Lucy Ikpesu-Ewhubare: My Journey as a STEM Education Advocate and Volunteer
Giving back to her community through her knowledge and skills has always been at the heart of who she is. Over the years, she has been committed to contributing to education, particularly STEM education, across African countries and here in the UK, and to using whatever platform she has to open doors for others. As an education advocate and someone deeply invested in volunteering, she believes strongly in the power of education to change the trajectory of a life, because it changed hers. This is the story of that journey.
About Lucy Ikpesu-Ewhubare
Lucy Ikpesu-Ewhubare is a UK-based Engineer in the energy industry, contributing to how the UK’s future energy network connects different forms of energy — like offshore wind farms — to the national power grid, and she has served in project development and delivery on major critical energy infrastructure projects in the national gas stations. She is also the founder of ScholarWaka, a platform built from her passion for finding and sharing global academic scholarships and career opportunities with students and young professionals.
Lucy was a Commonwealth Master’s Scholar, having secured fully funded study at the University of Birmingham after applying to over 23 international scholarships. She holds a Master’s in Advanced Chemical Engineering with Energy from the University of Birmingham and a Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering from Delta State University, Nigeria, where she was a three-year Agbami/Chevron Scholar – a scholarship support that was a huge part of her own academic journey.
STEM education advocacy and volunteering have been the throughline of her life for over 13 years, as a STEM trainer, mentor, programme leader, and speaker, alongside a full-time engineering career. Lucy’s work in education and development has spanned over 17 countries, impacting more than 20,000 students, teachers, and young people through STEM and gender inclusion programmes.
Where Lucy Ikpesu-Ewhubare Started: Africa (2013 – 2021)
My journey into volunteering began during my second year of undergraduate studies. A close friend won the WAAW Foundation scholarship, and as part of being a scholar, her goal was to launch a STEM chapter at our university and bring together like-minded individuals who shared an interest in giving back and impacting young people. That’s how I got involved – I joined the WAAW Foundation STEM Outreach chapter at my university (Delta State University, Nigeria) and stayed involved in STEM programmes from 2013 until I graduated in 2016.
Through this outreach programme, we visited secondary schools around our community to mentor young girls on hands-on STEM projects and science subjects, helping them understand how science and STEM connect to everyday life, and building their interest in pursuing a STEM career.
This is where it began. Since 2013, I’ve tutored, mentored, and designed and delivered hands-on STEM activities using locally available materials in the environment, alongside renewable energy projects such as solar, wind, and hydro, including tech and coding training, for schools and young learners across African countries. During this time, I built simple renewable energy kits (local wind and hydro turbines) used to train students and teachers in STEM across African countries from locally available materials, alongside hands-on lesson plans and curriculum on solar, wind, hydro energy and other project-based STEM subjects. Through this project-based learning and teaching approach, I’ve impacted school teachers, students, and individuals across African countries on STEM and renewable energy.
As someone who always wants to make an impact wherever I am and whenever the opportunity arises, this carried through even into my mandatory national service year. During my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) year in Nigeria (2017 – 2018) – a compulsory one-year national service for Nigerian graduates, I initiated and led a personal community development project introducing 7 secondary schools in my host community to STEM education, using project-based learning aligned to the school curriculum, covering renewable energy, computer programmes, and general science experiments, alongside health sensitisation talks, career and self-esteem sessions, and distribution of school stationery. This work was recognised with the NYSC Honours Award and the Young Woman in Science Award (2018) for my contribution to promoting STEM education in Nigeria.
I also volunteered within my own community, speaking to young people and girls in churches, schools, and neighbourhoods about morals, career development, and healthy life choices. My core passion is about impacting lives and contributing to the development of my community, especially for youths and children, through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programmes. My biggest motivation is to create impact, advocate for STEM, and improve the STEM career interest of school children and youth relevant to the future global workforce, as a STEM Ambassador.
Lucy Ikpesu-Ewhubare Building programmes at scale (2017 – 2026)
My professional career began with a non-profit in Nigeria – WAAW Foundation, where I served as a STEM Trainer, Programme Manager, and Programme Director. This is where most of my STEM education experience and impact were built.
For over four years, I served as STEM and Scholarship Programme Manager and Programme Director, where I led the recruitment, selection, and awarding of scholarships to African university girls across more than 25 institutions, and designed and delivered STEM training, coding bootcamps, and project-based learning programmes for learners and teachers.
