Commonrepo UM

University of Malaya, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Undetermined

Pulse@FASS, Issue 1, 2021

University of Malaya, Institute of Research Management & Monitoring

MILESTONE
@ UM
http://umresearch.um.edu.my
the world and the only OIC (Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation) member country – out
of 57 – to be in the top 100 of the QS World 
 University Rankings as of 2021. UM aspires
to fulfil its fullest potential through leveraging
on untapped strengths, talents, research and
future leaders. In spite of Covid-19
disruptions changing the way of doing
things, UM is intended to continue to make
the nation proud.
To transform dreams into reality, UM has
established a Project Management Office
(PMO) to oversee the transformation journey
which includes UM Strategic Plan, UM
Transformation Plan and UM Health
Initiatives. UM aims to move towards a self-
sustaining university that produces future
leaders for the nation. UM will become a
dynamic learning organisation and a centre
of excellence for knowledge and research
solutions.
9 February 2021 - Professor Dato’ Ir. Dr. Mohd
Hamdi Abd Shukor conducted a live Zoom
webinar presenting the Universiti Malaya
(UM) Strategic Plan for 2021 – 2025 to the
campus community, in conjunction with his
first 100 days as UM Vice Chancellor.
He shared our vision of becoming a global
university impacting the world and our
mission to push the boundaries of knowledge
and nurture aspiring leaders. The focus is on
UM’s five (5) Pillars of Organisational
Excellence – Income Generation, Teaching &
Learning, Research & Innovations, Talent and
Entrepreneurship. He also encouraged UM to
embrace our core values of Passion,
Oneness, Integrity, Sincerity and Empathy
(POISE).
UM is the educational flag bearer of Malaysia
with the QS World University Rankings
recently has listed UM as No. 59 university in 
TRANSFORMING DREAMS 
INTO REALITY
N E W S L E T T E R
V O L . 9
N O . 1
2 0 2 1
For more information, please refer to https://www.facebook.com/UniversityOfMalaya/videos/280457600091165
https://umresearch.um.edu.my
23 March 2021 – Professor Dr. Noorsaadah
binti Abdul Rahman, Deputy Vice Chancellor
(Research & Innovation) presented the
Universiti Malaya Townhall Strategic Plan
2021 – to 2025 House of Excellence Pillar 3:
Research & Innovations on live streaming. 
Research & Innovation is one of the five
pillars supporting UM’s mission of
organisational excellence; to address the
decline in the intake of postgraduate
students by research over the years, four (4)
new initiatives will be implemented –
Research Fund Opportunities, WoS
Publication Rewards, Research Ecosystem
and UM Scholarship Programme.
Research Fund Opportunities – Granting 50%
of student fees to supervisors to use as
starting research funds (currently applies
only to new PhD recruits starting September
2021) and formulating a matching fund for
industrial and international grants (RM1 given
to UM for every RM3 grant). Other initiatives
include developing a platform/database of
funders and calls for proposals, planning
meetings with stakeholders and creating
system records for copyrighting top-drawer
proposals.
WoS Publication Rewards – Allocating
rewards earned from published papers as a
top-up grant based on the indexing category
– Science, Social Sciences and Arts &
Humanities. The reward goes to the principal
investigator (PI) who (if the paper is a team
effort) assigns the necessary amount to UM
co-authors. Currently, the total allocation is
RM3mil with a maximum of RM15,000
(cumulative) per researcher per year.
Research Ecosystem – Creating a Research
Impact Strategic Unit to enhance publication
quality and citations, transform publications
into books, increase citations to improve
academic impact and push UM’s journal into
the WoS and Scopus index. This also
includes Researcher Empowerment to
improve research communication and
negotiation and impact beyond academia.
UM Scholarship Program – Introducing
competitive scholarship program for PhD
aimed towards highly qualified recruits in
September 2021. This program provides full
(100 students, RM4.5mil allocated) and partial
(200 students, RM3mil allocated)
scholarships with 3 years maximum duration.
Page 2
Milestone@UM, 2021, Vol. 9(1)
THE HOUSE OF EXCELLENCE –
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
For more information, please refer to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qorGyN36qZk&t=7s
https://umresearch.um.edu.my
UM has eight (8) innovations participated in
the International Innovation Awards under
four (4) sub-categories: i) Building; ii)
Healthcare, Personal Care Technology,
Biotechnology and Life Sciences; iii)
Protection of the Environment, Energy,
Water, Wastewater, Sanitation & Green
Technology; and iv) Agriculture, Livestock &
Horticulture, Aquacultures & Fisheries.
Researchers that represented UM in MTE
2021 are Gold, Silver and Special Awards
Winner - Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ubagaram Johnson
Alengaram (Faculty of Engineering), Gold
Awards Winners - Ir. Dr. Lai Khin Wee
(Faculty of Engineering) and Dr. Iswadi
Jauhari (Faculty of Engineering). Other Silver
Awards Winners also include Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Poo Balan a/l Ganesan (Faculty of
Engineering), Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Lim Kok
Sing (Photonics Research Centre), Dr. Azmin
Azliza Aziz (Faculty of Business and
Accountancy) and Dr. Leo Bey Fen (Faculty
of Medicine).
22-26 March 2021 - UM has won 2 Special
Awards, 3 Gold and 5 Silver Awards at the
Malaysia Technology Expo (MTE) 2021 held
virtually this year. 
 
