The determination of the Reverend Martin Luther King in his vision for a better world stands as a monumental example of the power of dreams.

For Carika Weldon, a biochemist and researcher at De Montfort University in England, Dr King’s legacy is an example of what one person can achieve.

Dr Weldon, 27, said: “My demographic of being young, black and female in England is daunting”.

Her dream is to become a professor. Out of the thousands of professors in England, only a fraction are black.

Dr Weldon took inspiration from Selma, the 2015 film documenting the 1965 voters’ rights marches, in which Dr King was a leading figure.

“Don’t underrate yourself, or belittle what you can do as one person,” Dr Weldon said. “That is what I draw from Dr King. When you are on to something great, people will jump on board.”

At age 10, Dr Weldon had set her sights on becoming a neurosurgeon.

She learnt to hold on to dreams even while understanding that “dreams may be amended”.

She dreamt of attending Warwick Academy, then of “doing well and becoming head girl”.

Attending Oxford University was another dream goal that was “shattered” when she failed to secure an interview.

Maggie McCorkell, the head teacher of the day, helped her to pull her plans back together.

Unable to get into the medical school she wanted, she set her sights on Leicester and, along the way, had to tailor her goal from becoming a doctor to switching to biochemistry.

“I shifted the dream,” she said. “It’s OK to be flexible and take things as they come. It’s not the end of the world.”

Once she embarked on her research, Dr Weldon fell in love with it.

The university ultimately created a PhD position for her, subject to her getting a scholarship in Bermuda, and she succeeded.

“My dream was to become a doctor and, four years later, I was,” she said. She graduated in 2016, to the joy of parents Ellington and Carrie Weldon.

“From the age of 10, I wanted to help people. I was a people person. I loved science and I loved children. I work in that now, and I’m happy that I can inspire others.”

Now lecturing, organising conferences and taking students under her wing, it is Dr Weldon’s turn to pass the baton.

“I want to inspire that next generation to have dreams,” she said. “Especially young women.”