Josée Mallah

I am Josée, from Lebanon. I got a Bseisu & Downing Robson scholarship to study towards an MPhil in Engineering at the University of Cambridge in 2022-2023. Before that, I had completed a Bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 2022 at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), Lebanon. Currently, I am a PhD student in Electrical Engineering at the University of Cambridge.

Coming to Cambridge would not have been possible without the scholarship; I had in fact already started planning on going to Université Sorbonne under an Eiffel scholarship up until the good news of my funding offer came through.

My MPhil was a one-year research course, during which I worked on gas and particulate matter sensors. It was my first experience living away from home and abroad, hence I went through a bit of transitional journey until I managed to get my life together. Despite passing and receiving good feedback on my thesis, I found myself not particularly experienced or motivated by the research topic.

I had already applied for the PhD and got my offer and funding through an Allen, Meek, and Read Cambridge International Scholarship from Cambridge Trust. So I took 3 months away to recharge, during which I had my graduation ceremony, and planned a change in my research direction. Since January 2024, I have been working on wearable sensor systems for motion analysis and a wearable robotic exoskeleton for ankle joint assistance. I really enjoy this topic, I have co-authored a few journal publications, presented at international conferences, and supervised several interns and Masters students. I am a member of Churchill College, where I am also a social secretary in the MCR (i.e. the postgraduate student committee).

I do not have elaborate future plans yet, and even though my original plan was to go into industry after graduation, I feel I might consider an academic position as well. I have always been interested in entrepreneurship, and so I hope to get back to it in the long term.