Cohort 2023
Aaron is a DPhil student funded by the Clarendon Scholarship in partnership with the St Cross College and the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics studentship. Aaron previously obtained his Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He is interested in the interplay between type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular dysfunctions.
Outside of laboratories, Aaron is a huge fan of racquet sports. He used to be a semi-professional tennis player for many years and volunteered to coach tennis during high school and undergraduate studies. He also loves to play badminton and table tennis.
Aaron Jiashuo Zhang
College/Degree: St Cross College/DPhil in Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2023
Abhinav is interested in applying tools from algebraic topology, a subfield of mathematics concerned with the study of 'bendy' shapes, to problems arising in the life sciences and data science. His research is a reflection of his interdisciplinary background - a liberal arts undergraduate degree from Yale-NUS College, a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Cambridge, work experience as an imaging geophysicist, and research experience involving the statistical analysis of ancient Roman coins. Outside academia, he is a trained Indian classical vocalist, occasionally dabbling in audio engineering and metal music.
Abhinav Natarajan
College/Degree: Merton College/DPhil in Mathematics
Country of Origin: India
Cohort: 2023
Agnes is a DPhil candidate researching the works of twentieth-century writers Salvadora Medina Onrubia from Argentina and Patrícia Galvão from Brazil. Both were novelists, poets, and journalists, whose writing influenced, and was heavily influenced by, their political involvement in the Anarchist and Communist movements of their respective countries. The comparative focus of this project will reveal the transnational nature of women’s involvement in left-wing political praxis during the twentieth century.
She received her BA from Oxford in Spanish and Portuguese and recently completed an MPhil, also at Oxford, focusing on twentieth-century Argentinian and Brazilian literature. Her thesis centred on life-writing in Latin America, specifically the works of Onrubia and Galvão.
As well as a Clarendon Scholarshop, she has been awarded an AHRC OOC studentship and an OOC AHRC DTP2 - Merton College Scholarship.
Agnes Fanning
College/Degree: Merton College/DPhil in Medieval and Modern Languages (Spanish and Portuguese)
Country of Origin: England
Cohort: 2023
Ahmad Ozair is a physician-researcher whose work has been cited by the World Health Organization and the World Economic Forum. Ahmad graduated as the first-ranked candidate from medical school at King George's Medical University, India. He is currently one of 14 Sommer Scholars worldwide at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health along with being a Clarendon Scholar at Oxford. His research focuses on surgical outcomes, neurological diseases, and clinical training, spanning 80+ papers with 1500+ citations. He currently serves on workforce workgroup of Maryland's inaugural Commission on Public Health and the clinical guidelines committee of North American Spine Society.
Ahmad Ozair
College/Degree: Kellogg College/MSc in Evidence-Based Healthcare
Country of Origin: India
Cohort: 2023
Alejandra C. Quintana Arocho (they/them) holds a BA in Comparative Literature and Society from Columbia University. They are interested in medieval lyric poetry, early modern Iberian literature(s), and translation theory. Alejandra is a literary translator who has interned at The Paris Review. They received the 2023 Ambroggio Prize given by the Academy of American Poets for their translation of Margarita Pintado Burgos's Ojo en Celo / Eye in Heat.
Alejandra Quintana Arocho
College/Degree: Lincoln College/MSt in Comparative Literature and Critical Translation
Country of Origin: Puerto Rico
Cohort: 2023
Prior to coming to Oxford, Alex completed his BEng at University College London and MSc at Imperial College London. Afterwards, Alex worked as a researcher in generative modelling and Bayesian reinforcement learning in London for two years. During this time, he has published several papers. His current research focusses on building robust and adaptive artificial agents that can deal with stochastic and partially-observable environments.
Alexey Zakharov
College/Degree: Oriel College/DPhil in Computer Science
Country of Origin:
Cohort: 2023
Antonia’s research interests lie in the areas of international development, migration, and labour economics, with a particular focus on the economic integration of refugees as well as the role of mental health and social networks in determining labour market outcomes. Antonia previously worked with the World Bank as well as the Oxford Refugee Studies Centre on projects aiming to better understand the socioeconomic situation and improve the livelihood opportunities of displaced communities and their hosts in East Africa. She completed the MPhil in Economics at the University of Oxford and the BSc in Economics from Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany.
Antonia Delius
College/Degree: St John’s College/DPhil in Economics
Country of Origin: Germany
Cohort: 2023
Brian Christian is an author and researcher exploring the human implications of computer science. He is known for his bestselling series of books, "The Most Human Human" (2011), "Algorithms to Live By" (2016), and "The Alignment Problem" (2021), which received numerous awards and have been translated into nineteen languages. His computational cognitive science research has appeared in journals such as Cognitive Science, and he is affiliated with research groups at Oxford, UC Berkeley, and the Institute for Advanced Study. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Christian holds degrees in computer science, philosophy, and poetry from Brown University and the University of Washington.
