"Chemistry is interesting because it can be found in every area of life, in all materials, in food, in medicines – it's everywhere,” Najiba Azemi says. She wants to do research. However, until recently this was almost unimaginable for her. Until June 2024, she lived with her husband and two children in her home country of Afghanistan. Here, women suffer great repression, a career of their own, even a doctorate - impossible. But now Najiba has finally reached her goal: a Hilde Domin scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the support of Juri Rappsilber and the TU Berlin and, last but not least, her strong will have helped her to obtain a PhD position in UniSysCat.
“It is extremely important to me to learn and I absolutely want to continue my education,” says Najiba Azemi. This desire is what motivated her next steps. After completing her bachelor's degree in chemistry in 2012 at Balkh University in Afghanistan, she stayed on as a lecturer in the subject at the university. In 2018, she received a scholarship from the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education and the World Bank and studied chemistry at Universiti Teknologi in Malaysia. She then wanted to pursue a doctorate, but this path was initially blocked.
“After I graduated in 2020, I had to go back to Afghanistan because I had a young child. I then returned to my job as a senior lecturer at Balkh University,” she says. In the summer of 2021, the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. “I was still allowed to work as a university lecturer until the end of 2022. We had to wear a niqab and were completely at the mercy of these men. Then, women were excluded from universities and all professions. Like all women in Afghanistan, I experienced a lot of discrimination.”
However, Najiba Azemi was not going to give up her career and set about looking for scholarships and other opportunities to leave the country. “I came across the Hilde Domin Programme via a Facebook post and saw that it was a perfect fit for me,” she says. Juri Rappsilber decided to support Najiba Azemi – in part due to the power of persuasion that she demonstrated both in personal discussions and in the application process. “I was deeply impressed by Najiba Azemi's enthusiasm for chemistry, her courage, and her determination to continue her scientific career despite the most adverse circumstances. We didn't make it easy for Najiba during the interview; she also had to convince the DAAD in a highly competitive process and, not least, come to Berlin by adventurous means. Najiba was successful on all levels and really deserves this opportunity,” says Juri Rappsilber.
Najiba was accepted by the DAAD in January 2024 and is being supported by the Hilde Domin Programme for a total of four years. Her plan is to complete her doctorate during this time. She started working in Juri Rappsilber's team in November 2024, where she is now doing research in a UniSysCat project on biorthogonal catalysts, which could form the basis for the development of anti-cancer drugs. “I'm very happy that I've ended up in an academic environment and can carry out research here. Everyone is very nice and helpful, and I don't experience any discrimination here, as I constantly did at home,” says Najiba Azemi.