A determination to succeed gave Emmanuel Momoh the strength to take on a series of tough manual jobs to support his dreams of higher education.
When he graduates with a PhD in Civil Engineering/ Structural Engineering it will be a far cry from his early life in the community of Wadata in the small town of Makurdi, Nigeria.
Emmanuel sold vegetables in the neighbourhood to support his family, hawked ice-water with his brother, and peddled boiled groundnut. He then moved onto the tough work of wheelbarrow pushing at Wadata market and a series of other menial jobs until he was able to gain access to university.
He was inspired to come to The University of Aberdeen for his PhD as he wanted a ‘truly international experience’.
Emmanuel’s message for success is to remain positive, even in the face of adversity.
“To someone out there feeling depressed, know this day that your situation would not always be as it seems at the moment. Keep pushing, keep praying, keep believing, do not be ashamed to take up that lowly job, keep doing the best you can, and God who sees your labour in the secret shall reward you openly,” he says.
This determination reaped rewards for the 36-year-old during his time at Aberdeen as he collected a series of awards.
In May 2018, he won the University of Aberdeen 3-Minutes Thesis (3MT) Competition and represented the University at the UK semi-finals of the competition.
In July 2019 he presented his research at the Fifth International Conference on Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies (SCMT5) at Kingston University London where he received an excellence award and, a year later, he was presented with a Silver Award for Best Presentation at the 11th Engineering Postgraduate Research Symposium.
In September 2020, he received an Honourable Mention Award in the Engineering Sciences Category from Doctoral Research Awards UK 2020.
The highlight of Emmanuel’s University life was when he was announced as a winner for the ‘Individual Postgraduate Researcher / Early Career Researcher category’ of University of Aberdeen Excellence Awards, 2020.