Brian Christian
College/Degree: Lincoln College/DPhil in Experimental Psychology
Country of Origin: United States
Cohort: 2023
Charlotte Canizo is a DPhil student in history working on unaccompanied Jewish child migrants in British and French Jewish humanitarianism (1903-1948). She graduated in 2020 from Sciences Po Paris and Sorbonne Université with a double BA in Politics and History. During her undergraduate studies, she spent a year at the University of Washington, where she was a research assistant at the Center for Jewish Studies. She has also interned at a Holocaust survivors association. In 2022, she graduated from Sciences Po Paris with a master’s degree in history. In her free time, she is passionate about dance and photography.
Charlotte Canizo
College/Degree: St Hugh's College/DPhil History
Country of Origin: France
Cohort: 2023
Chloe is a DPhil student at the Oxford Internet Institute, researching digital government innovation. Focussing on civil service reform and innovation policy, her previous roles have included positions with the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Cabinet Office, Universities Australia and within the science communication sector. Chloe holds an MPhil with distinction in Public Policy from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours from Monash University.
Chloe Chadwick
College/Degree: Balliol College/DPhil in Information, Communication and the Social Sciences
Country of Origin: Australia
Cohort: 2023
Dada is passionate about global health justice and implementation science. Her research interests are in improving access to infectious disease prevention and care services among marginalized populations in Sub-Saharan Africa. She has worked on equity-focused research projects (primarily on HIV and COVID-19) in Ghana, Senegal, Chad, Uganda, Canada and the USA. She completed her undergrad at Yale University double majoring in the History of Science, Medicine & Public Health and African Studies while in the Global Health Scholars Program at the Jackson School of Global Affairs. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Urban Health, BMJ Open and the Journal of the International AIDS Society.
Debbie (Dada) Dada
College/Degree: Green Templeton College/MSc Translational Health Sciences
Country of Origin: Canada
Cohort: 2023
Emma is an Irish musicologist with an interest in women’s music-making and art music in nineteenth-century Ireland. She is a graduate of UCD, completing her Bachelor of Music and Master of Musicology degrees in 2022 and 2023. Her master’s thesis was awarded the 2024 Alison Dunlop Graduate Prize by the Society for Musicology in Ireland. Her DPhil research aims to uncover how young women in nineteenth-century Ireland interacted with domestic art music (music in the home).
In addition to her research, Emma is a classically trained soprano and choral singer. She currently holds a Choral Scholarship at Merton College, Oxford.
Emma Arthur
College/Degree: Merton College/DPhil in Music
Country of Origin: Ireland
Cohort: 2023
Estella's academic interests centre on the legal, social, and cultural histories in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain, particularly on the procedures, spaces, and individuals of the common-law courts. Before her DPhil, Estella studied for the MSt in British and European History, 1700-1850 at Oxford (Wolfson College), and was awarded the Best Performance in Cohort Prize among the entire MSt in History cohort of 2022-23. Prior to coming to Oxford, she received her BA (Honours Specialization in History) from Western University, Canada, graduating as the Robert LaVerne Eagleson Gold Medallist in the Department of History.
Estella Chen
College/Degree: The Queen's College/DPhil in History
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2023
Fangru is a DPhil student at University of Oxford co-supervised by Janet Pierrehumbert and Daniel Altshuler. She's also a co-organizer of OxNLP reading group. Her research focuses on using linguistically informed methods to assess and improve state-of-the-art Large Language Models’ performance in real world tasks such as planning and using LLMs as autonomous agents. She is especially interested in the application of neuro-symbolic methods on general artificial intelligence. Her work is supported by Clarendon and Jason Hu studentships. Industrially, she previously served as software engineer summer intern at Microsoft. For more information, please visit her page (http://fangru-lin.github.io/).
Fangru Lin
College/Degree: Balliol College/DPhil Linguistics, Philology, and Phonetics
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2023
Fergus completed a BA in the History of Art at the University of York in 2022, before working for the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz--Max-Planck-Institut. His research focuses on the reception of medieval manuscripts in the 19th century, specifically the cutting up of illuminated books. Recent work includes the article "Littifredi Corbizzi, Johann Anton Ramboux and an Album of Manuscript Cuttings at the John Rylands Library," published in the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 98.2 in 2022.
Fergus Bovill
College/Degree: Merton College/MSt Medieval Studies
Country of Origin: UK
Cohort: 2023
George previously completed a BA in English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford, winning the Chancellor’s Essay Prize. His MSt research focuses on materialist philosophy in Romantic-era poetry, including the work of William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the writings of John Milton, with a particular interest in the written and spoken ‘matter’ of poetry and its afterlives. Outside of academia, George enjoys painting, as well as playing squash, football and trumpet.
George Adams
College/Degree: Harris Manchester College/MSt English (1700-1830)
Country of Origin: UK
Cohort: 2023
Haohao is a DPhil student in Sociology, with a keen interest in demography and population science. He is passionate about the study of human behaviours, especially how individuals act and interact with one another. His DPhil thesis explores the expansion of education in the US, alongside trends of stagnating/declining life expectancy and disparities in chronic pain.
