Cohort 2024
Alexander is a cancer researcher working within the Blagden laboratory of the University of Oxford and the Lilley group of the University of Cambridge. Prior to beginning his doctorate he graduated with a first class honours BSc Biochemistry degree from King’s College London (2023) and a MRes Cancer Biology degree (Merit) from Imperial College London (2024) . Throughout his studies he developed a passion for the long-term translation of cancer research to the clinic to achieve tangible improvements in patient outcomes. His doctoral research will further elucidate the mechanism through which overexpression of the RNA-binding protein (RBP) LARP1 drives ovarian cancer progression. This is part of a wider translational programme within the Blagden laboratory which aims to market RBPs as biomarkers (early-warning signals) of this disease to aid its diagnosis.
Alexander Colton
College/Degree: Balliol College/DPhil in Oncology
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Cohort: 2024
Arthur's research interests encompass national identity, nation building and collective memory. His dissertation investigates nationalism and the memory of war with a focus on the Franco-German War 1870/71.
Having worked in Mergers and Acquisitions, focusing on Central and Eastern Europe, and completed his BSc in Economic History at LSE, Arthur is passionate about European integration and democratic movements, particularly in Ukraine, Georgia and Taiwan. He writes on these subjects non-academically.
In his free time Arthur enjoys classical music, nature and sports. He is also a reservist in the Austrian Army.
Arthur Kroen
College/Degree: Lincoln College/MPhil History of War
Country of Origin: Austria
Cohort: 2024
Ayantola Alayande is a DPhil Candidate in International Development, studying notions of AI Sovereignty (Sovereign AI) and international cooperation among emerging power nations. He is also a researcher at the Global Center on AI Governance (GCG), where, among other things, he contributed to the development of the African Union (AU) Continental AI Strategy
Previously, he worked as a researcher on the digitisation and public sector productivity project at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at Cambridge. His professional career has straddled several fields, such as private sector market research, civic tech, and policy work.
Ayantola Alayande
College/Degree: Trinity College/DPhil in International Development
Country of Origin: Nigeria
Cohort: 2024
After his BS in Biology at Uruguay’s Universidad de la Republica (UdelaR), Ben joined The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to study cardiovascular disease (CVD) genetics and prediction using artificial intelligence (AI).
Now, as a DPhil student, Ben studies the use of AI for individualized CVD risk estimations; his goal is to develop a tool to accurately predicts CVD risk in the global population using a simple blood test. Such a tool would enable CVD care outside hospitals with greater benefits for marginalized populations with limited access to healthcare and high CVD burden.
Ben has over 20 publications, including leading medical journals such as The Lancet, JACC, Nature Genetics and JAMA.
Ben Omega Petrazzini
College/Degree: Reuben College/DPhil in Women's & Reproductive Health
Country of Origin: Uruguay
Cohort: 2024
Charden holds an MLitt in International Political Theory (Distinction) from the University of St Andrews, an MSc in African Studies (Distinction) from the University of Oxford, and a BA in International Relations and Politics (First Class) from Northumbria University. He was named to the Dean's List for Academic Excellence (2023/2024) and is part of the Oxford Global Leadership Initiative 2025 cohort. Charden’s research focuses on the geographies and geopolitics of social movements, as well as contemporary forms of imperialism and domination. He contributed a chapter to the Routledge Handbook of Service Users' Involvement in Research and Education (2020) and co-authored a chapter in the Encyclopaedia of Human Geography (Springer Nature, 2024). His work includes a forthcoming article in the Political Geography Journal.
Charden Pouo Moutsouka
College/Degree: St John’s College/DPhil in Political Geography
Country of Origin: Congo-Brazzaville
Cohort: 2024
Cyrus Hung is mixed-media artist with a focus on video, using satire and comedy to explore the art ecosytem, and themes that relate to absurdist life in contemporary capitalist societies. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art prior to the Ruskin School of Art at Oxford; and has exhibited at various galleries such as South London Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Open Hand Open Space, Reading, and Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre. His work was selected as part of the New Contemporaries in 2019. In his spare time, he is a keen pianist and tennis player. cyrushung.com
Cyrus Hung
College/Degree: Queen’s College/MFA Fine Art
Country of Origin: Hong Kong SAR, China
Cohort: 2024
Elif Bayat is an MSc student in Global Governance and Diplomacy and Communications Secretary of the Clarendon Scholars' Council 2024-25. She graduated in 2022 from Goethe University Frankfurt with a BA in Sociology and Political Science. During her undergraduate studies, she spent semesters in Paris and Istanbul and was a Fulbright Scholar in San Antonio, Texas. Passionate about international affairs and diplomacy, she was a German youth delegate to the G20 Summit in India and currently holds various roles as a UN youth envoy. Before Oxford, she gained experience in various political fields, including as an intern at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations in New York, as a UNESCO volunteer at the Goethe-Institut in Cairo, and as a Transatlantic Fellow at the German Research Foundation in Washington, DC.
