Working day and night to hunt for a UK scholarship, Vietnamese girl receives a PhD at the age of 28

(Dan Tri) - Le Viet Hang was determined to hunt for scholarships from her university days until her doctoral graduation. She received her doctoral degree from the University of Aberdeen (UK) at the age of 28.

Determined to get high scores to win a scholarship due to family circumstances, Le Viet Hang (born in 1993, Da Nang ) is working in the field of Neurology and Oncology at the Cold Spring Harbor Research Institute (USA).

Viet Hang received her PhD thesis at the University of Aberdeen. (Photo: NVCC).

When Hang was 18 years old, graduating from Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted (Da Nang), she had the opportunity to learn about the British education system. That aroused her interest and curiosity. After some consideration, Hang chose to go to the UK to experience and study. In 2012, Viet Hang received a partial scholarship for a university preparation course. After that, she studied Biomedical Science at the University of Nottingham, UK. This is one of the leading research universities in the UK. Viet Hang confided: "At that time, full scholarship opportunities in the UK were not as popular as they are now and there were certain restrictions on nationality. At that time, I set a goal of studying at the desired school, not just going with a scholarship, so I spent a lot of time searching and choosing a place with a suitable scholarship. International students often joke with each other: "Studying for money, so work day and night". I was the same, for my family's ability, getting a scholarship was really important. My family was not too well-off, so paying for study abroad was a big effort. Therefore, I was determined to achieve the highest score in my major every year to get a scholarship for the next school year".

Viet Hang received the award for Valedictorian of Biomedical Sciences. (Photo: NVCC).

For Hang, the pressure of being an international student was enormous. However, looking back, she feels proud of her achievements, especially with the expectations and support of her family. "Although not all of my papers achieved the highest rankings, my graduation results were still excellent and ranked first in the industry," Hang said. In 2016, Hang graduated with honors from the University of Nottingham, majoring in biomedical science. In the same year, Hang received a full scholarship for a PhD in Biomedicine from the University of Aberdeen (UK). In 2022, Viet Hang received her PhD from the University of Aberdeen (UK) at the age of 28. Doing research means learning to face failure every day. Sharing about the difficulties in the research process, Viet Hang said: "During the process of doing doctoral research, I understood that the key to doing research is to find new knowledge that humans do not know. Therefore, the biggest difficulty for me is finding my own path."

Viet Hang in the laboratory. (Photo: NVCC).

Viet Hang said that she had fallen into dead ends when her experiments failed and her hypothesis was proven wrong by herself. At times like that, everyone feels like they have fallen into a small hole and have to find their own way to "climb out". At that time, Hang tried to dig deeper into her knowledge of the industry and proactively sought advice and guidance from professors, and encouragement from herself and those around her. "Honestly, I also have a fear of failure. Doing research is learning how to face failure every day and learning from failure to find a new idea. Besides, I had many uncertain periods when I lived alone in faraway lands and worked in a very "brain-tight" industry. Fortunately, I received unconditional mental support from my parents. Even though their "sweetheart" daughter chose a career that, as her father once said, "didn't know how to advise", her parents always had absolute trust in all her choices," Viet Hang confided.

Although she became a doctor at a young age, Hang also had a fear of failure. (Photo: NVCC).

Professor Neil Vargesson - head of the department of developmental biology at the University of Aberdeen - commented on Viet Hang: "I have known Hang since she started her PhD and worked as my collaborator in 2017. I see Hang as an excellent researcher with potential in learning". Viet Hang always believes that: "Achievements in life, especially in learning, come from the measure of determination. I think everyone has a certain fear of failure in life and what we need to do is maintain our mental strength to help ourselves overcome difficulties".

Some outstanding achievements of Viet Hang:

• Grade 11: First Prize in Chemistry Competition for Excellent Students at City Level (Da Nang)
• 2012: Partial scholarship for University Foundation in Nottingham, UK
• 2013: Silver medal at the National Math Olympiad in the UK, Gold medal at the National Math Competition in the UK

• Dean's List of Nottingham University (Malaysia & UK) for all 3 years of university. Highest score student in all years, Biomedical Science
• Graduated with honors, University of Nottingham Biomedical Sciences.
• Full scholarship for U21 Summer Program - Shanghai Jiao Tong University (1 top school in China - top 100 in the world )
• Summer Research Internship Scholarship, University of Nottingham 2014 and 2015.
• PhD Scholarship in Molecular Biology in Biomedicine, University of Nottingham.
• Full Scholarship for Master's Degree, Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
• University of Aberdeen PhD Scholarship, Biomedical Sciences
• Graduated with PhD at 28 years old.
• Runner-up of the Vietnamese Student and Youth Talent Contest in Malaysia (Miss VSAM 2014)
• 2015: Won the January Star Government Award
• Participated in providing legal translation support for Vietnamese victims of human trafficking in Scotland from 2017-2022.
• Dantri.com.vn