His academic pursuits broadly cover demography, social epidemiology, analytical sociology, multi-state models, propensity score analysis, applied machine learning, and agent-based modelling.
His research benefits from the generous support of the Clarendon Fund, the Max Planck Society, and Nuffield College.
Haohao Lei
College/Degree: Nuffield College/DPhil in Sociology
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2023
Holly Rowe is a DPhil student in French. Her thesis, titled ‘Evidence, example, and expérience in the eighteenth-century French essai’ aims to uncover the ways in which the essai as a category of writing was used and understood during the Enlightenment in France.
She holds a BA in Modern Languages and History from Durham University and worked in the charity sector for several years before completing an MSt in Modern Languages at Oxford in 2023. Her DPhil is co-funded by an AHRC Open-Oxford-Cambridge DTP studentship, the Lincoln College Kingsgate Scholarship, and the Clarendon Fund.
Holly Rowe
College/Degree: Lincoln College/DPhil in Medieval and Modern Languages
Country of Origin: UK
Cohort: 2023
Hui Wang completed his undergraduate studies in Port, Waterway and Coastal Engineering at Dalian University of Technology, China, graduating with an Outstanding Bachelor of Engineering degree. Following this, he was recommended to Tongji University for a master's program in Geotechnical Engineering without examination. During his masters, Hui engaged in computational geomechanics and numerical simulation within the field of geotechnical engineering. After three years of study, he received Outstanding Master of Engineering degree.
Currently, Hui is pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) at the department of Engineering Science. His research is primarily focused on developing advanced constitutive model that can accurately represent the complex mechanics of granular soils, particularly those surrounding offshore renewable energy structures. He begins his research in Oxford with the generous support of Clarendon scholarship.
Hui Wang
College/Degree: Balliol College/DPhil in Engineering Science
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2023
Iulia's main scientific interest is targeted cancer therapies and her current research focuses on the role of DNA repair in cancer. Before starting her DPhil, she obtained a BSc in Medical Biosciences at Imperial College London, where her dissertation focused on epigenetic modulation of innate immune responses in ovarian cancer. Iulia is very passionate about science communication and public engagement, having been a science communication intern at UK Research & Innovation and a volunteer Outreach Ambassador during her undergraduate degree.
Iulia Kis
College/Degree: Keble College/DPhil in Oncology
Country of Origin: Romania
Cohort: 2023
Jack is an emerging neuroscientist from Newcastle, Australia. He previously studied at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, where he obtained a 1st Class Honours and the University Medal in Neuroscience for first place. At Oxford, Jack is working with Professors Gero Miesenböck and Vladyslav Vyazovskiy to investigate the underlying mechanisms of sleep, an all-too-familiar phenomenon yet one which continues to elude scientists as to why and how we do it. Outside the lab, Jack is an avid rugby union player and has recently been named to start as scrum-half in the historic Varsity match against Cambridge.
Jack Hamilton
College/Degree: St Cross College/MSc in Neuroscience
Country of Origin: Australia
Cohort: 2023
Jessica Schiff is a DPhil candidate and Clarendon Scholar focusing on improving our understanding of the relationships between climate and health. She received her Master of Science in Environmental Health from Harvard University and her Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Boston University. Her previous professional experience has focused on understanding how climate change, public health, and policy can be integrated. In her free time she enjoys jogging, practicing photography, baking, and traveling with friends.
Jessica Schiff
College/Degree: Somerville College/DPhil Primary Health Care
Country of Origin: United States of America
Cohort: 2023
Joseph is in his first year of the MPhil+DPhil in Economics at Nuffield College. Prior to joining Oxford, he completed a BSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics at the London School of Economics and then worked for Professor Sir Timothy Besley as his Pre-doctoral Fellow. His main interests lie in the intersection of political economy and microeconomic theory; he is currently researching how network models can be better integrated into political economy.
Joseph Marshall
College/Degree: Nuffield College/MPhil+DPhil in Economics
Country of Origin: UK
Cohort: 2023
Josie holds an MSc in Bioinformatics (University of Edinburgh) as well as a BSc Hons in Genetics (Wits University). She previously worked as a bioinformatician conducting genomic surveillance at the Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis (part of the NICD). The CRDM played a vital role in tracking and monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in South Africa. Now, she is focusing on human genetics and women?€?s health. Her DPhil focuses on understanding the genetics of endometriosis in underrepresented populations, particularly those of African ancestry. In her spare time, Josie enjoys climbing, crafting, and petting any cat she can find.
Josie Everatt
College/Degree: Lincoln College/DPhil in Women's & Reproductive Health
Country of Origin: South Africa
Cohort: 2023
Juan Carlos studied classical and electric guitar performance in Costa Rica and the United States, before graduating from the Research Master’s in Musicology (cum laude) at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Juan Carlos has delivered papers at conferences in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and the United States, and has worked as a guest researcher for the Eurosonic Noorderslag festival in Groningen, the Netherlands. His current project explores Latin American film music through the lens of hauntology. Beyond film music, Juan Carlos is interested in the materialities of music, internet-mediated music, and the relationship between music and memory.
