VELA Wintersemester- Stipendium 2022/2023 : Der Gewinner

“Knowledge is the beauty of man. It is secretly hidden wealth and the most precious one”, this quote emphasizes the importance of knowledge for humanity and giving us a reason and the science of thoughts. Coming from an average middle-class Indian family, pursuing a master’s degree in Germany was an expensive dream and, I have always regarded this as the quintessence of my knowledge. In 2020, amid the pandemic, I set myself on a professional voyage with limited resources but far greater ambitions and a resolute vision.

The pandemic hampered my schedule but couldn’t hamper my spirit, after numerous delays in visa and financial crunch, I finally made it to Germany in 2021. I found solace in Freiburg, the most beautiful city I have ever seen in my life. The green spaces and the mountains act as stress detox, but this comes with its own share of financial repercussions. The university has a tuition fee of 1500 euros per semester for non-EU students.

I am currently in my 4^th semester of master’s at the University of Freiburg and I am currently working on projects which involve developing and testing various 3D structures as a part of actuators for Tactile display as shown below. This technology has the scope and potential to help the blind and visually challenged people. This scholarship will provide me with an opportunity to make this technology more accessible and turn this into my Master Thesis topic at my lab under a renowned professor furthermore this will help me to thrive on a personal basis without fearing an economic fallout caused due to high living costs and tuition fees.

I firmly believe that financial constraints are a major limiting factor in pursuing one’s dreams and I hope that this is not the case with me but on the contrary, my finances are being crippled which will hamper my professional and personal dreams. i.e., I am currently pursuing some of the most enthralling emerging technologies i.e., a conjunction of hardware and AI technologies. I am currently specializing in ML and computer vision on FPGAs, which is a very intriguing but costly affair due to the high cost of FPGA boards (even after student discounts).

So, the main question now is why should I get this scholarship?

My take on this is my belief in ground-breaking technologies which also has the potential to discover further cutting-edge solutions for various problems using high compute power. Computer vision has already made its way into solving cancer and providing best solutions for the climate change. I have great things to learn and greater projects to implement and learn German, and to survive in Freiburg I personally think even two part time jobs aren’t sufficient to cover the cost of living and with a burden of 1500 euros as tuition fees, there is trade-off between my academics and survival. This scholarship will give me the advantage and give me an opportunity to complete all my goals without compromising on my academics.

I firmly believe that the pandemic has taught us the right way to existence, and I can hardly comprehend what a normal world was and what it takes to be hopeful in distress times and nature has helped me out during that phase. I must admit that nature is the best healer. The pandemic has shown us the need for humanity and love over borders and hatred, I believe in humanity and love. I believe in caring for each other.

Lathif Sharieff