By Dr. Yalinu Poya
Success story of Dr. Yalinu Poya
I set a goal at 12 years old to complete a Bachelor, Masters and Philosophy in my favorite subject Chemistry. I worked hard with the leading guidance, wisdom, strength and help from God Almighty. It was by the grace of God alone that helped me to achieve this goals, completing my Doctor of Philosophy (PHD) in Chemistry at the age of 30 years old. My parents have guided, mentored, and raised me and instilling in me the character of discipline, hard work, obedience and perseverance. Everything I achieved in this life is solely dedicated to my father and mother
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| Dr Yalinu with her doctorate degree and with PNG flag. Photo courtesy of Dr. Yalinu |
By God's grace I have a colorful journey, scientific publications, 18 honors and awards which includes 3 global awards and 1 national award all for scientific excellence. In addition I received recognition from the Royal Society of Chemistry, American Chemical Society, Scottish Funding Council, Society of Chemical Industries, the United Nations and United States White House veterans which includes former US Secretary Dr. Condoleeza Rice sending me a personal Congratulation letter.
I was due to graduate at the University of Glasgow with my PhD in Chemistry specializing in catalysis in the summer of 2020 but due to the COVID pandemic, graduation was canceled and our degree parchments were mailed to us. The University of Glasgow has followed guidelines set by the government and has recently decided to call us the Class of 2020 forward for graduation celebration. Unfortunately my hardworking parents, tupla hatwok manmeri, were unable to fly across from Papua New Guinea 🇵🇬 to be with me on this special day because of COVID travel restrictions making travel impossible. The only family I have here with me to celebrate is my darling husband- to- be Andrew. To all my teachers, mentors, my church family, friends who have contributed to my journey, a massive Thankyou.A special thank you to my parents and siblings.
About Dr. Yalinu
Dr Yalinu hails from Southern Highlands province in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.
She has recently been awarded my PhD in Chemistry degree focusing in Heterogeneous Catalysis from the University of Glasgow. Prior to Glasgow she studied in China at the Northeast Normal University and obtained her Master of Science Degree in Inorganic Chemistry. She did her Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry from the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), Papua New Guinea.
Her PhD research at the University of Glasgow was supervised by Prof. Justin Hargreaves, her research was on making catalysts suitable for small-scale ammonia production such as on a farm. Ammonia is a simple compound that is primarily used to make synthetic fertilizers to grow food to feed 40 % of the world population, which is currently approximately 3 billion people. In order to feed the world and its growing population, there are many challenges faced environmentally and economically, as a result there is great interest in sustainable ammonia production on a small-scale. Her research provides fresh perspective in addressing the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, directly addressing 5 of these goals: Goal 1 – No Poverty, Goal 2 – Zero Hunger, Goal 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy, Goal 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure and Goal 13 – Climate Action.
She has received awards, global recognition and honours on new perspectives to global sustainability to help tackle some of the problems of climate change. "I have so far received a total of 11 awards, which include 2 international awards –2019 Green Talent Award Winner by the German Ministry of Education and Research and the Plutonium Element Award by International Union of Pure Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) as one of the top 118 chemists in the world under the age of 40, and 1 national award –1st Place in Scotland for Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) PhD Student Competition. My research has been highlighted and featured by the American Chemical Society, Scottish Funding Council, Society of Chemical Industry and QS Top Universities. In addition, I have been honored by the University of Glasgow for my ammonia synthesis research and named 2020 University of Glasgow Future World Changer" Yalinu said.
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