Juan Carlos Méndez Álvarez
College/Degree: St Hugh's College/DPhil in Music
Country of Origin: Costa Rica
Cohort: 2023
Junlong (Charlie) Li is a DPhil student at the Department of Education, University of Oxford. His research interests focus on the area of applied linguistics. Junlong obtained his BA (Hons) in English Education at Shenzhen University and MPhil in Education (Research in Second Language Education) at the University of Cambridge with Distinction. He is CELTA-qualified and is a qualified English teacher in China. Prior to his DPhil study, he served as a secondary school English teacher and an IELTS speaking teacher in China. Junlong has published and reviewed articles in several top-tier applied linguistics journals including English Today, Applied Linguistics Review, the Language Learning Journal, etc. He has also presented papers and posters at many international conferences. He is keen on contributing new insights to second language education research.
Junlong (Charlie) Li
College/Degree: St Antony's College/DPhil in Education
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2023
Justin’s research aims to leverage AI to decipher clinical data. He is co-advised by David Eyre, Sarah Walker, and David Clifton. In 2024, Justin began his visit to Stanford University as a Canadian Fulbrighter. He joined the AIMI Center to develop multimodal generative AI under Curtis Langlotz. Prior to Oxford, Justin worked with Alistair Johnson and MIMIC-IV to deploy a NLP-supported annotation dashboard. Additionally, he contributed to the task querying features of a multipurpose GPT library for time series data. Justin was trained as a biomedical engineer and holds a BASc in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto.
Justin Xu
College/Degree: Keble College/DPhil in Biomedical Data Science
Country of Origin: Canada
Cohort: 2023
The primary focus of my research is paleoepidemiology and the changing disease burden associated with the transition to agriculture and processes of domestication 10,000 - 5000 years ago. My work is interdisciplinary; using aDNA and metagenomic methods in a framework emphasising coevolutionary processes I'm exploring ancient pathogens within their wider ecological and social context.
I completed an MSc at the University of Oxford in Archaeology, and a BSc in Archaeological Science at UCL Institute of Archaeology. I was included on the UCL Dean’s List for Excellence 2022, and was awarded the Prehistoric Society Undergraduate Dissertation First Prize.
Katherine R Hearne
College/Degree: Merton College/DPhil in Archaeology
Country of Origin: UK
Cohort: 2023
Kexin works on computational analysis of single-cell spatial transcriptomics (gene expression) of the gut. Having done Medical Biosciences BSc at Imperial College London (2020 - 2023), she developed an interest in AI for medicine, specifically in ageing, cancer, immunology, nutrition, and AI/data equity.
She has completed projects involving convolutional neural networks (for medical image analysis), multi-omics, multivariate statistical modelling, and natural language processing of medical text.
She currently plays in the women's 2nd team for Oxford badminton. Besides the PhD, she loves cycling, attending fitness classes, hiking, and eating cheese at Second Desserts.
Kexin Xu
College/Degree: Brasenose College/DPhil in Medical Sciences
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2023
Lea is an environmental social scientist who researches the intersection between biodiversity recovery and efforts to support justice and equity for local communities. This work is informed by Lea’s previous experience as an organiser, facilitator, and UN youth delegate with organisations including the UBC Climate Hub, the Youth Climate Ambassadors Project, and the British Columbia Council for International Cooperation. Prior to attending Oxford, Lea completed an MA in Resources, Environment and Sustainability and a BA in English Literature at the University of British Columbia on the unceded homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.
Lea May Anderson
College/Degree: St John's College/DPhil in Geography and the Environment
Country of Origin: Canada
Cohort: 2023
Lingxuan is a prospective doctoral student at the University of Oxford and research assistant on the Centre for Global Higher Education ‘Research on Research’ project. Lingxuan is interested in global epistemic (in)justice and the ecology of knowledges. Her research aims to understand the endogenous agenda of social science research in the Chinese context, and to what extent is the endogenous agenda reflected in educational leadership research in China. Before her DPhil, Lingxuan obtained her MSc in Education (Research Design and Methodology) at the University of Oxford and BA at Beijing Normal University with first-class honour.
Lingxuan Chen
College/Degree: Wolfson College/DPhil in Education
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2023
Mark graduated with a Physics MSci degree from the University of Glasgow, having been awarded several prizes including the Michael Faraday medal given to the most distinguished graduate of 2023. With previous experience in preclinical PET imaging at the CRUK Beatson Institute, his current interests in Oxford lie in medical image analysis and radiobiological modelling. Mark focuses on optimizing radionuclide theranostics for cancer, whereby a radioactively labelled drug seeks out and neutralises cancer cells. Specifically, he is interested in the accurate quantification of physical and biological doses from SPECT scans and how images can be used to predict treatment response.
