Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the world, life has slowed down and this has been described as the new normal. Despite this challenging period, the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Taiwan continues to fulfil its planned agenda to foster and strengthen collaboration with its overseas partner universities. On August 13th, NCKU Overseas Hub in Malaysia launched its facebook and hosted a forum webinar to discuss the various aspects of international research collaboration with honorable representatives from University of Malaya (UM), British Council Malaysia, Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science and Technology Center (CREST) and NCKU Alumni Association of Malaysia. 

This Hub is one of the results of NCKU’s deep commitment and unflinching support to accelerate cross-border collaboration projects, said Prof. Dr. Hsiao-Wen Wang, NCKU Vice President for International Affairs who launched the event together with Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Prof. Dr. Noorsaadah Abd. Rahman of University of Malaya (UM). 

Under the theme of “Crossing Boundaries with Impactful Research”, Prof. Dr. Noor Hayaty, Director of NCKU Overseas Hub in Malaysia, led the discussion with distinguished panelists. The forum discussed on the importance of the international collaboration, opportunities and challenges in conducting impactful research among Asian countries.

Prof. Dr. Charles Lin, NCKU’s Associate Vice President for International Affairs, shared his thoughts on why having the Overseas Hub in Malaysia is important. He said that now is the time when things such as the governmental regulation, environment and the main thinking of Malaysians change very rapidly. Thus, by having a Hub in Malaysia helps NCKU to be updated on what are the problems and important issues in Malaysia, to share their knowledge, and to help the society on how to solve the problems together using cutting edge technology.

Maithili Vasudevan from British Council Malaysia said that international collaboration is crucial to ensuring success and meaningful outcome in period such as the pandemic that we are experiencing right now. Ms. Maithili mentioned that Malaysia is very desirable as a research partner according to the Malaysian academia’s excellent track record working with universities and private research institutions. 

Dr. Nor Azmi Alias from Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science and Technology Center (CREST) shared on how CREST helps to foster collaboration between academia and industry in Malaysia. CREST started off with a roadshow to search for researchers who are willing to work and to solve specific problem for the company. CREST acts as a catalyst to get the collaboration to kick start and facilitate to co-fund the project. Now there are more than 80 companies and more than 20 universities are collaborating with CREST. The ultimate goal for CREST is to foster the collaboration and sustain the collaboration.

Prof. Dr. Saad Mekhilef, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, UM, mentioned that 25% of UM Faculty of Engineering’s publications in 2019 were co-authored with international collaboration. These international collaboration publications were shown to attract more citations, and has positively influenced the faculty’s researchers to be more open to apply for international grants. He added that transnational collaboration needs researchers to understand the culture of how their counterpart work, to put high standards on ethics, to be very professional, transparent and flexible with collaborators, and one must be ready to give and take.

At the end of the one-hour forum, the panels concurred that transnational research collaboration opens doors and facilitates access to new solutions to global challenges and problems and most importantly nurtures lasting relationships among researchers.
 

The virtual launch of NCKU Overseas Hub in Malaysia.

From left: 
Prof. Dr. Noorsaadah Abd. Rahman, Prof. Dr. Noor Hayaty, NCKU Vice President for International Affairs Prof. Dr. Wang Hsiao-Wen and NCKU Associate Vice President for International Affairs Prof. Dr. Charles Lin 
 

The presence of the Alumni Cheng Kung University of Taiwan in Malaysia (ACKUM) President Mr Nio Ban Peng, and UM Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Prof. Dr. Noorsaadah Abd. Rahman showed their commitment towards this international collaboration initiative.

From left:  
Mr Nio Ban Peng, Prof. Dr. Noorsaadah Abd. Rahman, and Prof. Dr. Noor Hayaty 
 

The forum panellists concurred that transnational collaboration not only facilitates research but foster long lasting relationship.

From above left: 
Prof. Dr. Noor Hayaty, Prof. Dr. Charles Lin, and Ms. Maithili Vasudevan 
From bottom left: Prof. Dr. Saad Mekhilef and Dr. Nor Azmi Alias 
 

The team from NCKU Overseas Hub in Malaysia. 

From left:  
Director Prof. Dr. Noor Hayaty, Vice Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ivy Chung and Commissioner Ms. Afiqah Alyaa