Prepared by: AP Dr. Alice Sabrina Ismail (Director Architecture program)
The International Joint PhD Colloquium was an online intellectual discourse forum where postgraduate students showcase their research in design-related discipline across national cultures and borders. This event was conducted on the 27th May 2021 and attended by more than 100 participants from the UK, Malaysia, India and Indonesia Architecture Schools.
Six prominent panellists that had represented the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Architecture school were Prof. Dr. Ahmad Syed Ahmad Iskandar, Dr. Sharifah Salwa Syed Madzhar, Dr. Aiman Mohd Rashid, AP Dr. Alice Sabrina Ismail, Dr. Roshida Abdul Majid and AP Dr. Lim Yaik Wah. They are also the principal and co-supervisors to the five involved PhD UTM students, Mohd Hanif Masridin, Ezad Abu Bakar, Intan Liana Samsudin, Amirul Hakim Jamil and Moses Iorakaa Ayoosu.
There were also six panellists from De Montfort University (DMU) such as Prof. Ahmed Taki, Dr. Jamileh Manoochehri, Dr. Adriana Laura Massidda, Dr. Yuri Abdul Hadi, Dr. Luis Fernando Zapata Montalvo, and Dr. Beniamino Polimeni. Their five involved PhD DMU students were Zainab Mohammed, Tunmise Ayodele, Bilal Alsheglawi, Shafiaa Saad Alghamdi and Enoch Odesola.
This session was moderated by Dr. Iziq Eafifi Ismail and Dr. Muhammad Faizal Abdul Rani from UTM. This joint international PhD Colloquium had provided a platform for researchers from two different continents to share valuable findings on many aspects of the built environment ranging from the history theory and criticism, sustainable technologists, urban development, and housing as well as design education, allowing for a richer exchange of knowledge and expertise.
It was an opportunity for both supervisors and students to enrich their knowledge with the current built environment trends and strengthen bilateral ties between universities for more academic and non-academic collaborations. This kind of collaboration will contribute endlessly to academic and scientific progress for both universities.
Prof. Datuk Ts. Dr. Ahmad Fauzi bin Ismail
Vice Chancellor, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
Keynote Speakers:
Real Estate
Speaker Name : Sr Hj Ishak bin Ismail
Title : Profession, Issues and Challenges
Urban and Regional Planning
Speaker Name : TPr Dr. Alias bin Rameli
Title : Evaluating and Monitoring Sustainability of Malaysian
Cities Through Portal MURNInets 2.0
Quantity Surveying
Speaker Name : Sr Amran bin Mohd. Majid
Title : Effects of Covid-19 and Extension of Time in Construction
Contracts
Landscape Architecture
Speaker Name : Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nor Zalina Harun
Title : Informing Social Sustainability Through Public Spaces
Geoinformation
Speaker Name : Sr Sohaime bin Hj. Rasidi
Title : JUPEM Towards a More Sustainable Geomatics
Architecture
Speaker Name : Prof. Dr. Arc. Barr. Zanzan Akaka
Title: Reconfiguring the Traditional Settlement Pattern for
Sustainable Growth and Development: The Tiv Settlement
in Perspective
The program of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying (FABU) had been part of the Online Global Classroom (OGC) initiatives by UTM International on 23rd December 2020. FABU had invited Tokyo Metropolitan University, UUM, and FRIM as the organizer of the OGC.
The OGC had organised a talk entitled “Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism Management in Realisation of Geospatial approach” by two invited speakers, Dr. Huda Farhana Mohamad Muslim from Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) and Dr. Muna Maryam Azmy from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM).
The talk was participated by 110 persons involving students and staff from Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The talk had focused on the utilization of a geospatial approach in improving nature tourism specifically due to the impact of pandemic COVID-19.
In the talk, Dr. Muna Maryam highlighted the current situation of tourism management generally in Malaysia during the pandemic. Meanwhile, Dr. Noordyana from FABU emphasised geospatial practice to improve nature tourism management during the pandemic.
During Questions and Answers session
According to the geospatial framework presented by Dr. Noordyana, community services would be one of the approaches to educating the community regarding the use of the geospatial approach. Thus, Dr. Huda Farhana delivered the example of community services that she has experienced. The participants had participated actively during the Questions and Answers session before ending the OGC.
On 30th December 2020, the Program of Urban and Regional Planning from Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) had organized and hosted an Online Global Classroom (OGC) which was co-hosted by Universitas Riau Kepualauan (UNRIKA} Indonesia. The OGC had brought a theme of “Environmental Planning and Conservation: Experience of Malaysia and Indonesia” together with two honourable speakers who were delighted to share their inputs.
The first speaker was Dr. Alpano Priyandes from UNRIKA and Prof. Dr. M Rafee from UTM. This OGC was aired through the Webex Cisco platform and moderated by Dr. AK Mohd Rafiq AK Matusin of UTM. Within two hours, there were approximately 170 inbound and outbound participants from other local universities such as Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and international universities such as Universitas Batam (Indonesia), Universitas Trisakti (Indonesia), and Rakuno Gakuen Universiti (Japan).
The OGC began with the sharing input from Dr. Alpano Priyandes of UNRIKA titled “Environmental Carrying Capacity and Industrial Development in the Island City of Batam”. Dr. Alpano had started his sharing by introducing Batam Island to the audience. The main topic of his sharing was the discussion on the current development of Batam Island Indonesia particularly in the perspective of carrying capacity. Dr. Alpano also had described the challenges of Batam Island people in getting sufficient clean water due to water shortage issues and infrastructure limitations.
Most importantly, the carrying capacity issue of Batam’s natural resources is exacerbated by the immigration of Indonesian people into the island year by year which has caused the increasing demand for clean water in Batam Island. This has made the local authority to control and limit the amount of water supply per day to the household and commercial users. Therefore, Dr. Alpano and his team have come out with some potential projects to increase the supply-demand of clean water in Batam Island sustainably.
The OGC input sharing session was then continued with the presentation by Prof. Dr. M Rafee titled “Community Participation for Environmental Conservation: Citizen Science Spurred on by Mobile Apps”. He had focused more on the trending of scientific data collection medium especially through mobile apps which can be used by scientific communities around the world. The trending had shown how the changes of technology improved and created a new scientific culture that is able to improve upon triple interaction between science, society, and policy in the dual pursuit of more democratic research and decision-making.
Prof. Dr. Rafee also had shared one of his current projects, “My Citizen Science Project Using iNaturalist” where UTM was part of the project site. He explained that iNaturalist basically established an online database of the campus’ flora and fauna for research and Teaching and Learning (T&L) purposes. The app will be able to turn the photos that were taken (flora and fauna) from the user into data. Thus, the scientist citizens would be able to store their observation collection into iNaturalist. Importantly, the iNaturalist is useful for biodiversity conservation, educational, awareness, and edutourism activities. The OGC was concluded with an active question and answer among participants and speakers.
15 September 2020 – Workshop on 3D Laser Scanning was held at Convention Hall, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying. Research members from Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu and Universiti Teknologi Mara were participated in this workshop to gain knowledge of 3D laser scanning historical artifacts. This one-day workshop was beneficial to the participants in the collaborative research grant, 3D Reconstruction of Historical Fragments Using Advanced Mathematical Approach.
17 Februari 2020 – Program Akreditasi Pertengahan Penggal Program Sarjana Muda Perancangan Bandar & Wilayah Fakulti Alam Bina dan Ukur, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
