Queens' Success in the Gates Cambridge Impact Prize
Queens' alumna, Dr Urbasi Sinah and Dr Mona Jebril, a Queens' Bye-Fellow, have both been recognised for their outstanding contributions and impactful work by Gates Cambridge.
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship turns 25 this year, and they have kicked off their celebrations with a ceremony focusing on the impact their scholars have made since it's conception in 2000. On Monday 6th January they announced 8 winners of the Gates Impact Prize and we are delighted to share in the celebrations with 2 of the winners being Queens' members.
The Impact Prize ceremony took place on Friday 10th January, where all 8 winners were presented with awards for their achievements. Each winner received £5,000 and will be invited to be part of Gates Cambridge 2025 anniversary events.
Dr Mona Jebril has a long history with Queens', she joined the college as a PhD student in 2012, then as a PDRA in 2019 and in 2022 she became a Bye-Fellow in Education and Academic Development.
Mona, originally from Gaza, focuses a lot of her work, teaching and research on Gaza and the conflicts surrounding the Middle East.
In discussion with Mandy Garner at Gates Cambridge, Mona said: “I really want my work to have an impact. I want to give something back and that means ensuring that my knowledge is accessible to everyone. That engagement with the public is not generally encouraged in academia. It can make you feel like you are an outsider and that you are doing something wrong. So to have won the Impact Prize sends the message that there are different forms of impact that are valid and different ways of going about creating impact.”
For more information about Mona and her work, you can visit her website or you can read her full interview on the Gates Cambridge website.
Dr Urbasi Sinah completed her PhD here at Queens', after finishing her Physics degree in India. She was one of the first PhD students to work at Cambridge's Nanoscience Centre, where she became interested in quantum physics.
In conversation with Mandy Garner from Gates Cambridge about winning this prize, Professor Sinah says: “I have seen how the scholarship has evolved over the 25 years and am thrilled to celebrate its anniversary and to be recognised for my work over a similar time span. It is very humbling, but also makes me believe in the impact I can have in the next 25 years. Sometimes in science a lot of your experiments don’t work, but this prize says that what I am doing is important and gives me a new injection of motivation. Quantum science has sometimes struggled to show its potential for impact so I am delighted the jury has understood the benefits it can bring for societal growth.”
For more information about Urbasi and her work, you can visit her website or you can read her full interview on the Gates Cambridge website.
Built with Shorthand