Seven UMS researchers receive RM5.75 million PACD research grant

Seven researchers from University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) yesterday received a RM5.75 million grant to carry out research in greenrelated fields.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the research grant, provided under the PetronasAcademia Collaboration Dialogue (PACD) Awards, was to carry out research on clean energy storage systems, bio-energy development, efficient hydrogen generation, as well as operational efficiency through data science and artificial intelligence.

Hajiji lauded Petronas’ green energy and human capital development initiatives which would complement Sabah’s priority in these sectors.

“This will benefit Sabah’s quest to explore and promote sustainable solutions in energyrelated fields that align with global sustainability goals.

“This is where industries are moving towards globally, and the state government wants to ensure this is also adopted locally,” he said in a statement.

Earlier, Hajiji witnessed the presentation of the research grant and the signing of a memorandum of agreement between Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) and University College Sabah Foundation (UCSF), the sole state-owned institution of higher learning. The seven researchers, Assoc Prof Dr Mailin Misson, Dr Mohd Azlan Ismail, Dr Zarina Amin, Dr Ng Chi Huey, Dr Nazrien Adrian Amaludin, Dr Goh Poh Wah, and Dr Ervin Gubin Moung received the grant from Malaysia Petroleum Management senior vice-president Datuk Bacho Pilong.

The agreement was signed by UTP vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Mutalib and UCSF vicechancellor Dr Rafiq Idris.

On the collaboration between UTP and UCSF, the chief minister said it was an excellent human capital development initiative to give top Sabah Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) achievers not only education and training opportunities but also to develop a skilled labour force.

Under the agreement, UTP and UCSF would be offering the UCSF-UTP Foundation Programme, a one-year foundation programme based on the UTP Foundation curriculum structure for SPM top achievers from Sabah to undergo foundation studies at UCSF.

Upon completion of the one-year programme at UCSF, students will have the opportunity to pursue their bachelor’s degree in science and engineering programmes at the UTP campus in Perak.