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Join the PDFO for our NPAW kickoff event, a keynote by Dr. Olumuyiwa Igbalajobi, former UBC postdoc and founder of Scholarships Café, an online platform with the mission to connect exceptional students and postdocs with life-changing scholarships and academic opportunities from top institutions worldwide. Scholarships Café offers a comprehensive range of services to support your academic journey, including personalized consulting, masterclasses, and admission support. This keynote will be followed by a wine and cheese reception, where postdocs can connect, network and meet with postdoc colleagues from across campus.
GUEST SPEAKER
Dr. Olumuyiwa Igbalajobi
Dr. Olumuyiwa Igbalajobi is an accomplished scientist, social entrepreneur, and education advocate. He earned his PhD from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, his master's degree from Daejeon University in South Korea, and his bachelor's degree from Ekiti State University in Nigeria. As a postdoc at UBC and VP External, he conducted research on the mechanism of capsule biosynthesis in the human pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans.
Throughout his academic journey, Dr. Igbalajobi has been awarded prestigious scholarships totaling over $1 million across four continents. These transformative experiences inspired him to establish Scholarships Cafe, a platform dedicated to empowering students worldwide with the tools and resources to find and secure scholarships and funding opportunities. With 1 million members from over 200 countries and territories, the platform has supported over 60,000 students in securing over $1 billion in scholarships globally.
As an educational access advocate, Dr. Olumuyiwa Igbalajobi has made significant strides in championing equity in higher education. His impactful advocacy efforts include persuading over 100 universities worldwide to waive English proficiency tests for applicants from English-speaking African countries. Thanks to his advocacy, several universities in the United States and Canada have adopted policies to waive these requirements, facilitating greater access to higher education for qualified African students. Dr. Igbalajobi's initiatives have not only broken down barriers but also opened doors of opportunity for aspiring scholars, ensuring that talent and potential are recognized and nurtured on a global scale.
Dr. Igbalajobi recently represented Canada at the G20 YEA conference for young entrepreneurs in Brazil and has received numerous awards, including the Social Impact House Fellow from the University of Pennsylvania.
With over half a million followers on social media, he is a prolific content creator and influencer in the education and entrepreneurship sectors, inspiring and empowering thousands globally.
Registration
Registration in this session is required and is now open. Those successfully registered will receive a registration confirmation within one week of the session date.
NO-SHOW PENALTY: If you register and do not attend or cancel after 3pm on the day before the event, it may affect your eligibility to join future events. To avoid this no-show penalty, please cancel by at least 3pm the day before the event by e-mailing postdoctoral.fellows@ubc.ca.
Accessibility
If you have a disability, medical condition, or other accessibility require that may affect your full participation in the event, please email postdoctoral.fellows@ubc.ca in advance of the event.
PDFO EVENT COMMUNITY AGREEMENT
The PDFO has created a community agreement for our events in order to foster an inclusive, welcoming, and respectful environment in which all event attendees feel safe and supported.
By participating in a PDFO event, we commit ourselves to:
- Treating one another with kindness, courtesy and respect in all interactions;
- Engaging in gracious, active listening and valuing others’ opinions;
- Not dominating discussions so that others can share during the session;
- Ensuring that any potentially confidential or sensitive information shared as part of the session is not shared outside of the session; and
- Actively participating in the session.