Nucleus2011 - The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

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Inside this
issue:
Research Innovation
Week 2
Research Active Week
Chinese New Year
Celebration
Interview Workshop
Skills
Green Week
Iraq-Delphe Delegation
hosted by UNMC
Graduate School
Good Practice in the
Supervision of Doctoral
and Masters Research
Research Showcase
2011
International Graduate
School Delivery: China
Campus Visit
U21 Graduate Research
Conference on Food
POCER 2011
Travel Prize - Dhanya
Pillai
The aim of the Graduate School is to provide training and support to post graduate students while creating and developing a sense of student community and involvement
www.nottingham.edu.my/Faculties/graduate_school
Summer 2011
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Research Innovation Week 2
10-13th January 2011
The Graduate School ran its second annual Research
Innovation Week in January and welcomed participants from Malaysia and Indonesia. The event provided participants with an opportunity to develop their
skills and learn new and innovative techniques.
The programme was thematically organised and provided training for young researchers and PhD supervisors.
Day one: Getting Started on your Research
Working Effectively in Research
Critical and Creative Thinking
Day two: Moving Forward as a Researcher
Research Skills
Proposal Writing
Day three: Managing your Research
Project Management for Research
Getting Research Funding
Day four: PhD Supervisor Training
Contemporary Issues in supervising Research
Students
Examining a Doctorate
Research Training:
As part of its commitment to training and development, courses were delivered for RAs and early career
academics.
Graduate School Introduction Session:
The Graduate School delivered a presentation and
hosted a coffee and cake session to welcome all newly
registered postgraduate students to UNMC.
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Research Active Week
7-11th February 2011
The aim of Research Active Week is to promote existing activity and develop future
research potential at UNMC. Over the course of the five days research students
had an opportunity to attend workshops, training courses, presentations and social
gatherings with a focus on integration and research development.
The main areas covered included research proposal writing, grant and funding
workshops, project management for researchers and a Meet the Editor session
delivered by Prof Peter Mitchell – Editor of the British Journal of Psychology.
The week ended with an interdisciplinary poster session where students presented
their work and received feedback on their ideas and techniques.
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Chinese New Year Celebration
11th February
Postgraduate students gathered in the Graduate School to celebrate Chinese New
Year and to enjoy the cultural delights of Yee Sang!
The Graduate School endeavors to provide for and support the international environment of the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.
Cultural events are organised throughout the year and provide students with an opportunity to try new foods, learn more about customs and discuss ideas and interact
with fellow students.
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Interview Skills Workshop
February 25th March 18th
March 25th-April 15th
CELE and Graduate School collaborated to organise and deliver a four-week
course that focused on developing valuable interview skills for UNMC students.
Training was delivered by Melissa Yoong from CELE and covered critical areas
such as understanding what interviewers are looking for, communicating accomplishments effectively, responding to situational questions and asking positive
questions and engaging with the interview process.
This course, delivered twice, is designed for students who are interested in developing their job interview skills. Through group and one-to-one practice using realworld interview questions, the module hones the students‟ verbal and non-verbal
skills, particularly their ability to understand what is being asked and reply clearly
and confidently at the expected level of English. The course was a success and
will be run again in the future.
Green Week
March 25th-April 15th
Graduate School participated in Green Week with
a donation to plant a tree and Dr Christopher Hill
was one of the judges for the Trash to Treasure
competition.
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Iraq-Delphe Delegation hosted by UNMC
Graduate School
9th-21st May
The Graduate School hosted 14 academics from the Kurdistan region of Iraq as part
of a British Council DelPHE funded project to improve research capacity and capability. Graduate School colleagues from the Malaysia and UK campuses organised and
delivered a two-week event full of training courses, workshops, cultural visits and
research activity.
Delegates spent time at UNMC networking with colleagues and taking part in the Research Showcase judging. The two weeks culminated in a gala dinner at the Royale
Chulan.
