The scholarship covered full tuition fees, accommodation, medical insurance, and monthly stipends. But the path to the scholarship was filled with multiple rejection emails.
“This journey came with several ‘love letters’ — rejection letters. I received many ‘we are sorry to inform you’ emails,” he said.
He recalled applying to numerous programs, preparing for standardized exams, sending cold emails to professors, and sometimes paying application fees while pursuing his dream of studying abroad.
During his master’s program, Ibukun strengthened his academic profile and research identity. His Master’s thesis was published in the proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Applied Computing in Italy in 2025, a major academic milestone for a young researcher.
He also presented research at Deep Learning Indaba in 2023, one of the largest artificial intelligence and machine learning conferences in Africa.
Alongside his academic work, he built experience as an AI engineer, data scientist, researcher, public speaker, and author.
In 2025, barely a year after completing his master’s degree, Ibukun secured another major academic opportunity.
He was awarded the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Fellowship, one of the most prestigious and competitive doctoral fellowships in Europe, funded by the European Union.
The fellowship supports his fully funded PhD research in Computer Science at Aarhus University, providing one of the most competitive doctoral research positions available in Europe.
Reflecting on his journey, Ibukun credited the mentorship and support he received during his master’s program, especially from his thesis supervisor, who helped him publish his first research paper and provided a strong recommendation letter.
“My master’s degree shaped my research identity and gave me the foundation to compete at the highest level,” he said.
He also encouraged other students seeking international scholarships not to give up despite the challenges.
“To every person trying to get a fully funded scholarship, keep at it. Dreams do come true, we only need the courage to pursue them,” Ibukun said.