Elif Bayat
College/Degree: Lincoln College/MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy
Country of Origin: Germany
Cohort: 2024
Emma is a DPhil candidate working with Dr. Neil Bowles within the Planetary Surfaces and Space Instrumentation group. Her background is in engineering, as she holds a Bachelors of Applied Science in Aerospace Engineering and Robotics from the University of Toronto. Prior to her time at Oxford, Emma worked at the Canadian Space Agency as a Systems Engineer and at Macdonald Detwiller and Associates as a Mission Specialist. Her previous research explored the methods in which novel biomimetic rovers could be used to track Martian dust storms. Now, at Oxford, she explores the characterization of airless body surfaces, with a particular focus in (101955) Bennu.
Emma also holds a degree in Art History and loves to talk about art, architecture, and pop culture. Outside of work, she loves to craft, cook, hike, and row. When she's not in her office, she can probably be found taking naps with her cat, Jude.
Emma Catherine Belhadfa
College/Degree: Oriel College/DPhil in Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Planetary Physics
Country of Origin: Canada
Cohort: 2024
Holly Smith is a first year DPhil student at the University of Oxford, working on medieval liturgical chant fragments from Canterbury Cathedral, supervised by Professor Christian Leitmeir. Before this, she completed her MMus at King’s College, London, where she wrote a thesis on a selection of chant fragments from Lambeth Palace Library. She is an avid singer, and was a choral scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge during her undergraduate degree in Music. She is supported by Clarendon, Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership and St Anne’s College.
Holly Smith
College/Degree: St Anne’s College/DPhil in Music
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Cohort: 2024
James is a Medical Doctor from Perth, Western Australia. He recently completed the MSc in Applied Digital Health at Oxford where his dissertation focused on the health economics of automated diabetic retinopathy screening in rural Western Australia. James will continue his research as a DPhil student evaluating the implementation of artificial intelligence-enabled retinal disease assessment in rural Australia, using a mixed-methods approach.
James Leigh
College/Degree: New College/DPhil in Translational Health Sciences
Country of Origin: Australia
Cohort: 2024
Jiawei Xu completed his Bachelor degree in Nanjing Normal University (2017-2021) and Master degree in Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (2021-2024). He is now reading DPhil in Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. John McGrady and Prof. Michail Stamatakis. His research focuses on applying high-accurate electronic structure methods to understand chemical and biochemical processes.
Jiawei Xu
College/Degree: St Cross College/DPhil in Chemistry
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2024
Julia is currently pursuing a DPhil in Clinical Medicine at the Nuffield Department of Medicine. Her research explores HIV immunotherapy strategies and the viral and immune factors that contribute to sustained HIV suppression. She holds an MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and a BA in Molecular Biology from Princeton University.
Julia Edgar
College/Degree: Jesus College/DPhil in Clinical Medicine
Country of Origin: Canada
Cohort: 2024
Katherine M. Zhou (she/her) is a writer, researcher, and organizer pursuing a PhD at the University of Oxford, where she examines labor, resistance, and geographies of artificial intelligence. She was also the creator of the Design Ethically project, which started out as a framework for applying ethics to the design process and eventually grew into a toolkit of speculative activities that help teams forecast the consequences of their products. Through her work with Design Ethically, she has spoken about the harms of deceptive and manipulative designs at events hosted by the Nobel Prize Summit (2023), European Parliament (2022) and the US Federal Trade Commission (2021), as well as an assortment of tech conferences. Kat has been quoted in the BBC, WIRED, Fast Company, Protocol, and Tech Policy Press.
Katherine M. Zhou
College/Degree: Balliol College/DPhil in Information, Communication, and the Social Sciences
Country of Origin: USA
Cohort: 2024
Dr. Katherine Tourigny is pursuing a DPhil in Clinical Neuroscience through NDCN and the MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit. Katherine is supervised by Prof Timothy Denison, Mr. Alex Green, and Dr. Joram van Rheede.
