The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) aims for a 20 percent increase in its number of post graduate students by 2020 in accordance with its Strategic Roadmap 2020.
Post graduate students at UNMC are currently pursuing PhDs in various disciplines including english, applied psychology, chemical and environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, education, psychology, biomedical science, pharmacy and biosciences among others.
“Postgraduates are central to our research mission. We are committed to working with them to ensure that they receive all the support and skills training they need to fulfil their potential,” said Deepa Kumari Veerasingam, Head of Graduate School at UNMC.
The Graduate School at UNMC aims to provide a broad range of support to post graduate students and early career researchers, including organising training sessions, workshops, study spaces, annual competitions such as the Research Showcase and the celebration of festivals.
UNMC recently organised its annual 3 Minute Thesis® (3MT) competition, where each participant has three minutes to present their research in a manner which is suitable for a non-specialist audience. Students from various disciplines participated in this competition. The winner at UNMC will proceed to the tri-campus round to compete for the title of University of Nottingham winner. He or she would then represent the entire University of Nottingham at the U21 final to clinch the ultimate prize of US$2,500 to visit a U21 partner university of their choice.
The 3MT initial round of the competition includes a live presentation to a general audience and a panel of judges, which comprises of industry leaders and academics. Both winners from this year’s 3MT competition were from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Lillian Joyce Among Olule is the 3MT overall winner and she also won the People’s Choice. Lilian received a conference fund of RM2,500 from UNMC, food vouchers worth RM500 from Univillage, RM250 worth of book vouchers from MPH and an additional RM200 food vouchers from Univillage. Mohammed Ayoub Juman is the runner up and obtained conference funds of RM750 and Univillage vouchers worth RM300.
Also present at this competition were UNMC CEO and Provost and chief judge of the competition Professor Graham Kendall, Mudajaya Group Bhd Group Managing Director James Wong, Eureka Synergy Sdn Bhd Managing Director Dr David Lim; Ample Effect Sdn Bhd Business Development Director Dr Elaine Lim, PlaTCOM Ventures Sdn Bhd Commercialisation Specialist Nur Hidayah binti Mohammad Akil, UNMC Director of Special Projects Ruth Tomlinson, and UNMC Research and Knowledge Transfer Manager Anitapadmani Pathmathasan.
“It was a very engaging session for students as well as the attendees and I am personally impressed by the showcase of talent by our students who were able to articulate their complex 100,000 word thesis in three minutes,“ said Deepa.
The 3MT competition is the brain child of The University of Queensland in 2008 with the aim to enhance the students’ academic presentation and research communication skills.
The competition became popular at several universities which led to the development of an international event. 2010 saw the inaugural Trans-Tasman 3MT competition which was held at UQ. Since then, the 3MT competition has become more widely adopted and is now held at more than 350 universities across more than 18 countries.
More information available on this blog.
(Article image caption: Judges and participants of 3MT competition, Professor Graham Kendall in the middle, front row)
(Thumbnail image caption: Professor Graham Kendall with the winner of 3MT, Lillian Joyce Among Olule)
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More information is available from Deepa Kumari Veerasingam at deepa.kumari@nottingham.edu.my; or Josephine Dionisappu, PR & Communications Manager at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus on +603 8924 8746, josephine.dionisappu@nottingham.edu.my.
Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with a “distinct” approach to internationalisation, which rests on those full-scale campuses in China and Malaysia, as well as a large presence in its home city.’ (Times Good University Guide 2016). It is also one of the most popular universities in the UK among graduate employers and the winner of ‘Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers’ at the Times Higher Education Awards 2015. It is ranked in the world’s top 75 by the QS World University Rankings 2015/16, and 8th in the UK by research power according to the Research Excellence Framework 2014. It has been voted the world’s greenest campus for four years running, according to Greenmetrics Ranking of World Universities.
Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest-ever fundraising campaign, is delivering the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future.
Posted on 14th September 2016