KANGAR: Research is the corner-stone of a university’s excellence and achievements, often leading to new discoveries which can enhance the quality of life.
Through research, universities can also enhance the quality of their learning and teaching.
Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Uda Hashim said there were two elements to be derived from quality research, namely the output and outcome.
“In the past, we didn’t think about the impact, but instead universities focused on output, consisting of three main areas, namely research publications, students, especially post-graduate students, and new knowledge,” he said.
“However, we now prioritise the impact or success of the research produced that will benefit society and the community at large,” said Uda, the recipient of the Malaysia Research and Innovation Excellence (Science & Applied Science) Award for the Research & Innovation Excellence (Researcher) (Clarivate Analytics) category at the Journal Creme Recognition 2019 and the Malaysia Research Star Awards 2019 recently.
He added that UniMAP possesed quality academic staff who have successfully produced high-impact publications. A total of 421 research papers have been published in a short period of two to three months, and all faculty members were keen to implement research initiatives.
Uda said the focus was on lecturers and academics to continue producing high-quality research publications in a positive manner.
“UniMAP is beginning to shift its focus from quantity to quality publishing. To this end, incentives will be provided to lecturers who succeed in publishing publications in high-impact journals such as Nature and others.
“Most importantly, I want to prevent lecturers from doing research for self gratification, but rather, every research must be impactful and involve the industry and the community,” added Uda.
“To engage the industry and the community, we need to identify issues related to the industry and the community itself. Research must start with real problems. Whatever the problem, we will turn it into research and eventually find the solution.”
Uda said one of the difficulties faced by universities was the commercialisation of research results.
“It is often heard from the industry that they are not well versed or aware of what the university produces. Unlike researchers, who say a lot of output can be highlighted, but they do not know which industry is interested in their output. They also feel that they do not need to meet with industry players to pitch or share ideas,” he said.
As such, UniMAP has taken a different approach, to collaborate with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) to organise the Innovation Pitch and Business Meeting (IPBM) 2019 programme in June to match industry and researchers to present and share their ideas.
“This pilot project was successful and we hope to organise the same programme next year on a larger scale to provide a platform for all industry players and lecturers. Our goal is to find university researchers and industry partners through this innovation pitching programme,” he added.
Uda said UniMAP also offered matching grant incentives to researchers and industry to carry out research projects that contributed to the discovery of innovative and high-impact ideas leading to commercialisation activities. The cost to implement the new project would be shared by both industry and university.
Projects must ideally be implemented between one and a half years.
“We invite the industry to collaborate and in addition to exploring the problems facing the industry, we will help find a way to resolve it. All of these are intended to bridge the gap between university and industry. This also coincides with our tagline, ‘University and Industry are One’.”
In addition, UniMAP also established a Centre of Technology, which consists of industrial laboratories. So far, there are 10 industry laboratories in UniMAP and this number is expected to increase.