My GATES Experience

The GATES fellowship at the MaCI provides an opportunity for researchers to engage with a dynamic community and explore their work in new contexts. This page will feature reflections from our fellows, offering insights into how their time here has influenced their research and fostered connections with colleagues from around the world.

You have all already made me feel so very welcome here and it was a pleasure to listen to Carole Bourne-Taylor’s beautiful talk.  She both deeply understands poetry and writes like a poet!  Her collision of ‘geology and genealogy’ for example, place and person held in time... lovely!  I knew Carole from when I was teaching at Brasenose College in Oxford and it was a joy to connect again – such are the many wonderful advantages of a fellowship like this – new connections and surprise reconnections!  
It is truly wonderful to be here and already I have made some great contacts for the work and with the community including Christophe Capuano and getting involved with their "Living Well, Ageing Well" Summer School in Geneva and also hopefully doing a workshop with Erika Wicky. Wonderful! There is much richness for my research here. I am beyond grateful for time and space I have to be here and connect with the fabulous GATES team and the wonderful and diverse other fellows. It is a joy and an honour.

Helen Paris (Stanford University - MaCI Distinguished Fellow 2024)

I also wanted to take a moment to express my admiration for the program. The GATES members are such inspiring leaders - everything they touch truly shines. It’s an honor to be here and to get to know the fellows and the wonderful place you lead. Your leadership and vision have clearly created an environment where innovation and collaboration flourish, and I’m truly grateful and deeply honored to be a part of it.

Pr Lilia Korol (Ostroh Academy, Ukraine, MaCI Distinguished Fellow 2024)

Je tenais à vous exprimer ma gratitude pour ce séjour très fructueux et agréable. La MaCI est un milieu unique qui se prête aux échanges fructueux à tous les niveaux, d’ailleurs. Je me réjouis de revenir en septembre et de collaborer sur l’(in)habitabilité avec des spécialistes de l’UGA dans un esprit de transversalité. L’UGA concentre des compétences et talents qu’il convient de mettre en commun par des initiatives qui nous font sortir de notre ‘comfort zone’. Croisons les doigts pour l’avenir de l’UGA et ses équipes qui font ainsi rayonner l’UGA en France et à l’étranger. Ce que vous avez accompli pour l’UGA est admirable et votre gestion du projet GATES et de la MaCI magistrale. En toute sincérité.

Pr. Carole Bourne-Taylor (Brasenose College, Oxford, MaCI Senior Fellow 2024)
 

I would also like to offer congratulations to MaCI and the University of Grenoble Alpes for supporting such an initiative at a global level. There are so many exceptionally talented researchers out there but who, for different reasons, have been unable to secure permanent posts. It is a rare sliver of light to have a genuinely open call for Arts & Humanities funded projects that is not already ‘tailored’ to fit predetermined thematics/topics (i.e. prescribed and proscibed research areas). The GATES scheme is to be celebrated and noted, and sets an international gold standard for others to follow.

Pr. Nessa Cronin (University of Galway, Ireland, MaCI Senior Fellow 2024)