I am thrilled and honoured to receive the Anderson Prize this year. I feel extremely privileged to be a part of the School of Psychology and would like to thank the department for recognising the hard work of its students. These past few years have been full of challenges for everyone, and I must commend our wonderful lecturers and tutors for their efforts to support us students. I am looking forward to recommencing full in-person learning for my fourth year.
Starting university in a different country away from my family seemed so daunting three years ago, but my doubts dissolved quickly and I warmed up to Aberdeen after a couple of weeks. I had a wonderful time taking in our lovely campus, partaking in student activities, and visiting the beautiful beach. In time, Aberdeen became a second home to me. Here, I had the opportunity to meet many interesting people who introduced me to new cultures and challenged me in various ways to go beyond my comfort zone. Looking back, I feel like I have grown and expanded my world view tremendously and became much more confident, independent, and driven compared to the dewy-eyed fresher that I was back in 2019. I even developed a new passion for exercising and, albeit somewhat through necessity, cooking and baking!
I have had a wonderful time studying Psychology at the University of Aberdeen, and feel incredibly fortunate to find, and have the ability to pursue, a subject that I am so passionate about. I started my path in this course with the dream of helping people. Throughout my journey, I realised just how vast the world of Psychology is, and now feel that I found my calling in Cognitive Psychology research. That said, I intend to actualise my initial dream by using my Psychology knowledge to better myself; always striving for compassion, open-mindedness, and understanding.