Mark Macsuka
College/Degree: Lady Margaret Hall/DPhil in Oncology
Country of Origin: Hungary
Cohort: 2023
Maryam Nina Hardy, a Chevening alumni, Clarendon, AfOx-Kennedy, and Academic Future scholar, is reading for a DPhil in Molecular and Cellular Medicine at Oxford, focusing on the immunoglobulin repertoire in Hepatitis B. Originating from Ghana, she is the 2024/2025 president of the Oxford University Africa Society. Her research on viral diseases spans Ghana and Uganda, including work on Ebola, CCHF, Parvoviruses, COVID-19, and Rotaviruses. Notably, she developed diagnostic tools for a novel parvovirus and Sepsis, and collaborated on an HPV diagnostic tool. Nina aspires to become a professor and advance Africa's research and public health solutions for viral infections.
Maryam Nina Hardy
College/Degree: Exeter College/DPhil in Molecular and Cellular Medicine
Country of Origin: Ghana
Cohort: 2023
Marylou studies the global climate of temperate exoplanets in Prof. Pierrehumbert's group and models the feedback of silicate weathering on atmospheric CO2 levels. She is a graduate of the Université de Montréal in Canada; after majoring in physics, she completed an MSc in physics, for which she was awarded the Governor General’s Academic Golden Medal. Her Master's thesis on exoplanetary atmospheres focused on modelling spot-crossing events with the James Webb Space Telescope. She previously obtained a professional doctorate in pharmacy (PharmD) and an MSc in Advanced Pharmacotherapy from the Université de Montréal. She was a licensed pharmacist for nine years.
Marylou Fournier Tondreau
College/Degree: St Hugh's College/DPhil in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics
Country of Origin: Canada
Cohort: 2023
Merlin works on the governance of AI foundation models. For example, he analyses who evaluates & audits AI and how reliably; and how to monitor systemic risks of foundation models. His work supports AI labs, policy-makers and auditors to establish processes that assess the trustworthiness of foundation models. Prior, Merlin advised corporations, governments and non-profits as part of the Boston Consulting Group; on responsible AI strategies, digital infrastructure due diligence and carbon emission reduction. In Oxford and Tuebingen, Merlin completed M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in Economics, focusing on applied machine learning. He enjoys meditation, hiking and running.
Merlin Stein
College/Degree: Lincoln College/DPhil in Public Policy
Country of Origin: Germany
Cohort: 2023
Michael attained his undergraduate medical degree from Peking University, China. Afterwards, he completed a 3-year residency training programme in neurology at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, and received his master's degree in neurology from Peking Union Medical College/Tsinghua University, China. Michael also attended a 2-year course in counselling, psychotherapy, and mental health at Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He began his DPhil studies at University of Oxford in 2023. Michael has received awards including the National Scholarship and provincial-level merit student in China, and published a few clinical scientific papers as the first author.
Michael Ke Li
College/Degree: Balliol College/DPhil Clinical Neurosciences
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2023
Miranda Richman is a Clarendon Scholar and DPhil candidate in international relations. Her research explores U.S. alliance management tactics under conditions of peer competition in the Indo-Pacific and the role of historical memory in security paradigms. Professionally, Miranda has prior experience in U.S. federal contracting; she has also interned in the Foreign Policy Advisor’s Office at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and served as a Fulbright grantee in South Korea. She holds an MPhil from the University of Oxford in International Relations and a BA from Harvard University in Government and East Asian Studies.
Miranda Richman
College/Degree: University College/DPhil in International Relations
Country of Origin: United States
Cohort: 2023
Moosa is currently pursuing a DPhil in History at Merton College, Oxford. Prior to this, he earned an MSc in Social Anthropology from St Antony's College, Oxford and a BA in History and Politics from NYU Gallatin. His research interests lie at the intersection of History and Anthropology and his research focuses on ethnic and linguistic nationalism in post-independence Pakistan.
Moosa M. Waraich
College/Degree: Merton College/DPhil in History
Country of Origin: Pakistan
Cohort: 2023
I got my BA in Neuroscience at Dartmouth College in the US. Then I worked in the education sector through various Institutions and NGOs in Lesotho and South Africa for 9 years serving as a counsellor, researcher, HR director and project manager. In between working for different organisations within the 9 years, I fundraised and oversaw a project to built classrooms in a primary school in my village in Lesotho. then pursued an MA in Education at the University College Dublin in the Republic of Ireland before coming to Oxford. For my MA thesis analysed the 2009 Curriculum and Assessment policy in Lesotho. My current areas of interest include gender, science education and education policy development in general in the Global South, particularly Lesotho. I'm passionate about education inclusivity in education given my work has primary been with young people from marginalised communities. I'm a Liverpool FC fan and very heartbroken that Klopp is leaving.
Motema Letlatsa
College/Degree: Lady Margaret Hall/DPhil in Education
Country of Origin: Lesotho
Cohort: 2023
Neil began his part-time DPhil in Archaeology in Michaelmas 2023 after completing Oxford’s MSc in Applied Landscape Archaeology. His research interests include sacred spaces and ritual in the ancient world, with his DPhil focusing on these themes in the landscapes of Iron Age and Roman Britain.
