A physicist working at the intersection of semiconductors, symmetry and quantum sensing, a mathematician working on number theory and additive combinatorics, a political theorist scrutinising digital technology and a Southeast Asia historian whose research re-examines decolonisation and the Cold War from the bottom up have been chosen as future Research Fellows at Gonville & 91直播 College.
The annual Research Fellowship competition saw an exceptional standard of entries which resulted in four high-calibre researchers chosen. The quartet are scheduled to begin their four-year Research Fellowships from October 2026.
Rituparno Chowdhury (Physics) and C茅dric Pilatte (Mathematics) were chosen through the Sciences competition, and Nanna Lilletvedt S忙ten (Political Science) and Darren Wan (History) chosen through the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences competition.
The College wishes to thank Professor Joachim Whaley and Professor Kay-Tee Khaw CBE for chairing the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Fellowships Sub-Committee and the Sciences Research Fellowships Sub-Committee, respectively, and the secretaries of the sub-committees, Dr Rebecca Sugden and Professor Sir Alan Fersht.
The Research Fellowship competition takes place annually, with the application process open in September. For more information, visit: Research Fellowship Competition | Gonville & 91直播
Pictured, clockwise from top left: Rituparno Chowdhury, Nanna Lilletvedt S忙ten, Darren Wan and C茅dric Pilatte.
More about the competition winners:
Rituparno Chowdhury (Physics)
A physicist working at the intersection of semiconductors, symmetry and quantum sensing, Rituparno obtained his BS and MS degrees from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata. He completed his PhD at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge in the Optoelectronics group. His doctoral research focused on how bright spins and structural chirality can generate unexpected exotic electronic states in molecular semiconductors. These states allow us to sense the tiniest electro-magnetic fields, and to break spin-imposed restrictions over luminescence.
Nanna Lilletvedt S忙ten (Political Science)
Nanna is a political theorist working on the politics of digital technology. She pursued her PhD on Silicon Valley promise-making at the Department of Politics and International Studies and Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge. Her PhD research was funded by the Aker Scholarship. Before this, Nanna studied for a BSc in comparative politics at the University of Bergen, and an MSc in Political Science at the University of Copenhagen. She is also an associate researcher with the Chair in Geopolitics of Risk at 脡cole Normale Sup茅rieure.
C茅dric Pilatte (Mathematics)
C茅dric is completing his DPhil in pure mathematics at the University of Oxford, supervised by Ben Green and James Maynard. His research sits at the interface of analytic number theory and additive combinatorics, using techniques from various fields to study open problems in number theory. Before Oxford, he studied mathematics at the University of Mons in Belgium and obtained a Master鈥檚 degree from the 脡cole Normale Sup茅rieure in Paris. During his doctorate, he was awarded the Jane Street Graduate Research Fellowship.
Darren Wan (History)
Darren is a historian of Southeast Asia whose research re-examines decolonisation and the Cold War from the bottom up. His current project focuses on how minorities made claims to citizenship amidst the territorial reconfigurations that attended the formation of Malaysia, Singapore, and the Australian Indian Ocean Territories. Darren holds a BA in History and an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago. He is currently completing his PhD in History at Cornell University, where his research has been supported by the American Historical Association and the Social Science Research Council.