Katherine completed her MD training at the University of British Columbia and is a Neurosurgery Resident with the Dalhousie Division of Neurosurgery Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Prior to starting the DPhil Katherine completed the MSc Neuroscience at Oxford studying electrical artifact in deep brain stimulation (DBS) and hippocampal recordings in an animal model of fornix DBS.
Katherine is interested in functional neurosurgery and neuromodulation. Her research in neuroengineering focuses on challenges of novel deep brain stimulation systems, inspired by her firsthand experience with patients undergoing neurosurgical procedures.
Katherine Tourigny
College/Degree: St John's College/DPhil in Clinical Neuroscience
Country of Origin: Canada
Cohort: 2024
Prior to Reuben College, Krish was a member of New College and Regent’s Park College, where he studied Economics. His academic research & interests are focused on applying computational approaches to inform labor market policies and financial-economic decisions.
Krish has worked in both the tech and finance sectors, including roles at TikTok, Astranis Space Technologies, Resilinc Corporation, and The Brattle Group. Most recently, he co-founded Adviser Labs, a venture-backed cloud computing startup. Additionally, Krish has a strong interest in healthcare, having worked at Olympus, a medical device company, and conducted health policy research featured on Daily Points of Light. After Oxford, he plans to further explore the tech sector through management and technical roles while also contributing to the development of global social policies around emerging technologies.
Krish Wadhwani
College/Degree: Reuben College/MSc in Comparative Social Policy
Country of Origin: USA
Cohort: 2024
Maud is a DPhil student in Organic Chemistry. Her research focuses on a new variant of the Mitsunobu reaction - an old, very important reaction with significant flaws - to broaden its synthetic use in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries.
She completed her MChem at New College, Oxford, where she was the recipient of the Gibbs Prize in Chemistry for placing top of her cohort in the Final Examinations, and the Brian Bannister Prize in Organic Chemistry for the top Masters thesis in Organic Chemistry.
Alongside a Clarendon Scholarship, she has been awarded a Newton-Abraham Scholarship in Medical, Biological and Chemical Sciences in association with Lincoln College.
In her free time, Maud enjoys running, playing netball, reading and baking.
Maud Tregear
College/Degree: Lincoln College/DPhil in Chemistry
Country of Origin: England
Cohort: 2024
Max is a physician-scientist in training at the University of Leipzig, Germany, currently pursuing an MSc in Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. His research interests focus on molecular neuroscience in neuromechanics, in which he conducted the research for his medical doctorate (Dr. med.), now investigating clinical research questions on neurodegenerative diseases. He held prestigious placements at leading university hospitals and research institutes, including the Max Planck Institute and the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience in Oxford.
His dedication to translating fundamental scientific discovery into clinical application was awarded fully funded scholarships from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation and the Clarendon Fund.
Beyond his research, Max is an active member of several academic societies, a passionate skier and a member of the St Peter's College Boat Club.
Max Buhlan
College/Degree: St Peter's College/MSc in Neuroscience
Country of Origin: Germany
Cohort: 2024
Noga's work focuses on how natural language encodes time and temporality. She holds a BA in Philosophy and Liberal Arts from Shalem College, Jerusalem, and an MA in Linguistics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Noga Syon
College/Degree: Hertford College/DPhil in Linguistics
Country of Origin: Israel
Cohort: 2024
Ruben received his BSc and MSc in Physics from University College London, where he applied graph learning techniques to improve the reconstruction of physical objects in the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. He continues to work on the ATLAS experiment as a DPhil student, focusing on searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, with a particular interest in understanding the nature of dark matter.
Ruben Hönscheid
College/Degree: Wolfson College/DPhil in Particle Physics
Country of Origin: Germany
Cohort: 2024
Ryan is a DPhil candidate in history interested in how more-than-human perspectives and multispecies methodologies might alter, at a fundamental level, what the medieval world looks like and redress anthropocentric assumptions, narratives, and value judgments. His research takes an interdisciplinary approach, following generations of birds, those attentive to them, and their long history of entanglement with various locales, communities, and ecologies along the medieval flyways of the East Atlantic.
He received BA degrees in History and Anthropology from the University of Washington, Seattle, where he simultaneously worked as an archaeology collections junior manager at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, and completed an MPhil in Medieval History at Oxford. Ryan currently convenes the Oxford Environmental History Working Group, serves as a member of the TORCH Environmental Humanities PG Committee, and is an associate researcher at the Unearthing Multispecies Intellectual History project.