Neil Godfrey
College/Degree: Kellogg College/DPhil in Archaeology (part-time)
Country of Origin: UK
Cohort: 2023
Before coming to Oxford, Noelia studied a bachelor’s in Physics at the Complutense University of Madrid, followed by a master’s in Applied Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, also known as Part III. Her research interests involve the early universe and quantum gravity, particularly how string theory could have played a role in those early stages of our universe, about which there are still many unanswered questions. After doing rhythmic gymnastics for most of her life, she now enjoys keeping active with other sports, such as rowing or dancing, while also spending some of her free time volunteering.
Noelia Sánchez González
College/Degree: University College/DPhil in Theoretical Physics
Country of Origin: Spain
Cohort: 2023
Odysseas is a computational biologist working on biomolecular machine-learning and AI. His current research interests focus on generative protein therapeutic design and modelling protein evolution. He has previously also worked in theoretical chemical physics. In his free time, he enjoys attending public lectures on international affairs and politics, and pursuing an interest in linguistics and language learning (most recently Spanish). Before coming to Oxford, Odysseas completed a BSc in Biochemistry (Heidelberg University), and an MSc in Computational Biology & Bioinformatics (ETH Zurich), both generously funded by the German Acadeic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes).
Odysseas Vavourakis
College/Degree: Balliol College/Sustainable Approaches to Biomedical Science (SABS:R3)
Country of Origin: Germany/Greece
Cohort: 2023
Philippa is researching race, civilisational discourses, and hygiene through the prism of the construction of venereal diseases in colonial and postcolonial South Asia, 1860-1960. Focusing on the spaces of the plantation and the lab, she hopes to better understand the transition from colonial medicine to global health. Her interests are primarily in the history of colonialism, gender, and science. Before her DPhil, she completed her MPhil in World History at the University of Cambridge, receiving a Distinction, and a BA in History at Oxford, First Class. She is the winner of the Jane Willis Kirkaldy Prize 2023. postcolonial South Asia, 1860-1960. Her interests are primarily in the history of colonialism, gender, and science; and she recently won the Jane Willis Kirkaldy Prize
Philippa Monk
College/Degree: Corpus Christi College/DPhil in History
Country of Origin: UK
Cohort: 2023
I am a DPhil student in the Department of Psychiatry at Dementias Platform UK (DPUK). My research focuses on investigating the role of lifestyle factors in early, mid, and later life in SuperAgers (individuals who show superior cognitive abilities in later life). My DPhil research is jointly funded by the Clarendon Fund, and the Department of Psychiatry studentship. Prior to starting my DPhil, I worked as a research assistant within the Department of Psychiatry with DPUK focused on data curation. I also hold an MSc in Psychological Research from the University of Oxford and a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from UCL.
Pippa Watson
College/Degree: Brasenose College/DPhil in Psychiatry
Country of Origin: UK
Cohort: 2023
Ronya grew up in Australia, studied philosophy and mathematics in Heidelberg and Cambridge, returned to Australia to work on an Aboriginal language revitalisation project, and went on to complete her MPhil in Philosophy at Cambridge, where she wrote about Wittgenstein’s metaphilosophy, Plato’s philosophical practice, and epistemic injustice in the context of Indigenous knowledge. Her DPhil focusses on the historical and cultural contingency of our beliefs: can critical genealogies induce epistemic humility in us? How can we become more inclusive of other ways of looking at the world? And should ‘Western philosophy’ perhaps take itself a little less seriously?
Ronya Ramrath
College/Degree: St John's College/DPhil in Philosophy
Country of Origin: Australia/Germany
Cohort: 2023
Rowan is a Chemistry in Cells DPhil student working on the development and biological assessment of chemical probes targeting GPR84 - a receptor primarily expressed in innate immune cells. He splits his time between the laboratories of Professor Angela Russell and Professor David Greaves, allowing him to study both the chemistry and the biology of these compounds. Prior to his studies at the University of Oxford, he graduated with his Honours Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) from McMaster University in Hamilton, ON, Canada in 2023 with minors in chemistry, chemical biology, and biochemistry. At McMaster, he conducted his senior research project in antimicrobial medicinal chemistry, supervised by Dr. Jakob Magolan, working primarily on the development of novel enzyme inhibitors and Trojan horse antibiotics. Outside of academics, Rowan is an avid pianist and swimmer and enjoys working on the latest NYT crossword puzzle.
Rowan Ives
College/Degree: St John's College/DPhil Chemistry in Cells
Country of Origin: Canada
Cohort: 2023
Sanjana’s research interests encompass clinical trials methodology, epidemiology, and public health. Sanjana holds a Master's degree in Control of Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, supported by a Commonwealth Scholarship. She conducted her thesis research on antimicrobial resistance surveillance at Harvard Medical School, USA. Sanjana also earned a bachelor’s degree in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, graduating with highest distinction and receiving the 'Dean's Award' for her ‘First Class First’ result. With a passion for education, Sanjana has held teaching roles, from lecturing at Jagannath University in Bangladesh to tutoring at the Mawhiba International Enrichment Program at King Saud University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She has worked as a Clinical Trials Coordinator at the Cambridge University Hospitals for the last 4 years.
