Nasejje Justine

AIMS South Africa | 2012

Ms Nasejje Justine grew up in a slum in Kampala, Uganda. Despite all the school fees challenge during her early education, she managed to secure financial assistance through organisations like Plan International. She ultimately obtained a government bursary to undertake a Bachelor of Science with education degree at Makerere University Kampala (Uganda) in 2007-2010. After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree, she taught briefly for a period six months at a local high school in Uganda before enrolling at AIMS in 2011.

“AIMS changed my view of mathematics as a theoretical subject of proving lemmas and corollaries to a very practical subject in real life” says Justine.

For the first time at AIMS, she was introduced to research and started recognising her role in society.

From a girl in Uganda destined to become a classroom teacher of a small community, to a teacher of a wider community, a leader, and a lady with a promising career in research on public health in Africa, Justine, now sees herself as a role model to others.

“AIMS changed my view of mathematics as a theoretical subject of proving lemmas and corollaries to a very practical subject in real life,”She says.

She is currently enrolled for a PhD degree in statistics (Biostatistics) at the University of Kwazulu-Natal. Her research aims at informing policy on public health because the models she is developing are linked to big data and health. She intends to go back to Uganda after her PhD and help children especially girls from less privileged communities (especially slums) acquire their full potential through education. She is currently supporting students within the University of Kwazulu-Natal to broaden their understanding of abstract mathematics and statistics concepts by offering tutorials during her free time.