Malaysia Technology Expo (MTE) started off
as a platform for innovators to showcase
their findings in year 2021 and now it has
grown to become one of the region’s most
recognised and respected international
innovation exhibitions, each year connecting
participants with industry players. In fact,
MTE has built a culture of excellence, being
known for its prestigious awards and
continues to welcome over 500 exhibits
annually. It provides a one-stop platform for
innovators, designers and entrepreneurs to
showcase their latest inventions, ideas,
prototypes, products and designs to
investors, manufacturers, distributors and
marketers in Asia and beyond, paving the
way to connect them with those who are
seeking new ideas, as well as technology
commercialisation and collaboration.
Page 3
Milestone@UM, 2021, Vol. 9(1)
MALAYSIA TECHNOLOGY EXPO
MTE 2021 AWARD WINNERS
https://umresearch.um.edu.my
Page 4
Milestone@UM, 2021, Vol. 9(1)
UM Research Webinar Series is a webinar
series organized by Centre of Research
Services (PPP) in collaboration with various
internal or external agencies with the aims: i)
to provide useful information, knowledge and
skills for research enhancement and
academic career development; ii) to expose
researchers to a wide range of current and
emerging topics, trends and technology in
research, and opportunities for research and
career development; and iii) to encourage
and motivate researchers to continually
progress towards research excellence. 
At this moment, the UM Research Webinar
series are held bi-monthly. PPP will invite
speakers and experts to share their expertise
and experience on wide range of current and
emerging topics related to research.
The first UM Research Webinar co-organised
with the Research Clusters Office was held
on 18 February 2021. Professor Dr. Ng Kwan
Hoong from Faculty of Medicine has been
invited to give a talk on “Harnessing Our
Talent to Produce Impactful Research”. The
session was moderate by Professor Dr. AS
Md Abdul Haseeb, Coordinator for Research
Clusters Office, UM and attended by 107
participants locally and internationally.
The second UMR Webinar series will be held
on 9 April 2021 over Zoom or Facebook Live.
In this webinar #2, we are honoured to be
able to invite Professor Datuk Dr. Asma
Ismail FASc, the President for Academy of
Science Malaysia (ASM) to give a talk on "The
Malaysia Grand Challenge: Constructive
Alignment to the 10-10 MySTIE Framework
for Impact-Driven Research".
UNIVERSITI MALAYA 
RESEARCH WEBINAR SERIES
To join us in the UMR
Webinar #2, please 
 scan and register here.
https://umresearch.um.edu.my
Page 5
Milestone@UM, 2021, Vol. 9(1)
14 January 2021 - UM Centre for Civilisational
Dialogue (UMCCD) and Halal Research
Centre (UMHRC) has organized a webinar
"Dialogue Program on Halal Vaccine" on 14
January 2021 via Google Meet.
With the outbreak of COVID-19 and now the
production of vaccines for COVID-19, the
halal status of the vaccine becomes the main
concerns especially for the Malay community
in Malaysia. As such, with the role of UMHRC
to offers services including halal research,
coaching, and training related to halal as well
as the function of UMCCD to promote global
peace and sustainability of human civilization
