Fuel the Impact!

The Palace of the Golden Horses was the setting for the Young Scientists Network-Academy of Sciences Malaysia (YSN-ASM) ‘s 2019 Colloquium. This Colloquium is the first to be organised with Dr Chai Lay Ching at the helm, taking over the position of leadership from the esteemed Professor Dr Abhi Veerakumarasivam.

The 2019 Colloquium featured several new activities to ensure all members present can have more impactful discussions, more avenues of sharing and connecting as well as to enrich the networking process.

As a prelude to the Colloquium, four pre-workshops were held on different topics:

• Impactfulness of Young Scientists with Thai Young Scientists Academy (TYSA)
• Unplugging Programming with IBSE with Dr Nurbiha A Shukor
• To strew the path with flowers: Communicating the Wonders of Science with Dr Siti Khayriyyah Mohd Hanafiah
• Demystifying Artificial Intelligence with Associate Professor Dr Nurfadhlina Mohd Sharef

The 2019 Colloquium also featured special guests from the ASEAN region. Members of the Thai Young Scientists Academy (TYSA) and the ASEAN Young Scientists Network (ASEAN YSN) formed a panel for a sharing session.

The guests from TYSA and ASEAN YSN were invited to share their experience and knowledge as members of their respective science organisations in their country. The audience was welcomed to pose questions, exchange views and opinions during the session.

The YSN-ASM elects new members to hold positions as secretary-general and treasurer as well as the chairs and co-chairs for each of its eight working groups. This year, an online election system was put in place to expedite the process, a departure from the manual exercise of yesteryear. As a result, the election process was rendered short and swift, obtaining the desired results almost instantly.

The new YSN-ASM Executive Committee for the 2019/2020 term is as follows:

Find out more on YSN-ASM here.

With the new leaders in place, the YSN-ASM Working Groups are ready to embark on an analysis of 2019 activities by utilising the Pluses, Potentials, Concerns and Overcome Concerns (PPCO) approach.

In today’s climate of uncertainty, a clear sense of purpose in life might sometimes elude someone who has just started their journey in life as a scientist. They might need some words of advice and reassurance from someone more experienced in life. As such, the 2019 Colloquium introduced a forum titled “A Taste of Success” that featured four respected senior scientists from ASM’s Expert Network to dispense valuable advice and share life stories to inspire and guide young scientists.

Moderated by Professor Dr Denny Ng, the Forum featured four experienced senior scientists: Professor Dr Abhi Veerakumarasivam, Professor Dr Cheong Sok Ching FASc, Professor Datuk Dr Halimaton Hamdan FASc and Associate Professor Dr Madeline Berma FASc.

Aside from them sharing their own life experiences in and out of the workplace, the panel also addressed the audience’s questions via the Slido app. Following the panel session, registered audience members were able to get up close and personal with their chosen panel members during the breakout session.

“All work and no play make YSN-ASM a dull organisation” to disprove that, a Gala Dinner with the theme “Bollywood Glam!” was held in the evening. Everyone attended the Gala Dinner dressed to the nines. Aside from an opportunity for a casual get-together, participants were also treated to a Lucky Draw, the King and Queen of the Night, as well as a flash dance of Chamak Challo by YSN-ASM’s dancing kings and queens.

On the final day of the Colloquium, the new Working Group Chair and Co-Chair had the opportunity to present their proposed activities and receiving feedback from ASM President Professor Datuk Dr Asma Ismail FASc.

Datuk Asma was also present for the session “Connecting with the ASM President” where she highlighted the programmes currently in the ASM pipeline and how YSN-ASM can contribute to these programmes while simultaneously. Following her presentation, Dr Mohd Nor Azman Hassan, Deputy Secretary-General (Science, Technology and Innovation) of MESTECC also delivered his presentation on how MESTECC connects with YSN-ASM.

Then, it was time to announce the winners of the 2019 YSN-ASM Rising Star Award. A total of 18 postgraduate students were shortlisted as finalists for the awards. The finalists underwent a series of workshops and were evaluated based on their creativity, leadership and team-working abilities. Upon completion of these workshops, three winners were selected. The winners were:

–    Ms Chua Ling Ling (Universiti Malaya)

–    Mr Nazrin Abd Aziz (Universiti Malaya)

–    Ms Nur Hashimah Alias (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia)

Furthermore, all award recipients and finalists were appointed as the alumni for the awards and have expressed their keen interest to contribute back to society and the scientific ecosystem together with YSN-ASM.