Sunway City, Malaysia: Sunway University, one of Malaysia’s leading private universities with a 5-Star (Excellent) rating in the Emerging University category in SETARA 2017 by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, and ranked by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) Asia University Rankings 2018 in the top 2.5% of universities in Asia, now has within its portfolio nine research centres pursuing research across various fields of study.
The more visible of the nine research centres are the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development (JSC) and the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia (JCI). The JSC having received a USD10 million gift from the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation spearheads activities on sustainable development in Southeast Asia, while the JCI acts as the public policy think tank for Southeast Asia and regularly holds seminars and talks on a range of diverse subject matters.
Helping to shape the landscape for the research centres in the School of Science and Technology at Sunway University, under the helm of its Provost, Professor Peter Heard, are three distinguished professors.
The Research Centre for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Utilisation has on board Professor Mohamed Kheireddine Aroua to focus on water security, energy security, and environment and climate change research. In line with the JSC and Sunway’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), Professor Kheireddine and his team helped develop a solar powered self-cleaning mobile Ultrafiltration (UF) system. This innovative self-cleaning system was used during the recent severe floods in the states of Kelantan, Sarawak and Perak to treat flood and river water to produce clean water for the flood victims. This UF system won Professor Kheireddine the 2016 University of Malaya’s award for outstanding achievement in community engagement. The former Deputy Dean at the Institute of Graduate Studies at University of Malaya joined Sunway University in 2017.
With nanomaterials being the cornerstones of nanoscience and nanotechnology, Sunway University has established the Research Centre for Nano-Materials and Energy Technology which is headed by Professor Saidur Rahman. Recognised as in the top 1% researchers for most cited documents in his research field of nanofluids from 2014 to 2017, Professor Saidur worked for 18 years in University of Malaya prior to joining Sunway University in 2016. Having secured and managed more than RM10 million in research grants, he is currently working on improving the performance of solar thermal systems with the application of nanofluids and Phase Change Materials.
The Centre for Crystalline Materials welcomed Director of the Centre, Professor Edward Tiekink in December 2015. Bringing with him a wealth of knowledge in inorganic chemistry in the fields of solid-state Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry, Professor Tiekink was formerly a Professor in the Department of Chemistry in University of Malaya in November 2009.
“We are honoured to have Professor Kheireddine, Professor Saidur and Professor Tiekink at Sunway University. The University is currently investing and moving towards being more research oriented. With Sunway being committed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, many of our researchers are working on areas that will contribute to the goals. I’m sure they would be open to collaborate with researchers around the world to discover new breakthroughs in science and the environment,” said Professor Graeme Wilkinson, Vice-Chancellor of Sunway University.
As the School of Science and Technology continues its pursuit of excellence, Sunway University continues to move forward in its aim to become the country’s international education hub. By collaborating with world-class institutions such as Lancaster University and Le Cordon Bleu International plus the development of academic collaborations with University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and Harvard University, Sunway University is working on forging a sustainable scientifically and technologically driven future for Southeast Asia.
