It's that time of the year again, when deadlines come from all angles and it can be a struggle to stay afloat amidst all the work. It's been no different on this side, luckily the bulk of the deadlines have now been successfully met. It's been a challenging, busy month with a silver lining, here's why...
🎉👨🏾🔬🎉 Completing Final Year BSc Project 🎉👨🏾🔬🎉
🎉👨🏾🔬🎉 Completing Final Year BSc Project 🎉👨🏾🔬🎉
After spending two months of in the laboratory, I can now tell you that my Final Year Project has come to a conclusion. It has been tough to say the least and I am thankful to all the members of the Ashley group for taking me under their wing and for their relentless support for the duration of my project.
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| Structure of a new ethylene-bound Ruthenium complex synthesised and characterised by me |
It was difficult to come to terms with the fact that my main aim of creating a new catalyst for nitrogen fixation was not met, but such is the nature of research. At least the groundwork has been laid in place for someone else to carry on from where I have left off. On the brighter side, I did manage to make a compound that has never been made before during my experiments (shown above).
❄️💷❄️ Freeze the Fees ❄️💷❄️
Through the efforts of the Core Team at Let Us Learn and our network of loyal supporters, we managed to host an event in the Jubilee Room at the Houses of Parliament this month. The main focus of the event was to highlight the highly extortionate fees legal migrants in the UK are charged to process our applications and to call on MPs to raise this in parliament in a bid to see them reduced.
I was lucky enough to be among the speakers asked to share their personal experiences and thoughts on the matter. We were also graced with a few words from David Lammy MP about the unjust nature of the situation. It was encouraging to see such a wide range of people attend the event; from MPs to teachers, people were supportive in resisting the hostile environment faced by migrants in the UK.
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| The Freeze the Fees panel alongside David Lammy MP |
Changes in these fees are announced each year in April. Unfortunately, the event had little effect as the Home Office have announced that they will once again increase the fees this year. We are however relentless in our efforts and plan to follow up with a public action this month. Stay tuned!
🎨Picasso 1932 - Love, Fame and Tragedy 🎨
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| A poster advertising the exhibition of Picasso's work from 1932 © Tate Modern |
I would highly recommend checking out the current exhibition at the Tate of Pablo Picasso's work from a pivotal year in his illustrious career - 1932. The exhibitions details his complicated personal life and unveils the man behind some very iconic works of art. I left the exhibition with a newfound appreciation for the relentless passion Picasso had in reinventing himself in an effort to prove his critics wrong.
🎬🎬🎬Famalam 🎬🎬🎬
A good friend of mine was commissioned by the BBC to produce a new comedy show and it is due to hit television screens on 9th of April (BBC Three). I was lucky enough to be asked to provide some musical entertainment at the premiere of the first two episodes of the show. I couldn't contain my laughter for most of the screening as the fast-paced comedy sketch show did not fail in delivering punchline after punchline.
The sketch show draws most of its punchlines from observations of African and Afro-Caribbean culture, from spoofing Nollywood films to satirising the intricate politics of how to handle leftovers from a party. Without spoiling too much, I'd urge you to tune in when the show launches.
🐰🥚🍫 P.S. I hope you have all had a wonderful Easter Break 🍫🥚🐰
🎬🎬🎬Famalam 🎬🎬🎬
A good friend of mine was commissioned by the BBC to produce a new comedy show and it is due to hit television screens on 9th of April (BBC Three). I was lucky enough to be asked to provide some musical entertainment at the premiere of the first two episodes of the show. I couldn't contain my laughter for most of the screening as the fast-paced comedy sketch show did not fail in delivering punchline after punchline.
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| Main cast of Famalam © BBC |
🐰🥚🍫 P.S. I hope you have all had a wonderful Easter Break 🍫🥚🐰
