Thanks, Satchi. Appreciate.
Actually, wrt Q2, I was seeking inputs from people who might have had experience applying to one of these scholarships that I've mentioned :)

Hi guys,
Only joined this forum now.
Apologies for the long post.

Need your help

Background:

B.E. Biomedical Engineering, India - 7.1/10
M.Sc., UK - 1:1, Distinction, batch topper, top 3% across the faculty.

Work experiences - about 3 years including research projects during master's study; varied; best of experiential learning across startup, research institutions and multinational organizations. Selected into the best of programmes with an intake rate of about 0.25 % of nationwide applicants.

My chances?

Interests:

Design thinking in medical devices/healthcare innovation
Frugal innovation
Innovation management

Objectives:
In a broad sense, I wish to research upon the following:

Understanding how design thinking can foster innovation ( preferably frugal, for its own advantages) leading to better clinical outcomes.

Now this could obviously have multiple focus areas/approaches.

Questions:

1. I have identified a few researchers at Cambridge whose work closely aligns with my research interests. Therein lies the confusion; while it is possible to have a couple supervisors for your PhD, how to choose the PI?

Also, one of them (the leader of the research theme and interests in this area) is very well known. Though an assumption, it stands to reason that he wouldn't have as much time to supervise one's research as another supervisor with say, lesser commitments.

In that case, how do I proceed with this?

2. Being an international applicant, funding support is indispensable. As such, would appreciate your suggestions on Gates Cambridge, Commonwealth and other scholarships.

3. I have had basic introduction to writing research proposals, ethics proposals, Literature reviews, etc. while working on my dissertations (three in all). However, it would be nice to hear your thoughts on the exact flowchart, if you will, of events - from initiating discussion with a potential supervisor to subsequent discussions leading upto agreement on a more consolidated research plan (of course, it's likely to evolve as the research progresses).

4. One of my (strong interest) areas of research proposals closely matches work that his PhD student had done long ago. Is it a good/bad/ugly thing?

Cheers