The scholarship covered complete tuition fees, lodging, medical insurance, and monthly stipends. But the path to the scholarship was filled with multiple rejection emails.
“This journey featured several ‘love letters’– rejection letters. I got numerous ‘we are sorry to notify you’ e-mails,” he said.He remembered applying to numerous programs, getting ready for standardized tests, sending out cold e-mails to professors, and often paying application fees while pursuing his dream of studying abroad.During his master’s program, Ibukun reinforced his scholastic profile and research identity. His Master’s thesis was released in the proceedings of the ACM Seminar on Applied Computing in Italy in 2025, a major academic milestone for a young researcher.He likewise provided research study at Deep Knowing Indaba in 2023, among the largest artificial intelligence and machine learning conferences in Africa. Alongside his academic work, he developed experience as an AI engineer, information researcher, researcher, public speaker
, and author.In 2025, barely a year after finishing his master’s degree, Ibukun protected another major academic opportunity.He was granted the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Fellowship, among the most distinguished and competitive doctoral fellowships in Europe, funded by the European Union.The fellowship supports his totally moneyed PhD research study in Computer technology at Aarhus University, providing among the most competitive doctoral research positions available in Europe.Reflecting on his journey, Ibukun credited the mentorship and assistance he received during his master’s program, specifically from his thesis supervisor, who helped him release his first term paper and provided a strong recommendation letter.”My master’s degree shaped my research identity and offered me the structure to contend at the greatest level, “he stated. He likewise motivated other students looking for international scholarships not to give up despite the difficulties.”To everyone trying to get
a totally moneyed scholarship, keep at it. Dreams do come true, we only need the courage to pursue them,”Ibukun stated.