The University of Queensland has congratulated the winners of eight UQ awards which aim to bring bright minds from Indonesia and Australia closer together.
UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Høj, said the 2012 UQ Indonesian Partnership Awards would foster collaboration between UQ, and UQ’s Indonesian alumni and partner organisations.
“The awards recognise partnerships that have strong potential to blossom into enduring collaborations,” Professor Høj said.
“The awardees will develop opportunities for long-term UQ-Indonesia engagement in areas including human health, agriculture, sustainable energy and marine research.
“Such joint ventures in research and learning may lead to improvements in the lives of people in Indonesia and Australia, our region and our globe.”
Professor Høj said UQ’s Indonesian alumni are a highly-engaged community among a global network of more than 200,000 graduates.
UQ’s institutional partners include some of Indonesia’s best universities and research organisations, as well as government and non-government agencies.
“From an Australian perspective, our alumni and partners in Indonesia should be seen as invaluable allies in what has been dubbed ‘the Asian Century,” he said.
This year has seen a doubling of applications for the scheme with eight awardees chosen from more than 30 nominations.
Awards cover travel and living costs for reciprocal visits of up to 12 weeks. All award activities are required to be completed during 2013.
The scheme builds on a program started in 2010 as the UQ Indonesian Alumni Awards.
In June, then Vice-Chancellor Professor Debbie Terry announced the format would be expanded to encourage nominations from across UQ's Indonesian partner network.
The 2012 UQ Indonesian Partnership Award recipients are:
• Dr Ari Satyagraha from Eijkman Institute of Molecular Biology; partner, Dr Simon Worrall from UQ School of Chemistry and Molecular Biology (SCMB). Dr Satyagraha is coordinator of the proposed joint Masters of Molecular Biology program between Eijkman and the UQ SCMB. Funding is for $5000.
• Dr Asep Saefuddin from Bogor Agricultural University (IPB); partner, Professor Alastair McEwan from UQ Faculty of Science. Dr Saefuddin will visit UQ with an IPB colleague to work towards IPB-UQ partnerships. Funding: $4000.
• Mrs Martina Sinta Kristanti from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) Faculty of Medicine; partner, Associate Professor Julie Hepworth from UQ School of Nursing. Mrs Kristanti will use her UQIPA award to visit UQ to build collaboration between UQ’s Faculty of Health Sciences, UQ Centre for Primary Health Care Research, UQ School of Nursing, and the UGM Faculty of Medicine. Funding: $5000.
• Mr Agung Sugiri from Universitas Diponegoro (UNDIP) Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Engineering; partners Professor David Wadley and Dr Yan Liu from UQ School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management (GPEM). The 2012 UQIPA award will complement a co-contribution from UQ to revive and intensify the partnership with Universitas Diponegoro, first established in 2001. Funding: $5000.
• Mr Craig Froome from UQ’s Global Change Institute; partner Dr Sunit Hendrana of the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI). A focus of award activities will be to initiate collaborative research in solar energy and identify objectives for future collaboration between UQ and LIPI in the renewable energy space. Funding: $5000.
• Mr Yusuf Aziz Amrulloh from UQ’s School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE); partner, Drs Rina Triasih and Amaliya Setyati from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). This award will ensure continuation of the research program with Universitas Gadjah Mada in pneumonia screening. Funding: $4890.
• Mr Candra Samekto from UQ’s School of Agriculture and Food Science; partner organisation, the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation BAPPENAS. The award will support activities aimed at building UQ engagement in Indonesia in water and environmental management training, capacity building and research. Funding: $4650.
• Mrs Frida Sidik from UQ’s School of Biological Sciences; partner organisations, the Institute for Marine Research and Observation, Bali, and the Agency for Marine and Fishery Research, Jakarta. This award will enhance the understanding of wetland adaptation to climate change, which is focused on study of “blue” carbon and coastal adaptation to rising sea level rise in Indonesia. Funding: $5000.
A list of 2012 UQ Indonesian Partnership Award (UQIPA) recipients and their activity descriptions can be downloaded here.
More information about the award can be found here 2012 UQ Indonesian Partnership Award or UQIPA Flyer (201kb).