Sanjana Choudhury
College/Degree: Wolfson College/DPhil in Clinical Epidemiology & Medical Statistics
Country of Origin: Bangladesh
Cohort: 2023
Shreetoma maintains anthropological interests in visual and material cultures. Her doctoral research focusses on the decorative light industry in Chandannagar, a city in the state of West Bengal, India. In this project, she explores the aesthetic, commercial and religious aspects of Chandannagar’s light art, while situating it within the broader political economy of illumination in India. Her previous research has focussed on the 'attar' (natural perfume) industry in north India. Outside of academics, Shreetoma can be found compulsively crocheting, fiddling with watercolours, reading fiction and drinking copious amounts of tea.
Shreetoma Biswas
College/Degree: St Antony's College/DPhil in Anthropology
Country of Origin: India
Cohort: 2023
Shristi Shakya has an undergraduate degree in Social Sciences from Kathmandu University, Nepal. She is a Gold Medalist from the University (Batch 2015-2019), and the recipient of two National Education Excellence Awards provided by the Ministry of Education, Government of Nepal. She has experience of working in the research and development sector on issues of gender equality, migration, inclusion, climate change, disasters, WASH, among others. For her MPhil, her research aims to explore the depoliticisation of gender and social inclusion agendas in development, with a particular focus on the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion policy in Nepal.
Shristi Shakya
College/Degree: Reuben College/MPhil in Development Studies
Country of Origin: Nepal
Cohort: 2023
Born and raised in India, Sumedha moved to the UK to complete her undergraduate studies in neuroscience at King's College London and Johns Hopkins University. She then moved to Oxford for her MSc and DPhil in the same. She is interested in understanding how memories are formed and the role of sleep and rest in memory consolidation, and how this process goes wrong to give rise to hallucinations and delusions. In her free time she takes an amateur interest in cosmology, and enjoys doing art, reading, running, playing ping pong and boardgames.
Sumedha Nalluru
College/Degree: New College/DPhil in Clinical Neurosciences
Country of Origin: India
Cohort: 2023
Teresa is interested in carrying out translational neuroscience research using both data analysis techniques as well as cellular and molecular approaches to understand neurological diseases. She is particularly interested in carrying out research that will improve the management and functional outcomes of patients with traumatic brain injury. In her free time, Teresa enjoys spending time in nature, dancing, reading, meditating, and connecting with friends and family.
Teresa Simoes Steyn
College/Degree: Christ Church/DPhil in Neuroscience (1+3)
Country of Origin: South Africa
Cohort: 2023
Toma-Jin Morikawa-Fouquet is an intellectual and cultural historian of non-state actors with a focus on the intersection between cosmology and democracy in transnational Japan. He is also an Oxford-Kobe scholar, tenable at St. Catherine's College. He obtained an MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History with distinction from the University of Cambridge, funded by Trinity College (2022-2023). Toma-Jin was also an Oxford-Kobe and Clarendon scholar for his MSc in Japanese Studies at Oxford (distinction, 2021-2022). He graduated from Amherst College (USA) in 2021 with a BA in Political Science and Anthropology (summa cum laude with distinction, Phi Beta Kappa).
Toma-Jin Morikawa-Fouquet
College/Degree: St Catherine's College/DPhil in History
Country of Origin: Japan/France
Cohort: 2023
Troy Kervin created and continues to develop the proteolipid code; a theoretical framework that rivals the genetic code in cellular importance.
Troy Kervin
College/Degree: Magdalen College/DPhil in Clinical Medicine
Country of Origin: Canada
Cohort: 2023
I am a PhD student at University of Oxford in the Departement of Statistics. My project is supervised by François Caron and Benjamin Guedj. My research is supported by the Clarendon Scholarship. I was a Normalien (trainee civil servant) at the École Normale Supérieure de Rennes (ENS Rennes) in the Mathematics department. In 2023, I studied at the M2 Mathematics of Randomness at the Paris-Saclay University . In 2022, I ranked 39th in the agrégation of Mathematics.
Valentin Kilian
College/Degree: Mansfield College/DPhil in Statistics
Country of Origin: France
Cohort: 2023
Toma-Jin Morikawa-Fouquet is an intellectual and cultural historian of non-state actors with a focus on the intersection between cosmology and democracy in transnational Japan. He is also an Oxford-Kobe scholar, tenable at St. Catherine's College. He obtained an MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History with distinction from the University of Cambridge, funded by Trinity College (2022-2023). Toma-Jin was also an Oxford-Kobe and Clarendon scholar for his MSc in Japanese Studies at Oxford (distinction, 2021-2022). He graduated from Amherst College (USA) in 2021 with a BA in Political Science and Anthropology (summa cum laude with distinction, Phi Beta Kappa).
Toma-Jin Morikawa-Fouquet
College/Degree: St Catherine's College/DPhil in History
Country of Origin: Japan/France
Cohort: 2023
Troy Kervin created and continues to develop the proteolipid code; a theoretical framework that rivals the genetic code in cellular importance.
