Jéssica Julaia Bouché (Conservation Leadership MPhil 2025) is from Mozambique and studies conservation. Without funding, Jéssica would not have been able to take up her Master's at the University of Cambridge. 

She is grateful for the financial support available, and has a message for the people from the global south: believe.

“It’s important for young people to see representation,” she says. “We should believe in ourselves. Believe in your path. Your story matters, even if you come from a place not often  represented in global conversations. Every experience adds value. Start where you are, do what you can and never stop learning – opportunities often open when preparation meets purpose.”

A marine biologist, Jessica has spent the past eight years at BIOFUND – Mozambique’s Conservation Trust Fund – where she helped establish and leads the Monitoring and Evaluation team. She is on leave to study at the University of Cambridge as part of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program. 

“Being a Mastercard Foundation Scholar is both an incredible opportunity, and a huge responsibility,” she adds. For me this scholarship represents breaking barriers – as a young Mozambican woman, a mother and a professional in conservation. It is about honouring those who came before me and paving the way for others who will come next.”

The MPhil in Conservation Leadership is an innovative course which combines applied leadership and management skills needed to create positive change in conservation. It was first recommended to Jéssica six years ago by a colleague in Mozambique who had been part of an early cohort. She had to be patient before taking up her place at Cambridge and Gonville & Caius College. 

Jéssica, whose undergraduate degree in Marine Biology at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) in Mozambique concluded nearly a decade ago, had for some time been monitoring the Cambridge course before realising her career experience fulfilled the application criteria. 

“After several years of doing operational work, I felt like I needed to strengthen my strategic and leadership skills to influence conservation at a broader scale,” she says.

“Early on in my career I realised that conservation is not only about science. It's also about systems, finance and people. This programme at Cambridge offers a unique space where science, policy and leadership meet. Exactly where I see my next steps. I also wanted to connect with global networks that can support Mozambique’s conservation ambitions.”

Jéssica’s particular interest is the ocean – singular, as for some it is one interconnecting body of water which covers 70 percent of the earth’s surface. While Cambridge might be far from the coast, ocean conservation affects us all, particularly with the climate emergency leading to more unstable weather systems, including devastating Indian Ocean cyclones in Mozambique.

“Now we're trying very hard for people to have this awareness that it's all connected,” Jéssica adds. “We must guard against overfishing and pollution, and to keep the biodiversity – the corals, the mangroves and so on – because it also helps to protect the coast. Conservation is and will always be a collective effort, there is no Planet B after all.”