This visit marks the first of three key elements of the project as it provided the opportunity for delegates to experience the emerging research culture or a relatively
new university. In November 2011 the delegates will travel to the UK campus to
spend a period of two weeks working with colleagues on issues of research supervision and development.
The project will end in March 2012 when Graduate School colleagues will travel to
Kurdistan to meet with delegates and ministry officials to both chart progress and to
plan for further development.
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Good Practice in the Supervision of Doctoral and
Masters Research
11th-12th May
This two-day programme was designed for university academic staff who supervise, or aspire to supervise, masters and doctoral research students. Joining the
programme were participants from the Kurdistan region of Iraq who are part of
a DelPHE-Iraq British Council funded project.
The programme consisted of a combination of keynote presentations, workshop
sessions, and practical planning activities and a networking reception on the
Wednesday evening. Participants had the opportunity to:
Consider and discuss expectations of research at masters and doctoral level
study;
Explore some of the key characteristics, national and disciplinary variations
in the frameworks and models used to supervise and assess doctoral an
masters research;
Share and reflect on their own experiences of undertaking and supervising
masters and doctoral research projects;
Identify and reflect on students expectations of their supervisor and
institution;
Identify good supervision practices for the different stages of research
projects;
Develop strategies for dealing with common problems that occur during
Project supervision; and Plan for how they can implement and support
changes in personal and/or institutional supervisory practice.
The session was attended by colleagues from UNMC, the DelPHE Iraq delegation
and participants from Malaysian universities such as UKM, UM and Taylor‟s.
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Research Showcase 2011
18th May
Manoj Embrandiri, a 3rd year
PhD student from the Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, was selected as the
winner of the UNMC Graduate
School
Research
Showcase
2011.
The Research Showcase is an annual competition organised by
the Graduate School to promote
presentation skills and the ability
to engage with a wider audience. The panel of judges are
non-specialists and from different
backgrounds
and
experiences. Each year, the winner is funded by the Graduate School Malaysia Campus to
compete in the UK National Vitae Poster Competition. Manoj Embrandiri is the second recipient of this award, which started in 2010.
Manoj Embrandiri and UNMC's very own electric vehicle
Manoj is currently a 3rd year PhD student at the University of Nottingham Malaysia
campus, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He hails from Kerala
India and is 24 years old. His research interests include electric and hybrid vehicle
design, renewable energy, alternative energy sources and energy management.
His current research is focused on improving the performance of electric vehicles by
tweaking the battery pack with a “supercapacitor”. This work has come a long way
since its inception. A Perodua Kancil (one of Malaysia‟s most famous compact cars)
was converted into a fully electric vehicle and used as a test vehicle for research experiments.
On a shoestring research budget and still very much in its early prototype stages, the
1997 compact Perodua Kancil cum - electric car has a top speed of 50km/h and a
range of about 50 km per charge. Intense research is ongoing to improve its performance in terms of better range and longer battery life, through the use of supercapacitors and batteries.
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Research Showcase 2011 -cont’d
Supercapacitors, also called ultracapacitors, are more powerful cousins of
the basic capacitor. With activated
carbon at their core to act as a
sponge for electrons, supercapacitors
can absorb power or send a charge far faster than batteries; making
them excellent for accelerating a car
or regaining braking energy. They are
also far more durable.
At the official launch of UNMC-Shaz supercapacitor pilot plant in January 2011, exprime minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammed personally took the electricKancil for a test drive as part of a guided tour of university facilities.
Manoj hopes to make significant progress in his electric vehicle research through the
use of supercapacitors so that electric vehicles will charge faster, go further and ultimately be more reliable than they are currently. He is also working on an intelligent
system for electric vehicles, which will be able to predict an impending acceleration or
deceleration thus making power delivery to the electric motor much faster and more
efficient.
International Graduate School Delivery:
China Campus Visit
13-17th July
Dr Christopher Hill and Dr Jane Wellens, Head of Research Development Graduate
School UK Campus delivered a week of research training courses at the Ningbo
Campus and chaired a two-day PhD conference in support of the postgraduate development agenda in China.
