From direct provision to UCC graduate — the inspiring story of Joan Omosefe Osayande

Joan Omosefe Osayande graduated with first class honours from UCC, and has recently secured a postgraduate degree place working on Parkinson’s disease research in Professor Aideen O’Sullivan’s Lab at UCC. Picture: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

An inspirational young woman who fled Nigeria on her own and spent two years living in direct provision in Galway, has graduated from University College Cork UCC.

Joan Omosefe Osayande, 23, said her graduation with first-class honours, with a BSc in Medical and Health Sciences, thanks to a 'sanctuary scholarship', just seven years after her arrival in Ireland, is proof that with hard work and determination, you can achieve anything.