Monday, March 31, 2025, 6.00pm to 8.00pm EDT
All Cambridge University alumni are invited to join Girton College for a panel discussion: Empowering Women: Cambridge and Beyond.
Join Dr Elisabeth Kendall, Mistress (President) of Girton College, University of Cambridge, for an engaging conversation with Girtonians Gayathri Rajan (1985, Chemical Engineering) and Dr Shivani Nayyar (2000, Economics). Together, they will explore the topic of women's empowerment in education and business, comparing experiences in both the developing and developed worlds.
After the discussion, there will be an opportunity to network over drinks and light refreshments.
We look forward to welcoming you!
Date: Monday, March 31, 2025
Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm ET
Location: Elevated, 1120 Ave of the Americas, FL 4 New York, NY 10036
Dr Elisabeth Kendall
Elisabeth is the Mistress (President) of Girton College and has previously held positions at the Universities of Oxford, Edinburgh and Harvard, and served as Director of a UK government sponsored Center aimed at building Arabic-based research expertise.
Her current research focuses on the cultural production of militant jihad groups and on the conflict in Yemen and the broader Middle East. She has spent significant time in the field, especially in Yemen. She has lectured at government, military and scholarly institutions all around the world and is a frequent contributor to international television and print media.
She sits on a broad variety of national and international boards.
Dr Kendall has authored and edited several works on Arabic and Islamic literature, language, culture and politics and she is currently working on a new book, Rock Stars of Jihad.
She was elected as an Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College at Oxford University in recognition of her “distinguished academic career as a British Arabist at the top of the field” and an honorary doctorate by the University of Glasgow “in recognition of great distinction in the field of Arabic Studies”.
Follow her on X @Dr_E_Kendall or on YouTube.
Gayathri Rajan
Gayathri Rajan (Girton, 1985) is the Global Head of Product at Adyen. Gayathri Rajan is a dynamic leader driving transformative innovation in financial technology. As Global Head of Product at Adyen, she leads Product Management, Design, and Partnerships, shaping the future of global payments. Her strategic vision and execution prowess are evident in her 16+ year tenure at Google, where she propelled Google Maps’ enterprise product to a billion-dollar revenue stream as Vice President and General Manager.
Additionally, Gayathri played a pivotal role in establishing Google’s billing and payments platform, a cornerstone of the company’s financial infrastructure.
Gayathri serves on the board of Maximus Inc. and holds degrees in Chemical Engineering (Cambridge), Computer Science (University of Pennsylvania), and an MBA from Stanford.
Dr Shivani Nayyar
Dr Shivani Nayyar (Girton, 2000) is the Economics Affairs Officer at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Dr Nayyar is an economist and a leading voice in international development with over 15 years of experience. In her role, she brings government leaders, researchers and civil society together, to solve the hardest problems and accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals that all countries agreed to achieve by 2030.
Post COVID-19, she supported over 80 countries with social protection expansion and implementation, which helped people access critical services and a basic income in difficult times. She has published on the gender digital divide, income inequality, health inequality and the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.
In her previous role, Shivani was co-author of six flagship Human Development Reports (HDR). She authored chapters on digital technology, green transformations and global public goods, among others.
Shivani has also taught Economics, Statistics, and Financial Management at Princeton University and Vassar College.
Shivani holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University. Shivani has a M.A. in Economics from Cambridge University, UK and a B.A. from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.
Booking information
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