UTS inks MoUs with Swedish varsity, SDI
SIBU: University of Technology Sarawak (UTS) signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with Malmo University, Sweden to research climate change and Sarawak Development Institute (SDI) for cultural heritage mapping.
The signing ceremony was held at UTS on Thursday as part of the international Participatory Design Conference (PDC Malaysia) 2022.
UTS vice-chancellor Datuk Dr Khairuddin Ab Hamid signed the MoUs with Malmo University’s associate senior lecturer Dr Lizette Reitsma, and SDI chief executive officer Lella Sim.
The MoU with Malmo University aims to increase cooperation in undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate exchange, staff and researcher mobility, cooperative research and project development, online course development, PhD teaching/supervision, joint academic seminars, conferences, summer schools, field trips and internships.
The partnership has recently won a competitive grant from Crafoord Foundation to establish indigenous climate observatories in Lesotho, Eswatini and Sarawak, to support indigenous communities in tracking local climate changes affecting their livelihood and using data to make decisions about their future and adapt to local climate change.
The partnership with SDI is to develop a digital platform Crowdsourced Heritage Automation Mapping Platform for Sarawak, or CHAMPS.
To be developed by UTS, CHAMPS is an interactive map of Kuching Division which displays entries pegged to geographical locations.
It has the ability to display a variety of interesting data including pictures, videos, significant dates, historical/ background information and others.
Geographical coverage of this project will include both urban and rural areas.
Entries into the CHAMPS platform will be sourced from a variety of parties, including ethnic associations, arts and cultural groups, academics, artisans, tourism industry players, religious bodies, and the public.
Outcomes of this project will be useful in the areas of tourism such as heritage trail mapping, education, research, heritage preservation and the government.