Two recipients of The Gates Cambridge Scholarship will arrive at Gonville & Caius College to pursue their PhDs at the start of the 2024-25 academic year in October.

The 2024 cohort comprises 75 new scholars of 29 different nationalities, with two thirds beginning PhDs.

Damni Kain (Modern South Asian Studies MPhil 2022), pictured left, is to return to Caius, having spent a year here until summer 2023. An interview with Damni is on the College website.

She will be joined in the Caius MCR community by Vinícius Alexandre Fortes De Barros, who is from Brazil and will pursue a PhD in Law.

Damni Kain

Damni Kain, from India, who is doing a PhD in Sociology. Her master’s explored the spatial and temporal structures of platform work by placing the gig economy in the caste society of India. Her PhD will explore how caste and the structures of the gig economy co-produce each other while reordering social, bodily and sensorial relations of work. 

She says: “The ‘future of work’ has been at the centre of debate in recent years. But how is this future shaped by the ‘past’ and also the ‘present’ of work in the caste society of South Asia where people are ranked at birth and ascribed hierarchical social identities? My research aims to address this question while also using ethnographic evidence to create a better future of work - informing state policies, digital labour platforms, and consumers of the gig economy."

Vinícius Alexandre Fortes De Barros

Vinícius Alexandre Fortes De Barros, from Brazil, who is pursuing a  PhD in Law. He is one of the few openly gay Federal Prosecutors in Brazil, having started his career as a judge at the Mato Grosso State Court where he became the youngest appointee in 2015. In 2016 he became a Federal Prosecutor and was focused on human rights and criminal law.

He says: “My personal and professional background has led to the question: Is there a possible way to adequately protect LGBTQIA+ persons during and after wars? This question is the basis of my PhD research. With the Gates scholarship, I plan on receiving different multicultural visions about armed conflicts and vulnerable groups. Gates Cambridge will allow me to connect with visions of the World I have not yet experienced, strengthening my research."

See the University of Cambridge’s announcement on the Gates Cambridge Scholarship