60 seconds with ... Samir Gul

Samir Gul is in his second year of his Bachelor of Science (Advanced Science) degree at the Parramatta campus. Samir was the recipient of a MyVoice Scholarship, which was made possible by 2270 staff members, (86 per cent of the staff community) participating in the MyVoice Staff Engagement Survey (opens in a new window).

The University gave $5 for every survey completed resulting in a total of $11,350 going to student scholarships through the Staff Giving (opens in a new window) program. Thanks to our Staff Givers, six more students will receive scholarship support this year – a sobering thought is that 10 times that number of students facing hardship applied for scholarship help. Please consider joining the Staff Giving program (opens in a new window).

How will the MyVoice scholarship assist you while you are studying?
The MyVoice scholarship will allow me to study with less financial burden. More specifically, the scholarship will allow me to work fewer hours, purchase textbooks, help pay living expenses, and take up research projects and programs for graduate courses.

What has been your best experience at the University so far?
My best experience would have to be undertaking my own research project. This allowed me to venture on my own and choose a research topic that really interested me. It was a sense of academic freedom that I had not experienced before.

What will we find you doing outside your studies?
Outside of studies, I enjoy the company of family and close friends. Other than that, I am a fitness enthusiast and spend time training and playing cricket and footy. I tend to relax after a stressful day with a movie or a show with my favourite being Game of Thrones.

How would your friends describe you?
Certainly a difficult question but I hope they would describe me as compassionate, loyal, fun and outgoing.

I am passionate about…
I am very passionate about biology. It is fundamental to our understanding of the life around us. Continued improvement in the biologies will allow us to more effectively provide essential health services around the world. This is part of the reason why I choose to study a science degree and major in molecular biology.

When I graduate, I hope to…
When I graduate, I hope to go onto to do postgraduate medicine.