Lauryn Anderson graduated with a BA in English Literature (Starred Double First) from the University of Cambridge, where she was the recipient of several awards, including 'The Mrs Claude Beddington Prize', 'The Cambridge Quarterly Prize', and the Gonville & Caius College Schuldham Plate. In 2021, she completed a MSt in English (with Distinction) from the University of Oxford, funded by a Clarendon Postgraduate Scholarship.

Lauryn began her PhD at Jesus College, Cambridge in 2021, funded by a Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholarship. Provisionally titled 'Writing with Documents, 1936-2019: Mediation, Attention, Ethics', her thesis explores Anglophone literature variously known as 'archival writing' or 'documentary writing'. This concerns literary work in the 20th and 21st centuries whereby writers imbedded historical documents or archival materials into their work. Moving beyond current critical efforts to define 'docu-poetics', Lauryn's thesis proposes four theories of mediation which suggest ethical and ontological implications for the category of 'the document' itself.

In addition to her thesis, Lauryn convenes or has convened several intellectual and community groups. She currently sits on the Post45 Graduate Steering Committee, for which she is organising the 2025 Post45 Graduate Symposium. She is also a co-founder and co-convenor of 'Ambivalent Archives' (2023-), a University-funded research network which explores archival theory and practice through reading groups and speaker events. Prior to these roles, Lauryn convened the Modern and Contemporary Literature Research Seminar at Cambridge, as well as 'activist/aesthetics', a reading group and conference which held discussions on the intersections between political thought and aesthetic practices. She is also deeply interested in the fabric of contemporary writing, and has received several grants to host and interview writers including Bhanu Kapil, Victoria Adukwei Bulley and Yara Rodrigues Fowler. Outside of her academic work, she is a graduate representative for the trade union UCU and regularly volunteers for the Cambridge Community Kitchen.

At Princeton, Lauryn will be working under the supervision of Professor Anne Anlin Cheng and taking graduate classes across the English, Media, Fine Arts and Philosophy departments. She also hopes to volunteer with the Princeton Prison Teaching Initiative, building upon her outreach and educational access work at Cambridge as a first-generation University student.

Jo graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2024 with a Double First Class in Geography.

Her overarching research interest is the changing nature of power relations across different geographies. At Harvard, her research will focus on complexifying the political narratives surrounding contemporary housing crises. She is particularly interested in how governments can implement geographically sensitive reform in the affordable housing policy sphere.

Whilst at Cambridge, Jo was the undergraduate Gender Equalities Officer at St Catharine's College and led the College Feminist Society. She also played extensively as a saxophonist in ensembles across the University and hosted a jazz segment on student radio. Outside of her degree, Jo has worked in academia as an undergraduate research fellow at the London School of Economics researching the geography of UK homelessness legislation, and in the sustainability industry as an analyst at VOIZ Academy.

After her year at Harvard, Jo hopes to pursue further postgraduate study, followed by a career in academia or public service.

Melina Geser-Stark - 24/25 Choate Fellow to Harvard

Melina graduated from the University of Cambridge with Double First Class honours in Human, Social and Political Sciences and holds an MPhil in Politics and International Studies. Her research at Cambridge centred on democracy and democratisation, focusing specifically on the real-world policy implications of the relationship between ideological philosophies, governance structures, and power.

At Harvard, Melina's research focuses on the meaning of democracy today, with a specific eye to how it can be strengthened and re-imagined to meet the needs of the modern age. She is particularly interested in both the challenges and opportunities posed by sustainability and emerging technologies. Amid the current democratic crisis, she is keen to explore how these opportunities can be harnessed to improve the real-world experience of democratic politics, decrease polarisation, and ultimately support the survival of democracy in the 21st century.

Outside of her studies, Melina served as the Vice President of Selwyn College's JCR, where she established and led a working group to support students during the cost-of-living crisis. As a committed advocate for improving health inequalities, she has supported the work of a charity for children with life-threatening medical conditions and has organised a report into the state of student blood donation. Melina has also worked in consulting, a global affairs media company, and within the Houses of Parliament.

She hopes to use her time at Harvard to build on her interests and skills to develop a career that supports positive social change.

James Cogbill - 24/25 Procter Fellow to Princeton

James is a doctoral candidate in History at Worcester College, Oxford, where he works on the political culture of the late medieval Byzantine Empire. His research is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Clarendon Fund, and All Souls College, Oxford. He previously received a BA in Ancient and Medieval History (First-Class Honours) from the University of Birmingham and an MPhil in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies (Distinction) from the University of Oxford. He is a member of the executive and publications committees of the UK's Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, and also created and ran the online Oxford Byzantine Graduate Seminar for three years, hosting sixty-four early career speakers across eleven countries and twenty-seven institutions.

James' doctoral project advances the ongoing reassessment of the Late Byzantine period through an interdisciplinary examination of the extended imperial family between 1258 and 1341. His thesis will demonstrate that Late Byzantine imperial relatives were a politically, socially, and culturally significant group with often decisive influence over imperial decision-making. Rather than operating as autocrats as in commonly understood, he argues that the freedom of action of emperors was frequently constrained and subject to negotiation in a fluid, messy, and multipolar political landscape.

As a Procter Fellow, James will be based in Princeton's Department of History. Alongside completing his thesis, he intends to use his time in the US to develop his interests in transregional and comparative history by planning a long-term postdoctoral project exploring the frequent movement of politically active individuals between Byzantium and western Europe during the Middle Ages. In doing so, he hopes to demonstrate that Byzantium should be considered far more integral to the study and, even more importantly, the teaching of medieval Europe than has hitherto been the case.