Encouraging students to embed research into practice and disseminate the
findings/outputs of their work has always been my personal pursuit long before
the project was given a name. The pursuit itself started way back in 2007 when
13 curious yet motivated students rose to the challenge and responded to my
call to bring their work into the scholarly and public domains. The results? Three
papers were presented at two international conferences.
I continued this pursuit post-PhD,
and in 2013, three groups of students presented their research papers at
UMRAN 2013: Vision and Methods towards Sustainable Built Environment and
Liveable Communities - Undergraduate and Postgraduate Seminar organised by the
Department of Landscape Architecture, Kulliyyah of Architecture and
Environmental Design (KAED), IIUM. One of the groups went on to win the Best
Paper award at the event. This is a notable achievement considering that the
paper was not only judged relative to other undergraduate student’s projects,
but it also competed against other postgraduate research papers, including those of PhD and Master’s students from KAED and other local institutions.
In 2014, I decided that it’s time
to notch it up a gear - and having enthusiastic students who are willing to learn and
put in their best effort gave me that extra motivation to try something new.
So, that year, I shipped two students to Taipei, Taiwan to participate in the
International Conference on Education, Psychology, and Social Sciences (ICEPS) 2014. And, the same group also presented another paper at the 11th International Postgraduate Research Colloquium 2014.
The full texts of these papers are available here.
The shift in focus from research to innovation in 2015 provides opportunities for me to be even more adventurous and go beyond the conventional research dissemination. Consequently, the NextGenPsyc project was formally launched in 2016 as part of PSYC 4520 Environmental Psychology course that I taught. As these students will become the next generation of psychology scientists and practitioners, I want them to push themselves beyond boundaries and perspectives. Innovative students are our best hope for solving some of the world’s most pressing psychological and environmental problems. In this project, students are given the opportunity to turn ideas on psychology and environmental innovation into actions and gained hands-on innovation experience. They learned all the stages of the process, starting with the problem statement, kick-off, ideation, and preparation of concept notes up to buildathon and elevator pitch presentation where they pitched their ideas to a panel of judges that included me and a few colleagues.
It was a great experience for all
of us and even boosted our confidence to try at the national level. Three
groups then entered the Alliance Bank Eco-Biz Dream Project 2016 organised by
Allianz Bank, and one of the groups was shortlisted as Top 24 in the competition.
Although we did not make the Top 10 list, these students gained the skills and
confidence to start their own innovation expedition and expand their network of
contacts.
I continued the NextGenPsyc project
in the subsequent semester with PSYC 4500 Engineering Psychology students. The
theme now was safety interventions/innovations. Following the same format as in
the previous semester, 13 groups came up with various ideas ranging from self
and child safety to motorcycle and escalator safety. Some projects fell a bit
short of my expectations. Still, considering the efforts made, all students
have displayed a good skill in handling comments and questions from the curious
audience. More importantly, they have experienced first-hand a more in-depth
understanding of the entire research-innovation process – something that is not conventional in psychological coursework and
curricula.
2017 marked the start of compulsory
PSYC 4994 Final Year Project for our undergraduate programme, with eight
students were assigned to my supervision. Two braved themselves to participate and
present in international conferences. The first presented at the 5th ScientificConference on Occupational Safety and Health (SciCOSH2018) organised by NIOSH,
Malaysia, and the paper was subsequently published in Journal of Occupational
Safety and Health (JOSH) in 2019. The second presented at the 2nd Conference ofASEAN Road Safety 2018 (CARS 2018) organised by the Malaysian Institute of Road
Safety Research (MIROS). This paper, which explores the changing nature of
ride-hailing services and compares safety perceptions, attitudes, and
behaviours among drivers in traditional taxi services and e-hailing
applications, went on to win the conference’s Best Paper Award.
More
than 80 papers were presented by both local and international presenters
(researcher, practitioners, governmental, and NGOs) at the conference, and the student received
the award from Director-General of MIROS, Dr. Siti Zaharah Ishak, at the Gala
Dinner, which was officiated by the Minister Transport Malaysia.
Through all these endevours, both students and I learned the many aspects of the rigorous review procedure, how to craft an elevator pitch, and developed our scholarly skills further. I am proud of their efforts and achievements. Hopefully, I have the strength and ability to continue this project in the future.
N.B.: These are all undergraduate projects. How about the postgraduates? That will be another post.
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