Highlights from this period include:
1. Chevron Agbami STEM Symposium (October 2019, Lagos)
Led and facilitated STEM training for both students and teachers at this annual initiative of the Agbami Parties, led by Chevron Nigeria (my undergraduate scholarship sponsor), delivered in partnership with WAAW Foundation and the Lagos Business School Sustainability Center, reaching 15 secondary schools, 30 teachers, and 30 students. The training led students to build creative renewable energy projects during the STEM symposium and competition. At the programme’s closing ceremony, I shared my own STEM journey and story to inspire and encourage school students to continue choosing and pursuing a career in STEM.
2. Africa Science Week 2019 (Abuja, Nigeria)
The event impacted over 300 students from 27 public secondary schools and 5 private schools in Abuja, Nigeria, where they learnt skills using simple materials in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and coding. I facilitated courses on Renewable Energy and Digital Electronics (Arduino). On the last day of the event, I had the opportunity to speak to students, teachers, and stakeholders on the importance of pursuing a STEM career and its relevance to a sustainable society.
3. African Union AU/CIEFFA Youth Capacity Building Workshop (November 2018, Hammamet, Tunisia)
Facilitated a coding and robotics session at the African Union/International Centre for Girls’ and Women’s Education in Africa (AU/CIEFFA) youth capacity building workshop on “Girls’ Education: Entrepreneurship, Coding and STEM.” The workshop brought together 60 participants from 45 African countries to learn these new skills and become STEM ambassadors in their own communities and countries.
4. MASHAV Training on Education for Science and Maths/STEM Framework (January 2018, Israel)
Selected to attend this international STEM training and have applied it directly in my STEM education work since.
5. STEM Teacher Training, Rwanda
I facilitated an in-person STEM training programme with AIMS (the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences) in Rwanda, extensively training high school STEM educators in-country.
6. Coding for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students (August 2019)
One of my proudest moments as a trainer – during a Summer Code School for kids in Nigeria, I taught coding and web development to deaf and hard-of-hearing students, working closely with their teachers on sign language interpretation throughout. By the end of the programme, every student had built and presented their own projects.
I’ve also represented STEM education on live radio, at national and international conferences, and to STEM education donors. Promoting STEM education is genuinely what I love doing, and public speaking about it is among my best moments.
Continuing the Work in the UK (2021 – Present)
Since moving to the UK in 2021, I’ve continued this commitment locally:
- Women In Science and Engineering (WISE), University of Birmingham STEM Outreach (2021–2022): Volunteered with a STEM Outreach group during my MSc, visiting high schools across Birmingham to deliver hands-on science projects and activities.
- Tyseley Solar Scope Project, Birmingham (2022): Volunteered as an intern, supported by Climate Change Solutions, Tyseley Energy Park, and the Birmingham Energy Institute – involved in designing solar arrays, identifying potential solar sites, and helping recruit and grow the project’s student volunteer base at the University of Birmingham, then extending recruitment into new departments and universities.
- Ernesettle Solar Farm, Plymouth (May 2026): Volunteered with Earth Energy Education and Plymouth Energy Community at the Ernesettle Solar Farm (4.1MW, powering over 1,000 homes a year), teaching students how solar energy is converted and distributed via the National Grid, and supporting the Solar Farm Challenge and on-site biodiversity studies.
- Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) UK — Scholar’s Mentor (2025 – 2026): One-to-one and group mentoring for Commonwealth Scholars on academic, career, and personal development, especially in STEM.
- Engineering Her Future, YMCA Plymouth (June 2026): Invited speaker for International Women in Engineering Day, sharing my STEM and career journey with school girls, including how I applied for 23+ scholarships and faced three years of rejection before earning a fully funded Commonwealth Scholarship and a career in the energy sector.
Giving back through ScholarWaka
Beyond structured roles, I founded ScholarWaka to help students and young professionals from any background access global scholarships and opportunities. Drawing on my own experience as a scholarship recipient and as someone who managed scholarships professionally for years, I help applicants understand what selection committees look for, where applicants commonly go wrong, and how to approach opportunities with clarity, strategy, and confidence through the ScholarWaka platform, scholarship mentorship and Workshop series.
National media coverage — BusinessDay, Nigeria: Featured sharing her journey from scholarship rejections to becoming a Commonwealth Scholar, and now giving back through ScholarWaka.
National media coverage — The Guardian, Nigeria: Featured discussing continued commitment to exposing more African girls to STEM.
Here is a recent publication of my scholarship Journey and ScholarWaka Impact
Why this matters to me
As someone who grew up in a low-income family, I believe your background should never determine how far you go. Every mentee, student, or scholar I’ve supported is better equipped to pursue STEM and to build a future for themselves — and several have gone on to open the same doors for others. That’s the throughline connecting 13 years of this work, across 17 countries, and now here in the UK.
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