Building the ideal research eco-system

-Koh Eng Beng

RESEARCH STRATEGIST: Prof Seeram looks forward to building peaks of excellence in NUS.

“I see my new role as a match-maker to match our researchers’ interests with opportunities in Singapore and around the world,” said Prof Seeram. “For researchers to excel, they need resources, funding, infrastructure, and conducive research and innovation policies and initiatives so that they can pursue the kind of research questions they want to.”

Prof Seeram is a recipient of several awards and honours including Lee Kuan Yew Fellowship, NUS Outstanding University Researcher Award and the ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Award. He is also a leader in the global engineering community, serving as the Vice-President of the International Federation of Engineering Educators Societies and Chair of Global Engineering Deans Council, just to name a few. The former Engineering Dean was also instrumental in increasing exernal research funding by several folds, and drawing corporate
R & D labs into the Faculty.

For a start, Prof Seeram will be looking to raise the overall quality and impact of research across all disciplines, before identifying niche areas to build peaks of excellence. To do that, he will continue to engage in research work in the laboratory – to better understand the evolving challenges on the ground.

“The research eco-system is always changing, if I do not walk the talk, how am I going to convince sponsors to pump in more resources to support our colleagues’ research?” he asked.

His laboratory, for instance, is now developing next-generation solar energy harvesting materials in response to the world’s growing demand for energy and society’s need for cleaner technologies.

“Always keep your curiosity alive!” he said.

Law students show their prowess

They beat 23 international teams to clinch first position at the highly prestigious Oxford Intellectual Property Moot Competition recently. The NUS team, comprising 4th-year law undergrads Liu Zeming and Nuraisah Rusian, faced strong opposition from teams hailing from Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka – finally overcoming the University of British Columbia to emerge champions. Their achievement was highlighted by the chief judge at the competition, Lord Justice Mummery, who is senior Lord Justice of Her Majesty’s Courts Service under the Ministry of Justice in the UK. The competition was organised by the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre.

TRIUMPHANT AT OXFORD: The champs of Oxford International Intellectual Property Mooting Competition – Liu Zeming (left) and Nuraisah Rusian (right) with mentor, Assoc Prof Eleanor Wong (centre).

NUS Faculty of Law teams have proven their ability to keep their nose above water – even amid stiff competition. Undergrads Chan Yong Wei and Lim Ching Wen emerged champions at the 6th Hong Kong Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot. This is the second time NUS won this competition which aims to raise awareness of international humanitarian issues among law students.

Team comprising Joel Chen, Edward Ti, Zhuo Wenzhao and Christine Huang also did their Faculty proud when they won the international mooting competition at the Asian Law Students’ International Conference (ALSIC) 2008 in Kuala Lumpur recently.