through dialogue, it is highly desirable for
these two centers to co-organise the above-
mentioned webinar to channel knowledge
and provide exposure to the community
about vaccine use from the point of view of
fiqh and its importance.
The dialogue program moderated by Dr.
Zalina Zakaria (Head of UMHRC) has invited
three (3) panels to discuss the topic related
to the halal vaccine. The panels are: i) Tuan
Haji Amrahi Buang (President for the
Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society); ii) Assoc.
Prof. Dr. Saadan Man (Head Department of
Fiqh & Usul, Academy of Islamic Studies
UM); and iii) Mr. Johari Abu Latiff (Assoc.
Member of UMHRC). 
Each panel that specializes in different areas
related to vaccination has given their
insightful views on the topic. Tuan Haji
Amrahi Buang elaborated his knowledge on
the vaccine itself whereas Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Saadan Man who is from the Usul al-Fiqh
background analyses the aspect of Islamic
rulings on the issue. The take-home message
of the webinar is an eye-opener: vaccination
is a very essential need for the sake of
respecting one’s life and the lives of others
who co-exist with them. 
There are more than 85 participants from
various agencies (universities schools, and
industries) from local and international have
participated actively in the webinar.
DIALOGUE PROGRAM ON 
HALAL VACCINE
https://umresearch.um.edu.my
1 January 2021 - We are proud to present to
you the publication of Journal of Research
Management & Governance (JRMG) Volume 3
by the Universiti Malaya.
Journal of Research Management and
Governance (JRMG) (e-ISSN: 2637-1103) is a
peer-reviewed journal published annually by
UM. JRMG aims to provide a platform for
sharing and dissemination of knowledge in
research management areas, especially at the
tertiary level. Articles published in JRMG
cover all aspects related to the management
and administration of research in
universities, research organizations and
funding agencies including (but not limited
to) strategies and policies in research
management and administration, research
management     professionals     and    human 
resources, research output and outcome in
terms of impact and Return on Investment
(ROI), open science (open access and open
data), as well as the changing landscape of
research environment and research funding.
From the outset, the Journal's main aim was
to provide fast and efficient online
publication tools to the scientific community,
while keeping that community in charge of
every aspect of the peer-review and
publication process, in order to ensure the
highest quality standards.
Consequently, the Advisory and Editorial
Boards, composed of distinguished and
active scientists in the field, jointly establish
with the Scientific Director of the Journal's
scientific policy and ensure the scientific
quality of accepted articles. Editors and
referees generally operate anonymously but
are free to reveal their identity to the authors.
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH
MANAGEMENT & GOVERNANCE
(JRMG)
Page 6
Milestone@UM, 2021, Vol. 9(1)
For more information
about JRMG and
manuscript submission,
please scan here.

