Child genius who went to uni aged 12 becomes youngest in Britain to hold PhD

12 February 2024 , 18:58

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Yasha Asley, 21, who has now become Britain’s youngest PhD holder (Image: Moussa Asley / SWNS)

A 21-year-old has just become the youngest Brit to hold a PhD.

Yasha Asley, who is known as the "human calculator", started attending university in his home city of Leicester at the tender age of 12, with his dad Moussa Asley by his side. The 61-year-old dad gave up his job as an accountant to support his son's education.

Now Moussa has spoken of his pride after watching Yasha receive his doctorate in applied mathematics from the University of Leicester earlier this month. And while the future for Yasha looks rosy, he says he's keeping an open mind about his next steps.

"It feels amazing to have achieved this feat. I am very happy and would like to thank all my lecturers for their help," he said. Moussa wasn't surprised by his son's achievement, but admitted: "To be frank I was expecting him to finish two or three years ago! Were it not for Covid I think he would have finished much earlier but I am over the moon."

Yasha, from Leicester, started attending his local university before he was even a teenager (Moussa Asley / SWNS)

Yasha, who took both his GCSEs and A-Levels aged nine and speaks fluent French and Persian, didn't find the journey to his PhD entirely smooth sailing. Moussa, who moved to the UK from Iran in 1979, shared: "I approached the uni and asked them to waive student fees, as I couldn't afford to just pay the fees upfront, I even approached my local MP."

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After a lot of back-and-forth, Moussa revealed that Student Finance finally "gave in" and offered Yasha the student loan without the national insurance number. At only 15 years old, Yasha bagged a first-class honours degree.

When he was just 13, the university offered him a paid job to run tutorials, beating out adult applicants. These weekly sessions involved helping adult students who were struggling with problems from their lectures.

Proud dad Moussa said: "From his earliest days he was exceptional everybody noticed he was exceptional. "His primary school teacher realised early on that he couldn't meet his educational needs so he was getting university standard lectures twice a week while attending school three days a week."

Yasha studying when he was younger (Moussa Asley / SWNS)

Now holding a PhD, Yasha says he is "keeping an open mind on what to do in the future" It feels amazing to have achieved this feat. I'm looking to maybe work in the AI field or data mining, but I really don't know yet," he admitted.

Moussa expressed his gratitude: "I am grateful for what this country has done for me. I always did OK academically but was nowhere near as good as my son. It was a lot to get him through university as a single parent, big sacrifices had to be made but it has all been worth it."

Yasha expressed his appreciation for his dad's support throughout his journey. "I feel honoured and privileged," he added. "I am blessed with a caring dad who sacrificed his time to support and be with me for so many years and I will always be grateful for the opportunities he created for me."

Prof Jeremy Levesley, who taught Yasha at Leicester University, said: "It has been a great pleasure to work with him. He has proved to be one of the best students we have ever had here. He is a great bloke and will go on to do really interesting things." Yasha isn't just about studying though - he loves gardening and supports Leicester City.

While he may be the youngest PhD holder in Britain right now, he's not the youngest ever. That title goes to Fahma Mohamed, who got her doctorate for campaigning against female genital mutilation in 2016 when she was 19. And last year, Imran Nasim completed a PhD in astrophysics at the age of 22.

Susie Beever