A STUDENT from Uganda is hoping to change the lives of many children in her home nation, after completing a Masters’ degree in Applied Psychology at the University of Worcester.

Letisia Murungyi, aged 26, hopes to return to her job at Global Health Uganda, where she worked with children suffering from Cerebral Malaria, after a year in the UK gaining an MSc in Applied Psychology. She will graduate in November with a Merit.

She said: "The Masters has been transformational for me both professionally and personally. I feel that I can go back to Uganda and make a real difference to the lives of the children I have worked with before and ultimately to broaden my work to other areas.

"My ambition has always been to work with children as a psychologist, but child psychology is not very well recognised in Uganda. As a result, if a child has a disability or any kind of disorder, it is deemed an unfortunate circumstance, a bad omen. Even where there is awareness, there still is a challenge in effectively addressing the issue due to limited resources, especially in terms of expertise. That is where I want to start; to be part of the solution, so as to make a tangible difference to the affected child’s life.”

The successful student, from Kampala, completed her undergraduate degree in Community Psychology in Uganda before successfully applying for a place at the University of Worcester through the Commonwealth Scholarship scheme.

Dr Gabriela Misca, Course Leader of the MSc Applied Psychology, said: “Our Masters programme in Applied Psychology attracts high quality home, EU and international students and over the past two years we have had two Commonwealth scholarship students on our programme.

“We are immensely proud that our programme enables and empowers students to make a difference upon return to their home countries.”