https://umresearch.um.edu.my
ADVISORS
Prof. Dr. Noorsaadah Abd Rahman
Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Research & Innovation)
 
Prof. Dr. Shaliza Ibrahim
Associate Vice-Chancellor
(Research & Innovation)
 
EDITORIAL TEAM
Dr. Chai Lay Ching
Mr. Chang Lee Wei
Mr. Michael Hoe Guang Jian
CONTACT
Centre for Research Services
Institute of Research Management & Services
Research Management & Innovation Complex,
University of Malaya,
50603 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA.
 
Tel: +603-79674651 / 6289 / 6942
Fax: +603-79676390
 
Email: pengarah_ppp_ippp@um.edu.my
Website: https://umresearch.um.edu.my
HUMBOLT AMBASSADOR SCIENTIST
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT
FOUNDATION, GERMANY
Prof. Dr. Azirah Hashim, Faculty of
Languages and Linguistics, has been
appointed to the position of Humboldt
Ambassador Scientist, Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation, Germany for the
period February 1, 2021 to January 31, 2024.
Humboldt Ambassador Scientists support the
Alexander      von      Humboldt      Foundation 
(  https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/  )   by 
promoting and sharing information on the
Foundation’s sponsorship programmes and
by acting in an advisory capacity to the
Foundation.
As an alumna, Azirah will be giving talks on
the Foundation’s programmes, organising
networking events and sharing her Humboldt
experiences during the three-year
appointment. Her first research stay was at
Free University Berlin in 2009/2010 hosted by
Prof. Gerhard Leitner with whom she has
collaborated extensively on research on
Language Contact and Multilingualism. 
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
places special emphasis on working with
alumni, return visits to Germany and
organising events abroad, and thereby
nurturing a worldwide network. The
Humboldt fellowship brought Azirah back to
Germany where she is based at the
University of Freiburg. The Foundation
promotes scientific collaborations between
excellent foreign and German researchers. It
supports qualified researchers from all over
the world in several of their programmes.
Page 8
Milestone@UM, 2021, Vol. 9(1)


English

Milestone@UM, Volume 9, Number 1, 2021

Organised by: Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya and University of Malaya Library

Reimagining libraries for a post-pandemic world : Proceedings of the International 8th Conference on Libraries, Information and Society, ICoLIS 2021, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 18-19  August 2021

University of Malaya, Academic Enhancement & Leadership Development Centre (ADeC)

JULY
Microcredentials @UM
EmeraLd Teaching and Learning (Online)
Monthly Updates
In l ine wi th the speed changes of  physical  learning mode to onl ine ,  Universi t i  Malaya is  tak ing 
ever y oppor tuni t y  to reach s tudents global ly  as wel l  as equipped our resident  s tudents wi th a 
safer  and opt ional  learning environement .  In the past ,  Universi t i  Malaya has developed several  
MOOCs courses which were avai lable f ree on openLearning and FutureLearn .  
ADeC is  responsible in helping UM academics develop their  MOOC/Microcredent ia ls  course .  In 
July  2020,  we organized our f i rs t  workshop on Microcredent ia ls  @UM to introduce the MC@UM 
concept ,  the MC @UM team, as wel l  as provide the lec turers templates which have been prepared 
to make their  MC@UM journey as easy as possible .
ADeC also reached out  to facul t ies to explain about MC@UM, through onl ine ,as wel l  as physical  
meet ing .    
EmeraLd Teaching and Learning was held as usual  but  this  t ime,  v ia mul t ip le platforms onl ine .  
The usual ly  5-day course took up a whole 2 weeks onl ine as more assignments and task were 
given by the t ra iners .  
We would l ike to thanks al l  t ra iners and par t ic ipants who successful ly  comple ted the course 
despi te the chal lenges of  laggings ,  no -face interac t ions and the amount o f  assignments which 
undoubtedbly overwhelming.  Congratulat ions!  
A C A D E M I C  E N H A N C E M E N T  A N D  L E A D E R S H I P
D E V E LO P M E N T  C E N T R E  ( A D e C )
Pic left and middle :
Microcredentials @UM Workshop. 22 July 2020, Rumah Universiti
Pic right : Meeting with Faculty of Education on Microcredentials @UM


Bulletin ADeC, July, 2020

MILESTONE
@ UMV O L . 8N O . 22 0 2 0
http://umresearch.um.edu.my
N E W S L E T T E R
UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA JOIN
COVID-19 TESTING BATTLE
Recently, diagnostic laboratories at public
universities have been appointed to help the
Ministry of Health in conducting 16,500
Covid-19 tests daily.
 