Ryan Mealiffe
College/Degree: Wolfson College/DPhil in History
Country of Origin: USA
Cohort: 2024
Scott Ryan Maybell is a science-and-religion scholar who uses a logical expressivist framework to examine the social and historical dynamics of misrecognition in conflicts related to atheism, demonization, and religious hegemony. His focus is on such conflicts in the American Southwest, including debates about Indigenous American ancestry, genetics, and the Book of Mormon, the reception of Philip K. Dick as a theologian and his struggle to be recognized as such, and the use of the ‘devilfish’ icon to portray Southwestern religions as dangerous monsters. Outside of academia, Scott’s decade-long career in public service has included mediating court cases between government entities, asylum seekers, and Indigenous groups in Pima County, Arizona as well as advocating for homeless communities in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Scott Ryan Maybell
College/Degree: St John's College/DPhil in Theology and Religion
Country of Origin: USA
Cohort: 2024
Svea is a DPhil student in Medical Science. She holds a B. Sc. and M. Sc. degree in Molecular Biotechnology from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, with a focuss on immunology, virology and drug development. Svea is passionate about understanding the interplay between viruses and the innate immune response to identify novel drug targets. Her focus is on developing a model to study cell-to-cell communication during viral infection. She also aims to understand the function of selected interferon-stimulated genes that play a critical role in the immune response to viral pathogens. In her spare time, Svea enjoys dancing and is a member of the Oxford University Dancesport Club.
Svea Wupper
College/Degree: Linacre College/DPhil in Medical Science
Country of Origin: Germany
Cohort: 2024
Syed, from Kolkata, is a DPhil candidate in Materials Science, focusing on the effects of hydrogen in steels. He has an undergraduate degree in engineering from NIT Durgapur and a Master’s from IISc Bangalore. He is often engrossed in exploring the intricacies of metallurgy, particularly understanding and exploring ways to enhance the mechanical properties of metals and alloys. Syed is deeply passionate about pursuing a career in academics. Beyond his research, he is a selenophile and enjoys writing poetry, exploring fine perfumes, watching cricket and is a loyal KKR fan.
Syed Abdur Rahman
College/Degree: St Peter's College/DPhil in Materials
Country of Origin: India
Cohort: 2024
Taiwu Liu started his DPhil in Finance in 2024 at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. His research centers on asset pricing and behavioral finance.
Taiwu is a member of Brasenose College, and is a recipient of Clarendon Scholarship and Brasenose College Kwai Cheong & Lena Liu Award. Prior to joining the doctoral program, he completed the MSc in Financial Economics at Columbia Business School (CBS), Columbia University. He also holds a B.B.A. in Finance with First-class Honours from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHKSZ).
Taiwu has served as an Undergraduate Student Teaching Fellow on Calculus, Econometrics and Intermediate Microeconomics at CUHKSZ and has tutored on Capital Markets & Investment at CBS.
Beyond academia, Taiwu enjoys badminton, tennis, squash, table tennis, volleyball, and rock climbing. In his leisure time, he plays the piano and solves Sudoku puzzles.
Taiwu Liu
College/Degree: Brasenose College/DPhil in Finance
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2024
Tara is a DPhil student based in the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Bangkok, where she is analysing the spatial trends of febrile illness in South and Southeast Asia and the impact of climate and the environment. Prior to her DPhil, Tara worked as a Research Assistant at King's College London on a project investigating the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and the innate immune system. She holds a BSc in Immunology from the University of Edinburgh and an MSc in Medical Microbiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Tara Wagner-Gamble
College/Degree: St Cross College/DPhil in Clinical Medicine
Country of Origin: Scotland/Germany
Cohort: 2024
Thu Htet is a political scientist by training, currently focusing on international security and strategic studies with a regional focus on Southeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific. Before commencing his DPhil, he completed MPhil in International Relations from University of Oxford (as a Jardine Scholar), MSc in Urban Strategies from Chulalongkorn University (as a CU Graduate Scholar) and BA (First Class Honours) in Political Science from University of Yangon. His doctoral project explores how Southeast Asian states navigate international order transitions amid geopolitical uncertainty, and manage and maintain its multi-aligned engagement with external powers. He teaches topics on international relations, research methods, political economy of development, and federalism and democracy in various educational platforms in Myanmar.