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U21 Graduate Research Conference on Food
22nd-26th June
.
The recent Graduate Research Conference on Food, hosted by the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, was a truly international and inter-disciplinary event with 35 participants in attendance,
representing 14 universities from 10 countries across the U21 network.
Given the breadth and depth of the conference theme, papers were grouped under the headings of
Health and Nutrition, Social and Cultural Contexts of Food and Food Security, Climate Change, Disease Resistance and Genetic Modification. The sessions were complemented by three keynote
speeches, delivered by senior academics from the University of Nottingham UK and Malaysia Campuses. Prof Sayed Azam-Ali, VP Research and Internationalisation Malaysia Campus, opened the
event with a discussion on Food Security Research: breaking out of the subject silos; Prof Jerry
Roberts, Head of School Biosciences UK Campus, delivered a talk on Global Food Security: is there
a role for the genetic manipulation of crops? and Prof Neville Wylie, Dean Faculty of Arts and Social
Sciences Malaysia Campus, closed the conference with a talk on the Social and Political Implications of Research on Food and Food Security.
The programme was split between the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus and the Kuala
Lumpur Teaching Centre to provide students with a variety of experiences and exposure to the climate and vegetation of Malaysia. The social programme included a welcome dinner, a cultural tour
with a Malaysian dance performance, a Putrajaya agricultural tour and a Gala Dinner, on the final
evening, hosted in a rooftop venue with views of the KL Petronas Towers.
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U21 Graduate Research Conference on Food
Cont’d
Over the course of the conference, participants were encouraged to take part in an interdisciplinary research poster competition. Participants were divided into groups, which mixed institutions and disciplines in order to promote cross-subject interaction and development. The
groups were then charged with producing a poster outlining a potential research project that
drew upon the collective experience and diversity of their members. The posters were displayed during the Gala Dinner and judged by a panel of academics and non-specialists. In
addition, there was also a peer award that the students themselves judged.
The conference was a resounding success with the participants fully engaging with the subject matter and discussing complex and relevant issues such as cultural approaches to food
and how it can shape and define a community; the necessity for scientific development to address, and be sensitive to, local and traditional knowledge; the ever increasing pressures
population growth and climate change will place upon our ability to produce food in a sustainable and responsible manner; the entire supply chain of food and the implications this has for
food security and the broader issue of how we problematise the concept of food security and,
in turn, respond to it.
This conference demonstrated, not just the importance of the subject of food and its many implications for our development and survival, but also the quality of graduate researchers
within the U21 network. The debate was lively and informed and the willingness and ability of
the participants to engage outside of their immediate discipline areas represents a solid foundation for the future of international research and the potential solution to some of the highly
relevant and critical questions raised during the conference.
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National Vitae Poster Competition 2011
Manoj Embrandiri, Research Showcase 2011 winner, represented
UNMC in the 2011 National Vitae Poster Competition
(pictured here on a visit to London)
“ As the winner of the research showcase 2011 poster competition (best poster via
video conference Malaysia campus) I was given the chance to rub minds with top
researchers from UK‟s top universities in the midlands at the VITAE 2011 poster
competition held at the Nottingham Trent University. This enabled me to sharpen
my presentation skills especially to an audience not in my area of expertise. Also I
had the opportunity to attend a business networking seminar which I found quite
interesting as most postgraduate students tend to overlook the importance of networking even in research and development.
As this was my first trip to the UK, I seized the opportunity to do some sightseeing
in Nottingham such as Nottingham castle, Sherwood Forest and most importantly
the University of Nottingham Park Campus itself which is indeed a beautiful campus. On my way back to Malaysia, I took a one day tour of the major attractions in
the city of London.” (Manoj Embrandiri, September 2011)
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Postgraduate Colloquium for Environmental
Research (POCER)
15-16th July
siti
The Environment Research Division of Faculty of Engineering hosted the two-day
Postgraduate Colloquium for Environmental
Research (POCER) on the 15th and 16th of
July 2011. This year‟s theme was
„Emerging Technologies & Practices for a
Greener Word‟ and was hosted in collaboration with the Graduate School, the Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable
Technologies and the Centre for Green
Technologies.
Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Teknologi
PETRONAS (UTP).
The Committee of this colloquium consisted of key academics and postgraduates
from the Faculty of Engineering at the Malaysia Campus and was chaired by Associate Professor Chong Mei Fong. The colloquium aimed to provide a platform for exchanging knowledge and ideas amongst
young researchers in Malaysia on environThe colloquium received an overwhelming mental research.
response with participation from several
higher education institutions in Malaysia Various sessions were organised for parincluding: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia ticipants, which included 17 oral and 10
(UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), poster presentations.
Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), UniverNucleus 2011
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Postgraduate Colloquium for Environmental
Research (POCER) - cont’d
The oral presentations were grouped into
four sessions: Wastewater Treatment,
Green Chemistry/Material, Renewable Energy and Computational Tools. Some selected papers will also be invited for publication in a special issue of Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, as well
as the Global Journal of Environmental
Science & Technology.
Best Poster Presentation Awards
(Note: There are 2 winners as they
received the same total score)
Name: Venny
Institution: The University of Nottingham
Malaysia Campus
Workshops were also conducted on the
topics of Water and Wastewater Analysis, Paper title: The Oxidation of Polycyclic
Water Recycling Design, Life Cycle Analy- Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Soil
sis, and Computational Fluid Dynamics for Slurry Using Chelated Fenton Treatment
Environment Application.
The closing ceremony was held at Crystal
Oriental Hotel in Kajang with a short summary delivered by the colloquium cochairperson Dr. Yap Eng Hwa, followed by
the award presentations. Three awards
were presented for the best paper, oral
and poster presentations. Nottingham
participants won the Best Oral Presentation Award and had two winners tying for
first place with Best Poster Presentation
Award.
Name: Chieng Hui Jiun
Institution: The University of Nottingham
Malaysia Campus
Paper title: Boron Adsorption Using Ash
Impregnated with Chemical Compounds
Best Oral Presentation Award
Best Paper Award
Name: Harresh Kasivisvanathan
Name: Dzulkarnain Zaini
Institution: The University of Nottingham Institution: Universiti Teknologi PETROMalaysia Campus
NAS
Paper title: Retrofit of Palm Oil Mill into a Paper title: Using Integrated Toxic Release Consequences Analysis Tool for InSustainable Integrated Biorefinery
herently Safer Design of Process Plant
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Postgraduate Colloquium for Environmental
Research (POCER) - cont’d
The Graduate School supported this event with a Research Led Award that enabled the
student group below to plan, organise and deliver on this prestigious event.
Graduate School Research Led Bid recipients:
Poh Phaik Eong
Aldo Malvin
Venny
Oh Pin Pin
Chieng Hui Jiun
Kelvin Ho Choon Seng
Vincent Lee Chieng Chen
Lai Nai Yeen Gavin
Tan Chye Cheah
Chen BaiMan
Chan Yi Jing
Douglas Tay Han Shin
Harresh Kasivisvanathan
Tang Siah Ying
Britto Satheesh
Li See Chew
Lee Siew Teng
Travel Prize Winner - Dhanya Pillai
School Travel Prize to attend the Asia Pacific
Autism
Conference
(APAC)
2011. The conference will take place between the 8-10 September 2011 in Perth,
Australia
Dhanya will be presenting a poster entitled “What just happened? The ability of
individuals with autism to infer mental
states from behavioural responses.” The
study aims to investigate the role of
mentalising abilities in autism and its impact on social cognition and interaction.
The Graduate School Travel Prize supports research students to attend a national or international conference to preDhanya A/P K. Raghavan Pillai, a 2nd sent their research, or make a short visit
year PhD student in the School of Psy- to another institute to use or consult eschology UNMC was awarded a Graduate
sential resources.
Nucleus 2011