Da Nang boy won a postdoctoral scholarship at Oxford University after many stumbles
Once the student with the lowest score in her class, Le Xuan Khoa was determined to win a scholarship to study abroad and excellently defend her doctorate in Energy and Construction at Ulster University (UK).
Le Xuan Khoa (1987) is currently a research associate at the Center for Sustainable Technology at Ulster University (UK). Next May, he will continue his research at the Department of Engineering Science, Oxford University – a leading university in the world with a long history in the UK.
Before defending an excellent doctorate at Ulster University (UK), Khoa was the valedictorian of the entire master’s course at Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences (Taiwan, China).
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| Le Xuan Khoa |
Overcoming college failure
In 2005, Xuan Khoa studied at Da Nang University of Technology, majoring in Mechatronics.
“With the thought that I was finished with university, I neglected to study, eat, drink, and play so much that I got low grades, failed subjects and continued to study again, even nearly being expelled. But in the second year, when I look back, all my friends are studying abroad and my mother has worked so hard to raise her children alone to study” – Khoa recalled and said that he suddenly woke up, determined to make a plan to improve. learning results to go study abroad.
“At that time, I constantly sat at the study table from 8 am to 10 pm, including weekends, just taking a break to eat lunch and study dinner” – Khoa shared. From the student with the lowest score in the class, Khoa rose to the top and won a scholarship to study after only one semester. After graduating, Khoa worked and persevered in improving foreign languages to find opportunities.
In 2012, the Da Nang man received a prestigious scholarship from Taiwan (China) and set out to study abroad. However, after a year of studying in Taipei, Khoa had his first shock when he could not find common ground with the subject instructor. He decided to transfer schools, to Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences. Here Xuan Khoa found his passion for research as well as a chance to come to the energy industry.
“After exchanging visits at scientific conferences and meeting international friends, it helped me decide to pursue my research path and prepare my documents to study for a doctorate.”
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| Faculty of the Master’s Graduation Day in Taiwan (China) |
In 2015, Xuan Khoa won a scholarship to do a PhD in energy and construction at Ulster University (UK) with a support of VND 4 billion.
Although she has been pursuing and preparing well for a long time, when she came to England to study, Xuan Khoa still faced many difficulties.
“The first year of my PhD, I struggled for many months to find a research topic. The professor wants me to actively propose and learn about my true abilities. I have read a lot of books and documents and am really stuck. But as someone who never gave up despite any difficulties, I finally found a way to do it,” said Xuan Khoa.
In 2020, Xuan Khoa won the best PhD thesis in the Faculty of Architecture, Environment and Planning of the University of Ulster (UK) with the topic on energy efficiency in buildings. At the same time, from the above research results, he had 2 articles published in the top journals in the field of energy in the list of Q1 and won the best report award at the university-wide scientific conference.
During his doctoral career, the Faculty has also won many awards in international scientific conferences, such as the award for the best student paper at the scientific conference at Berkeley University (USA) and the student award. Research excellence at a conference organized by the Sir Joseph Swan Energy Research Institute (UK) in Hangzhou (China).
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| Le Xuan Khoa with his mother |
After graduating with a doctorate, after undergoing 2 rounds of intense interviews, Xuan Khoa was officially accepted into a research position (Postdoc) at Oxford University. Looking back on his own journey, he thinks: “Young people should have their own dreams and ambitions, think about it and take action. It’s never too late. Every success has to go through difficulties, never give up.”
A quote by famous scientist Albert Einstein inspired Xuan Khoa: “A ship is always safe at shore but that is not what it’s built for/A ship is always safe on shore, but that’s not what it’s made for”. Therefore, he hopes that young people will step out of their comfort zone to conquer new journeys, seek learning opportunities and improve knowledge.
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| Le Xuan Khoa at Cambridge University |
In addition to his academic and research achievements, Xuan Khoa is also a very passionate person in table tennis and has many achievements such as the gold medal of the Danang Health and Wellness Association in 2003, the first prize of the City Open in 2011. , and the third prize of national students in 2009.
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| Khoa (middle) at the 2011 Da Nang Open Table Tennis Tournament |
Sharing about plans in the near future, Xuan Khoa said that he will continue to pursue a research path in the energy field. Khoa also hopes to return, implement the idea of providing energy efficient solutions in construction and develop projects that exploit the potential of sustainable energy in Vietnam.
Two important things when applying for a PhD scholarship According to Xuan Khoa, the two most important things when applying for master’s and doctoral scholarships are to carefully prepare the research proposal and choose the right mentor. Mr. Khoa said that in the UK, scholarships are often very few, so they can be sourced from professors, projects or the government (such as Chevening scholarships). However, consider whether the professor’s research direction is really suitable for your future direction and passion. Besides, the Faculty believes that carefully preparing the research proposal is a way to show capacity and serious attitude in research and helps to increase the persuasiveness of the application. |
Ngoc Linh
Photo: NVCC
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vietnamnet.vn – Read the original article here
