Mogesh Sababathy, the youth who made it to the finals of this year's Commonwealth Youth Awards, has been conferred the Royal Education Award at his university.

The 24-year-old marine biology graduate was bestowed the award at the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu's (UMT) 18th convocation ceremony held last Saturday, reported Bernama.

Mogesh said the award is a motivation for him to continue to share his experience as a mentor with UMT juniors, and also with the world community, in fighting for issues related to the ocean, and environment.

"All this will not be achieved without the opportunities provided by trhe university because I have the experience of representing UMT and the country, at six international conferences," Bernama quoted Mogesh telling reporters after the convocation ceremony.

Mogesh is set to continue his studies at the doctorate (PhD) level in the Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) this September.

For the record, Mogesh was among 20 extraordinary young individuals from 18 countries who were shortlisted for this year's Commonwealth Youth Awards, for his project focused on sustainable development goal (SDG) of "Life Below Water".

He co-founded the 'Project Ocean Hope', a youth-led group that aims to raise the visibility of ocean issues and environmental conservation through campaigns and youth leadership training.

The group has also run educational community projects to reduce littering and unsustainable fishing practices, and an ocen literacy webinar series on waste management, reaching over 10,000 individuals across 15 countries.

Although Mogesh did not win the final prize as announced in a virtual ceremony on March 10, he did receive a trophy, a certificate, and £1,000 (RM5,521) to expand the impact of their projects, as all the other finalists did.


Source: Bernama
Photo source: Bernama