f I had to choose one thing that week 4 of my Leadership in Action project reminded me of, it would be this:

I love creating magic.

I absolutely love creating experiences, moments and spaces that spark inspiration, hope and the opportunity for people to re-imagine what is possible— both offline and online. This week really reminded me of just how much joy and energy I find in that process.

Last week was the second and final week of the Memphis Biosolutions Lab pilot programme. During these week, our young scientists worked in team through the bio-design process to develop innovative solutions to local environmental challenges in Memphis. They researched the real-world problems they were interested in, designed bio-solutions to tackle those problems and then communicated their amazing work through scientific posters. They gave poster presentations to friends and family on Friday 24th July, which was our showcase day. We are also so incredibly grateful that they were able to present their posters at the Memphis STEMM Ecosystem’s 4th annual community exhibition for science summer camps, which we hope helped foster a sense of belonging in the scientific community and belief that they not only have a place in STEM but can thrive in it.

Watching our young scientists grow over this last week was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had. Seeing how much they had grown in just two weeks made every late night worth it. I am so incredibly proud of them.

In our pilot program, we had three teams, each tackling a different environmental challenge facing Memphis:

💧 Team Blu explored the growing water demands of AI data centres. Inspired by the anti-clogging filtration systems of manta rays, they designed the Manta Filter—a custom aquifer system capable of purifying greywater for reuse within data centres.

☁️ Team Airbenders focused on nitrogen dioxide pollution across Memphis. Their proposal centred around installing living biofilter walls and roofs made from moss alongside highways, around industrial sites and within communities most affected by air pollution.

🌱 Team Toxic Waste addressed heavy metal soil contamination. They designed a genetic engineering strategy to transform Italian ryegrass—a common weed in Memphis—into a "good weed": a super-absorber capable of removing lead, chromium and arsenic from contaminated soils through enhanced metal uptake, deeper roots, faster growth and increased tolerance to polluted environments.

One thing I realised this week is just how much my time at Oxford has shaped the way I think. Many of the research, critical thinking and problem-solving skills I’ve developed developed over the last two years became tools that I could help pass on to our young scientists, especially that of evaluating evidence, synthesising, and breaking down goals into game plans. I collated all of these ways of thinking into an innovation workbook that helped scaffold each stage of the bio-design process, breaking down an ambitious goal into smaller, less daunting steps.

Over the last two weeks, I also helped in designing the activities, presentation slides and program certificates. I helped set up our space and curate an inspirational playlist of music (featuring the soundtrack from David Attenborough’s Our Planet) for our award ceremony.

Something I am really grateful for has been the opportunity to watch and learn from my mentors Nikki Wallace and KeShaun Pearson as they helped facilitate the programme. Watching them use grounding exercises, energy check-ins and simple rituals to help everyone reset their nervous system and be fully present in the space was incredibly inspiring. It also sparked some fascinating conversations afterwards about how important it is to intentionally design experiences that prioritise human connection, especially in the age of AI (if you’re interested in that, you should definitely check out The Rithm Project and all that they are doing!). Both of these experiences have left me excited to continue learning more about the art of facilitation and how I can create spaces and moments that foster human connection and empowers people to show up as best as they can.

After the pilot program ended, that creative energy didn’t disappear; in fact, I think it grew exponentially!

I decided to teach myself website design using Webflow so I could build the first version of the Memphis Biosolutions Lab Website. Later, we transferred our design to the lovable, which uses AI to make it easier to design, manage and update websites. Even though we switched to an AI website development platform, I still think learning Webflow has been incredible meaningful. Learning the language of website design gave me a deeper understanding of how websites are built and how I can communicate a vision online. Learning these lessons meant that I had the language and ability to better use AI to bring my ideas to life.

This week, I also properly set up my LinkedIn account and began posting content on Instagram and YouTube again. Through all of this creation, I’ve realised that I deeply love storytelling. Whether its designing a website, writing a blog post, creating a video or facilitating a program. Being in a period of my life where I’m lucky enough to spend so much time creating things has been one of the most energising experiences I’ve had. Posting online everyday for a few days now has been really wonderful, because every post is another opportunity to create a small moment of magic for someone else.

As we’ve been reflecting on the pilot program and looking ahead, we have also been finding ourselves constantly stumbling across new people and ideas and possibilities. With each conversation, we’ve been discovering new ways that we could grow the Memphis Biosolutions Lab and how I could potentially contribute to Crosstown High, who have been so kind and generous in welcoming me into their uplifting, inspiring and innovative community.

It is such an incredibly exciting feeling to be building something that resonates with me this much. I feel like all the things I’ve tried, experiences I’ve helped create for myself, lessons I’ve learned and opportunities I’ve opened myself up to are coming together. I feel like these last few weeks have really elevated my sense of purpose and my vision for the world and what is possible. These past few weeks have also really accelerated my journey of bringing that vision to life.

Of course, with all of this creativity and learning, there have been challenges. For example, I learned the hard way how all-consuming creativity can be. For example, as I was teaching myself website design, I became so immersed that I accidently stayed up all night finishing the first draft of our website. My aims to return to a much healthier sleep schedule quickly disappeared as I’ve been following one idea after another. Usually, I would see this as a failure of discipline, and part of me still believes that. But, I’ve begun to see from a different perspective. Right now feels like one of those rare seasons where I have the time, the energy and creative headspace to build something from the ground up and chase all of these ideas, dreams and ambitions I have about re-imagining education. In a few months, I’ll be back at Oxford balancing lectures, tutorials and assessments and I know I won’t have the same freedom to follow my curiosity and excitement as much. So, I don’t want to waste this golden opportunity. I know that doesn't mean I should ignore my wellbeing—I still want to prioritise sleep, exercise and rest more than I have been—but giving myself the time and freedom to learn all of these new things and really go for it just feels like the right thing to do. However, this may just be me deluding myself. Please let me know if you thing that this is the case!

Sending you all so much joy and light,

Deep.

https://memphisbiosolutionslab.org