Troy Kervin
College/Degree: Magdalen College/DPhil in Clinical Medicine
Country of Origin: Canada
Cohort: 2023
I am a PhD student at University of Oxford in the Departement of Statistics. My project is supervised by François Caron and Benjamin Guedj. My research is supported by the Clarendon Scholarship. I was a Normalien (trainee civil servant) at the École Normale Supérieure de Rennes (ENS Rennes) in the Mathematics department. In 2023, I studied at the M2 Mathematics of Randomness at the Paris-Saclay University . In 2022, I ranked 39th in the agrégation of Mathematics.
Valentin Kilian
College/Degree: Mansfield College/DPhil in Statistics
Country of Origin: France
Cohort: 2023
Valerie Asiimwe Amani is a Tanzanian interdisciplinary artist and writer. Her practice interrogates the ways in which body erotics, language and the mythical are used to situate (or isolate) the self within community. She has exhibited internationally including group shows in Lagos, New York, Paris, Cape Town and Leipzig, and solo presentations in London and Dar es Salaam. Amani is the recipient of the 2023 Foundwork Art Prize, The 2022 Ingram Prize and the 2021 Ashmolean Museum Vivien Leigh Prize.
Valerie Asiimwe Amani
College/Degree: Christ Church/DPhil in Fine Art
Country of Origin: Tanzania
Cohort: 2023
William is from Brooklyn, NY, and graduated from Harvard in 2023 summa cum laude with a concentration in African American Studies and English. He studies narratives of slavery and colonialism as they are inflected through imaginations of futurity in works of SF and speculative fiction.
William Lohier
College/Degree: Lincoln College/MSt. in World Literatures in English
Country of Origin: United States
Cohort: 2023
Xavier is an Honorary Research Fellow for the Western Australian Legacies of British Slavery Project (School of Humanities, University of Western Australia). Prior to coming to Oxford, they worked as a researcher across the public and tertiary sectors. They hold an Honours degree (first class) in History from the University of Western Australia and completed a Graduate Certificate in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Deakin University. Their work has appeared in the Journal of American Studies. Xavier’s research interests include interrogating the intersections between slavery, colonialism, gender and power through a variety of interdisciplinary frames.
Xavier Reader
College/Degree: St Anne's College/MSt in History (Women's, Gender and Queer History)
Country of Origin: Australia
Cohort: 2023
Yiu Fung (a.k.a. Brian) graduated with an MPhys in Theoretical Physics at the University of St Andrews before he came to Oxford for his DPhil. His research mainly concerns about measuring strong spin-orbit coupling interaction and its effects in quantum magnetism of interesting materials in a large synchrotron facility. He compares experimental data and test mathematical models for novel quantum phenomenon and uses them to search for interesting quantum phases beneficial to humanity. He is also working as a tutor for Physics in his college. Right now, he is interested in crocheting to study topology as a hobby!
Yiu Fung Chiu
College/Degree: Worcester College/DPhil in Condensed Matter Physics
Country of Origin: Hong Kong SAR, China
Cohort: 2023
Yue is a DPhil Law student at the University of Oxford. His doctoral research focuses on the legality of unilateral economic measures under the principle of non-intervention. His research interests lie broadly in a number of areas of public international law, including international dispute settlement, international law and armed conflicts, and law of the sea. Yue holds an MPhil in Law and an MJur from the University of Oxford, and an LLB from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. During his studies, Yue has served multiple roles in international legal research. He is also currently a co-convenor of the Oxford Chinese Law Discussion Group.
Yue Cao
College/Degree: Jesus College/DPhil in Law
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2023
Ziming is a DPhil (PhD) student in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford and a recipient of the Clarendon Scholarship. His academic journey includes a First-class Bachelor of Engineering with Honours in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Nottingham. His research interests lie at the intersection of electronic engineering and clinical biomedicine, aiming to contribute to a healthier future.
Ziming Wang
College/Degree: Keble College/DPhil in Engineering Science
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2023
Ziyao comes to us from Harbin Institute of Technology, where he ranked top out of a large cohort in his master?€?s programme, following on from a highly successful bachelor?€?s degree. On top of having several national scholarships for his outstanding scholarship in China, he has an amazing track record of first-author publications in the most well-regarded fluid mechanics journals. He has previously investigated electrohydrodynamic instability and plumes behaviors in viscoelastic fluids within symmetric and axisymmetric electrode configurations, which are highly coupled and complicated problems. He found that the elastic will strongly affect the bifurcation process of EHD, and the rising processes of viscoelastic EHD plumes will get promoted. Here at Oxford, under the generous support from both the Clarendon Fund and a Magdalen Graduate Scholarship, Ziyao is investigating the detailed dynamics of droplet impact and aerobreakup problems using state-of-art high-resolution numerical simulations, both of which have application to too many important problems in engineering to try to enumerate. At spare time, he loves swimming and has been trying best to be a professional swimmer.
Ziyao Zhang
College/Degree: Magdalen College/DPhil in Engineering science
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2023