stage was diagnosed with hearing loss, she realised that the experiences of Deaf and disabled people were missing from the history books. Kirstie is determined to bring these narratives to the fore.

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The medical scientist mapping genomes to learn more about ovarian cancer

26 Oct 2017

Siddhartha Kar didn’t think he was very good at maths until he learnt to map genomes. He’s now contributing to global research into ovarian cancer...

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The behavioural ecologist whose first word was spider

19 Oct 2017

An adventurous childhood in southern Africa laid the foundations for Jenny York’s career in evolutionary biology. Passionate about the natural world...

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The zoologist who looks after more than a million dead insects

12 Oct 2017

There can’t be many people with a 20-year-old exotic newt living in the kitchen. Meet Ed Turner, Curator of Insects at the Museum of Zoology, where...

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The Caribbean PhD student getting to grips with protein folding

05 Oct 2017

Jerelle Joseph wasn’t sure she wanted to leave Dominica to take a PhD in computational chemistry in chilly Cambridge. Now she runs a mentoring scheme...

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The researcher determined to have the conversations in prison that others avoid

28 Sep 2017

Behind locked doors, many prisoners confront the big questions in life for the first time. As a young man, Ryan Williams asked those same questions...

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The sociologist and feminist researching the challenges facing India’s aspiring young women

21 Sep 2017

She was raised as an atheist in a Muslim town and went to a Catholic school. Asiya Islam’s experience of India’s complex society gives her a strong...

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The Jesus College chef and the feeding of the 900

14 Sep 2017

Tom Stewart relishes the challenge of being in charge of catering at Jesus College. Your reputation, he says, depends on upholding the standards you’...

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The botanist researching the inner world of plants

07 Sep 2017

The orchids of India’s ‘sacred groves’ entranced Gitanjali Yadav as a teenager. Her fascination with botany endured and deepened — and today she has...

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The psychologist who reminds us that emotions affect our working lives

31 Aug 2017

How are you feeling at work today? Jochen Menges, an expert in organisational behaviour, believes emotions matter profoundly for employee performance...

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The political scientist unravelling questions of resource dependence in the Middle East

24 Aug 2017

His personal background puts Babak Mohammadzadeh in a strong position to research the ways that oil-producing countries are shaped by their legacies...

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The neurobiologist who just couldn’t stop dancing

21 Aug 2017

Krishna Zivraj-Nair loved her work as a research scientist in a Cambridge lab — but there was something missing. Dance has always been one of her...

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The student who was ‘amazed’ by her excellent A levels — and is inspired by her dad

17 Aug 2017

Two years ago Tara Khalid achieved the grades she needed to take up her Cambridge offer. She describes herself as defying any Cambridge stereotypes...

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