This year, seven new Kennedy Scholars depart for Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
They embrace a broad range of academic and professional interests, and join in the Trust’s sixtieth anniversary year, six decades on from the first Kennedy Scholars who departed for the United States in 1966.
The new class was welcomed by Scholars, guests and friends of the Trust at our Summer Reception at Lancaster House on 2 July.
Zack Hilburn
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Zack will pursue his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Gas Turbine Laboratory, where his research will focus on the design and integration of nuclear-fuelled propulsion systems for aircraft, with the aim of making zero-carbon aviation a practical reality.
Zack studied Aerospace Engineering at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating with Double First-Class Honours in his BA and MEng and receiving several academic awards. His degree also spanned Energy and Sustainability Engineering as a second specialisation, giving him a broader perspective on the technical and environmental challenges facing aviation.
Zack’s Master’s research explored hydrogen-fuelled propulsion systems as a clean energy solution for hybrid-airships, a next-generation form of airborne transport. This project was presented at the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Young Person Lecture Competition, where Zack progressed to the national finals and received an award for his work. With a strong interest in bridging research and industry, Zack has worked at the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team, at Cantor Fitzgerald’s Energy team, and at Hybrid Air Vehicles. Spanning high-performance engineering, sustainable investment and advanced aerospace manufacturing, these experiences gave him a deeper understanding of what it takes to bring complex technologies to market.
At MIT, Zack will push this work further, researching nuclear-fuelled propulsion as a transformative pathway towards scalable, long-range, zero-carbon flight.
Thomas Johnson
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Thomas will pursue the Master of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Thomas studied Mathematics and Computer Science at Imperial College London, where he particularly enjoyed modules in game theory and graph theory, fields which underpin his interest in designing efficient and fair market systems. Through the MFin, Thomas aims to build the analytical foundations for a career improving the stability and transparency of financial systems.
As a funded researcher supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, he has worked on causal inference algorithms. His current research explores how the strategic behaviour of interacting autonomous agents can be formally verified.
Beyond academics, Thomas has served as a department ambassador, works as a lead mathematics tutor, and enjoys cycling, running and dancing the Argentine tango.
Anna Taylor
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Anna Taylor will undertake a special studentship at Harvard University, where she will deepen her understanding of industrial strategy and economics. She will use the opportunity to learn from the diverse approaches of US experts and policymakers to designing, and making the case for, climate policy.
Anna currently works in gas systems policy at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, developing policy to support gas network infrastructure and gas consumers as demand declines.
Before joining government, Anna was a public opinion and policy researcher. She led research investigating young people’s attitudes towards clean energy jobs for the The King’s Trust, and analysis of how consumers trade off different attributes when selecting a new heating system for the National Energy System Operator.
Anna graduated from University of Exeter with a first-class English Literature degree and research exploring the politics of the energy transition in the North Sea. Anna is a keen hiker and science fiction reader.
Jacob (Jem) Perry
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Jacob Perry will undertake a special studentship at Harvard University to deepen his knowledge of macroeconomics and the mathematical foundations underpinning leading research in the field. He is particularly interested in how macroeconomic models can adapt to changing external circumstances and contribute insights with practical relevance for policy.
Jem has just completed his final year at the University of Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at The Queen’s College, Oxford, graduating with First Class Honours.
He spent last summer as an intern at the Bank of England and now aims to build on that experience of bridging research and policy, taking advantage of Harvard’s interdisciplinary expertise and the flexibility of the special student programme. He is especially excited to learn from and work with Harvard academics studying the economic effects of domestic inequality and global financial imbalances.
Dominic Caddick
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Dominic Caddick will undertake a special studentship at Harvard University where he plans to take an interdisciplinary approach to study the contemporary challenges to democracy, learning from perspectives in history, theology, philosophy and psychology. Alongside this, he hopes classes in comedy and storytelling will improve his ability to communicate memorably and courses at the Harvard Kennedy School will sharpen his practical leadership skills.
For the past five and a half years Dominic has worked at the New Economics Foundation, and has worked across welfare, fiscal and monetary policy. His research and policy proposals relating to the Office for Budget Responsibility and Bank of England have attracted particular attention. These proposals have been discussed across UK media and have been advocated for by previous Monetary Policy Committee members and numerous politicians across the political spectrum from the Green Party of England and Wales to Reform UK.
Before the New Economics Foundation, Dominic worked at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and graduated from University of Cambridge with a BA degree in Economics.
Christian Edwards
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Christian Edwards was an Emmy Award-winning journalist at CNN, where he covered countries on Europe’s eastern flank and security implications arising from Russia’s war in Ukraine. During his three years as a staff reporter, he reported from Georgia on the government’s tilt toward authoritarianism, and from Hungary on the electoral defeat of Viktor Orbán.
Christian intends to conduct research into how shifting information ecosystems are threatening the health of democracies, and to study the United States’ changing conception of its role in the world. Before attending Harvard, Christian is taking an immersive Russian language course at Middlebury College in Vermont, where he has been awarded a Fellows for Peace fellowship.
Christian read English at the University of Oxford, graduating with First Class Honours. He then earned a master’s degree in public policy from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), graduating with Distinction. After Harvard, Christian plans to resume his career as a journalist.
Alex Knighton
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Alex Knighton is passionate about the power of effective community healthcare, and will undertake an MPH in Global Health at Harvard University to pursue her interests in the political, economic and societal determinants of health.
She studied Medical Sciences and Medicine at the University of Oxford, and after graduating with a first and distinction, she undertook an internship at the World Health Organization European Centre for Primary Care. She is now an academic specialised foundation doctor, working clinically at the John Radcliffe Hospital and academically with Global Primary Care and Future Health Systems group, where she works on multiple projects looking at access to healthcare.
Whilst having demonstrated her aptitude for sciences, Alex is most interested in the intersection between medicine and the humanities, and is excited to explore the interdisciplinary courses offered in the MPH.
Alex also serves as a trustee for Spotlight YOPD (Registered Charity UK), a charity supporting those with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease, and is a Clinical Sciences tutor at Balliol College, University of Oxford.
Rania Ramli
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
The Trustees have renewed the Kennedy Scholarship of Rania Ramli for a further year at Harvard Kennedy School.
Rania is completing a dual degree combining the MPA in International Development at Harvard Kennedy School with an MBA at The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Having spent this past year at Dartmouth, she returns to the Kennedy School to focus on economic development and cross-sector leadership, reflecting her interest in how the public and private sectors can work together for sustainable development.