Prof. Dr. Sazaly Abu Bakar, the director of
UM's Tropical Infectious Diseases Research
and Education Centre (TIDREC) in addressing
the pandemic, commented that universities
can contribute beyond diagnostic testing. 
 
TIDREC is the only national Higher Institution
Centre of Excellence for infectious diseases.
It houses the World Health Organisation’s
(WHO) Collaborating Centre for Arbovirus
Reference and Research. 
 
With extensive experience in research in
tropical    infectious   diseases,   especially   in
arthropod-borne and emerging virulent
pathogens, TIDREC can contribute in a
meaningful way to the Health Ministry.
TIDREC is equipped with the necessary
instruments, biosafety protective equipment
and the reagents, needed to carry out the
testing.  The facility is equipped to handle
highly virulent pathogens, including the
SARS-CoV-2 virus, the agent that causes
Covid-19. 
 
TIDREC has been involved in the
development of anti-viral agents for dengue,
chikungunya and Zika in collaboration with
WHO for many years. Covid-19 may be a
different virus, but all we have to do is
develop a new set of protocols,” said Prof. Dr.
Sazaly, adding that TIDREC offers to test 100
samples a day for this initiative.
https://umresearch.um.edu.my
One of the main ways medical workers get
infected with the Covid-19 virus is when they
come into close contact with infected
patients while examining and administering
breathing support machine to the patients.
 
Responding to the rising needs of doctors to
prevent infection while treating patients,
researchers from the UM Centre for
Innovation in Medical Engineering (CIME)
have taken the initiative to fabricate 54
intubation protective boxes (based on Lai's
design) produced using 3D printing
technology for our frontliners.
 
The innovative protective box named the
‘aerosol box’ was created by Lai Hsien-yung,
an anesthesiologist with the Mennonite
Christian Hospital in Hualien, Taiwan. The
invention is able to help physicians perform
endotracheal intubations safely on infected
patients as it acts as a barrier between the
doctor and infected patient.
Prof. Dr. Fatimah Ibrahim, the founder and
advisor for CIME said the boxes were given to
frontline healthcare personnel at UM Medical
Centre (UMMC). The boxes were also
delivered to hospitals in Sungai Buloh, Klang,
Shah Alam, and Melaka. 
 
CIME has been granted seed funding by the
varsity to improve on the current design by
incorporating more safety and ergonomic
features to the box. 
 
CIME has also assisted in obtaining the
Medical Device Authority (MDA) exemption to
bring in Real-time Polymerase Chain
Reaction Covid-19 test kits for non-
commercial use. The test kits will help ease
the burden of laboratories that are running
out of reagents to conduct tests. It will also
save lab technicians’ time as these kits allow
them to do tests without the hassle of having
to replicate new components for every
patient.
Page 2
SUPPORTING OUR FRONTLINERS
https://umresearch.um.edu.my
A group of researchers at UM has developed
the Covid Symptom Monitoring System
(CoSMoS) to help medical staff monitor
patients suspected of Covid-19 infection.The
system has already been used at the
Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) to
monitor individuals suspected of having
contracted Covid-19 and those in home
quarantine, and is expected to also be of use
in monitoring medical teams exposed to
Covid-19 patients.
 
CoSMoS is 100 percent produced by UM
using a public messaging engine, artificial
intelligence and web technology. It was
developed by a team of Malaysian computer
scientists at the faculty.
 
Currently, a large number of medical staff
monitor these patients by making routine
calls to them or visiting them at home.
Through the CoSMoS application, the
monitoring process will be automated and
patients can insert their daily symptoms into
CoSMoS, which would be transmitted to the
CoSMoS primary system at UMMC where
doctors can access real-time information
through dashboards.
Through this system, medical staff would
have have to make calls to only 10 percent of
patients in need of supervision, while the rest
could be monitored through CoSMoS, thus
allowing 80-90 percent of medical staff to
perform other tasks such as contact tracing
and screening.
 