Thu Htet
College/Degree: Oriel College/DPhil in Area Studies
Country of Origin: Myanmar
Cohort: 2024
Valentin earned his BSc in Medical Engineering in Erlangen, Germany, then master’s degrees in Medical Imaging and Computation Engineering from Erlangen and Lugano. His research, conducted in Erlangen, Stanford, and Oxford, focused on AI-based medical image processing. For his DPhil, he’ll continue researching artefact reduction in ultrasound for fetal brain development.
Valentin Bacher
College/Degree: St John's College/DPhil in Computer Science
Country of Origin: Germany
Cohort: 2024
Vincent is passionate about exploring the intersection of molecular biology and technology. He earned an M.Sc. in Nanobiology (Summa Cum Laude) and a B.Sc. in Nanobiology (Cum Laude) from Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam, where he was recognized as Graduate of the Year. Vincent has conducted advanced research on DNA replication and repair at leading international institutions, including the Kavli Institute for Bionanoscience Delft. Beyond the lab, Vincent enjoys rowing and socializing with friends over a cup of tea (without milk). With interests ranging from molecular biology to astronomy, his scientific pursuits are as varied as his sense of humor, proof that even in science, a stronger brew makes all the difference.
Vincent Peter Eduard Kruit
College/Degree: Wolfson College/DPhil in Interdisciplinary Biosciences (BBSRC)
Country of Origin: The Netherlands
Cohort: 2024
Xuan joined Oxford in October 2024 as a DPhil student. His current research focuses on women’s health, breast cancer, and health big data.
Prior to Oxford, Xuan completed his Master of Public Health at Tsinghua University's Vanke School of Public Health and earned a Bachelor's degree in Statistics and Economics from Renmin University of China.
Xuan is interested in combining interdisciplinary perspectives and methods for population health. He is also passionate about global health practice, gaining valuable experience as an international volunteer in African slums, a project management intern at UNICEF Supply Division, an advisor at the World Health Assembly, and a volunteer for the Winter Olympic Games.
Xuan Li
College/Degree: St Edmund Hall/DPhil in Population Health
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2024
Yasmeena is a current Master’s student and Clarendon Scholar in Social Science of the Internet at the University of Oxford. Her research is on the interplay between the evolving philosophy of Silicon Valley and the American regulatory environment on AI. She holds a B.S.H. from Stanford University in Symbolic Systems (Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence), writing a now-published, award-winning undergraduate thesis on how AI, leveraging deliberative democracy techniques, can depolarise individuals. After Stanford, she spent two years at McKinsey & Company in Washington D.C. as a business analyst. While there, she focused mainly on responsible AI strategy and deployment across diverse companies from major tech firms to financial services to manufacturing. Outside of academics, Yasmeena is an amateur astronomer, and likes to play tennis and write poetry (which she also studied as part of her undergraduate degree, holding a minor in Creative Writing). She also previously worked as a sports journalist, covering the San Francisco Giants for Vox Media, and retains a love for baseball and football (both kinds!).
Yasmeena Khan
College/Degree: Balliol College/MSc in Social Science of the Internet
Country of Origin: USA
Cohort: 2024
Zamakhanya Makhanya is a Clinical Psychologist and Public Health Researcher from South Africa, currently pursuing a DPhil in Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation at the University of Oxford. She holds a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Master of Public Health in Community Health Sciences from Tulane University. Her research focuses on digital parenting interventions to reduce violence against children and improve mental health outcomes. She has worked as a clinical psychologist, a trial psychologist in adolescent depression studies, and a research officer at the University of Cape Town. A recipient of the Clarendon Fund Award, Zamakhanya’s commitment to mental health reform was solidified during her involvement in the Life Esidimeni tragedy in South Africa. She hopes to bridge clinical practice with policy development to drive systemic change globally.
Zamakhanya Makhanya
College/Degree: Kellogg College/DPhil in Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation
Country of Origin: South Africa
Cohort: 2024
Zeren holds a BEng in Software Engineering and a BSc in Mathematics & Applied Mathematics (dual degree) from Beihang University, Beijing. He later earns an MSc in Computer Science with distinction from ETH Zurich. His research interests mainly lie in the intersection of computer vision and computer graphics, with a particular interest in 3D vision. Ultimately, he aims to harness computer vision techniques to build a real-time perceiving system to understand the surrounding world and eventually leverage this to learn a generative model to generate an immersive virtual world.
Zeren Jiang
College/Degree: Balliol College/DPhil in Engineering Science
Country of Origin: China
Cohort: 2024