UNILORIN Graduate Who Once Dreamt of Studying Medicine Earns PhD in Statistics Abroad

Oluwayomi Akinfenwa, a Nigerian academic who once hoped to become a medical doctor, has earned a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Statistics from Maynooth University in Ireland.

UNILORIN Graduate Who Once Dreamt of Studying Medicine Earns PhD in Statistics Abroad

Akinfenwa received her PhD on September 7, 2026, completing an academic journey that began after her original plan to study medicine did not work out.

Following a lengthy wait for university admission, she eventually enrolled to study Statistics at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN). What initially appeared to be a change of direction became the beginning of a successful academic career.

Akinfenwa graduated from UNILORIN with a First Class degree in Statistics, which later earned her an opportunity to further her education at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Ghana.

At AIMS Ghana, she completed a Master’s degree in Mathematical Sciences with Distinction.

In 2021, she secured a fully funded PhD opportunity through Research Ireland’s Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science and began her doctoral studies at Maynooth University.

Her PhD journey came with several challenges, including failed computer codes, confusing research results, manuscript revisions and periods of uncertainty. Despite these difficulties, she persevered until she completed her doctoral programme.

Akinfenwa’s research focused on country-level panel data and Bayesian hierarchical models, particularly on ways to make complex statistical findings easier to understand.

Her work explored how visualisation can help researchers identify patterns, trends and differences within development data.

As part of her research, she developed wdiexplorer, an R package designed to help researchers explore and visualise World Development Indicators. The package includes diagnostic tools and interactive visualisations and is now publicly available through CRAN.

She also proposed visualisation principles for presenting estimates from Bayesian hierarchical models. The principles are aimed at helping researchers communicate uncertainty, hierarchical structures and modelling decisions more clearly instead of relying only on summary statistics.

Following her graduation, Akinfenwa expressed her interest in continuing research that combines statistical modelling and data visualisation to improve the understanding of development data. She also indicated her willingness to collaborate with other researchers in related areas.

Her achievement attracted congratulatory messages from colleagues and members of her professional network, who celebrated her academic journey from studying Statistics at UNILORIN to earning a PhD in Ireland.

Akinfenwa’s story highlights how an unexpected change in academic direction can eventually lead to a successful career and advanced academic achievement.

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UNILORIN Graduate Who Once Dreamt of Studying Medicine Earns PhD in Statistics Abroad
UNILORIN Graduate Who Once Dreamt of Studying Medicine Earns PhD in Statistics Abroad
UNILORIN Graduate Who Once Dreamt of Studying Medicine Earns PhD in Statistics Abroad