CoSMoS would change the management of
patients suspected of being infected with
Covid-19 who are quarantined at home.
CoSMoS also leverages existing technology
to make it accessible to the majority of the
community,
 
Datuk Prof. Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzaman, Dean
of the Faculty of Medicine, who is also
chairman of the UMMC Covid-19 Working
Group, said CoSMoS – developed in eight
days through a collaboration with Malaysian
researchers in various countries – is still
undergoing pilot testing at UMMC but has
already received approval from the
university’s Medical Research Ethics
Committee. All patients using CoSMoS have
given their consent for their data to be used
for clinical research and monitoring
purposes. 
Page 3
COSMOS: 
UM DEVELOPS APP TO MONITOR
SUSPECTED COVID-19 PATIENTS
https://umresearch.um.edu.my
ADVISORS
Prof. Dr. Noorsaadah Abd Rahman
Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Research & Innovation)
 
Prof. Dr. Shaliza Ibrahim
Associate Vice-Chancellor
(Research & Innovation)
 
EDITORIAL TEAM
Dr. Yeun-Mun Choo
Mr. Chang Lee Wei
CONTACT
Centre for Research Services
Institute of Research Management & Services
Research Management & Innovation Complex,
University of Malaya,
50603 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA.
 
Tel: +603-79674651 / 6289 / 6942
Fax: +603-79676390
 
Email: pengarah_ppp_ippp@um.edu.my
Website: https://umresearch.um.edu.my
Page 4
PRODUCING HAND SANITISERS IN
UM LAB
A group of researchers from Centre for
Natural Products Research and Drug
Discovery (CENAR), UM and Mr. Murali Prasad
Y. Vandayar, Country Lead, The US State
Department’s Global Innovation Through
Science and Technology (GIST) Movement
collaborated to produce hand sanitiser
following the difficulty in procuring the
product in the market.
 
These hand sanitisers are produced using a
simple dilution process. Denatured
pharmaceutical grade ethanol is diluted and
added to a few other compounds. There are
several universities producing these hand
sanitisers in labs according to their
laboratory capacity. UM, for instance, can
produce up to 75 litres a day.
 
The idea is to set up a temporary hand
sanitiser production facility in the campus.
These hand sanitisers will then be
distributed to areas outside the university
and to high-risk areas near the university
such as petrol stations, drive-throughs and
restaurants.


Milestone@UM, Volume 8, Number 2, 2020

University of Malaya, Academy of Islamic Studies

Al-Tamaddun = Journal of al-Tamaddun, Volume 15, Number 1, 2020

University of Malaya, Library

Indonesian

Kekal Abadi, Jilid 38, Edisi Khas, 2020

University of Malaya, Department of History

Buletin Jabatan Sejarah, No. 9, 2020

Pulse@FASS, Issue 1, 2020

MARCH - JUNE The MCO Phase
Monthly Updates
From 18th March 2020,  s ince Movement Control  Order was imposed in Malaysia ,  the Teaching 
and Learning in Universi t i  Malaya turns 100% onl ine .
ADeC is  responsible in in i t iate the #UMTeachOnl ine campaign across the campus to help the 
lec turers and s tudents in adapt ing the new learning mode .  
Infographics on t ips and guide were shared across many platforms ,  including the new WhatsApp 
and Telegram channels ,  spesi f ical ly  for  #UMTeachOnl ine .  
ADeC also came out  wi th the o ic ia l  guidel ine on onl ine teaching and learning (version 1) .  
A l l  th is  can be found under the #UMTeachOnl ine menu in our websi te .
To help UM academician coping wi th the changes ,  ADeC held a number o f  webinars on how to do 
onl ine teaching using mul t ip le platforms such as Google Hangout Meets and Microsof t  Teams .  
The campaign is  s t i l l  ac t ively going around wi th upcoming webinars in plan as ADeC wi l l  hold 
our physical  t ra ining unt i l  fur ther not ice .  


Bulletin ADeC, March-June (The MCO Phase), 2020

University of Malaya

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