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Month: January 2024

Peeling the Benefits: USU Professor Works on Shrimp Shells for External Care Products

Posted on by Editorial Team

Shrimp shells are often considered waste, but in the hands of Harry Agusnar, shrimp shells can be processed into chitosan compounds with many practical applications.

Professor Dr. Harry Agusnar, MSc, M.Phil, of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), was interested in researching and processing chitosan waste since 1987 when he pursued his master’s degree at the National University of Malaysia. While researching aromatic chemicals, he found that chitosan has medicinal potential for human use.

He worked with aromatic chemical compounds to separate compounds from C6 – C10 with chitosan from shrimp shells as the main ingredient. He came up with hand body lotion, hand sanitizer, paper soap, and recently, a chitosan face serum with anti-aging claims.

Initially, Harry’s family was skeptical about the potential of shrimp shells, but after application, the researched products caught their attention.

According to Harry, the process of producing chitosan is relatively simple. He started by deshelling shrimps and then drying or soaking the fresh shells in alkaline water to eliminate the odor. The shells are not cooked or boiled because these can damage the compounds.

Harry has received positive responses for his products, which were widely used by university staff working offline during the COVID-19 pandemic, among them the Kitosan Hand Sanitizer and Chitosan Paper Soap products and his breakthrough alcohol-free chitosan-based hand sanitizer.

At the moment, Harry is excited to seek a distribution company so his products can be sold to the public. He is also working on a set of haircare products made from chitosan: hair tonic, shampoo, and conditioner, in addition to a chitosan fiber/yarn.

He hopes that his products, labeled with USU branding, can popularize the university as a hub of scientific creativity, offering a wide range of accessible, affordable care products to the public and emphasizing the university’s contribution to industry in society’s awareness.

EdUHK establishes research network with IOE of UCL

Posted on by eduhk

The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) announced the establishment of a new collaborative research network with the Institute of Education (IOE), University College London (UCL) – an institution which has been recognised as the top-ranked institution in the discipline of Education & Training by the QS World University Rankings every year since 2014.

With the aim of fostering intellectual dialogue and promoting innovative research on critical issues in education, the network will leverage the unique strengths and expertise of both universities to advance theoretical understanding and practical applications in various fields, particularly in language and education.

Under the new network, a wide range of research topics will be explored, including intercultural communication, translanguaging, family language policy, language and identity, well-being, technology-assisted/digital learning and teaching, and teacher education. The network will provide an inclusive platform for researchers, education practitioners, policy makers, and research students to engage in critical discourse, generate new knowledge, and contribute to the advancement of global education.

The team from IOE, UCL will be co-led by Professor John O\’Regan, Professor of Critical Applied Linguistics and Vice-Dean (International). The team from EdUHK will be co-led by Dean of Graduate School Professor Michelle Gu Mingyue and President Professor John Lee Chi-Kin. Serving as advisers will be experts and scholars from both universities, including Professor Angel Lin Mei-yi, Chair Professor of Language, Literacy, and Social Semiotics in Education from EdUHK.

Professor John Lee said, “I firmly believe that this collaboration will not only enrich the academic communities of both universities, but also have a profound impact on education research and practices worldwide.”

USU Holds Batik Jumputan Workshop for Empowering Women

Posted on by Maryam Mazaya

Batik is an Indonesian cultural heritage confirmed by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on October 2, 2019. Previously, then Government of Indonesia issued Presidential Decree No. 3 of 2009, designating October 2 as National Batik Day to increase public awareness of efforts to protect and develop Indonesian batik.

As a cultural heritage, batik has undergone a centuries-long process and has become deeply ingrained in the culture spread throughout Indonesia. Each region in Indonesia boasts its distinctive batik characteristics with beautiful symbols. One type of batik is jumputan batik, often referred to as batik ikat. This batik originated in Jogjakarta, Solo, Palembang, Kalimantan, Bali, and Sulawesi, each showcasing distinct characteristics according to their respective local areas.

To further the growth of jumputan batik, especially in North Sumatra, Universitas Sumatra Utara (USU) is committed to developing jumputan batik, making it known to the community, and preserving it as a valuable heritage for humankind. With such aspirations, several lecturers from Universitas Sumatera Utara took the initiative to engage in community service with the theme of batik jumputan.

A lecturer from this university, consisting of faculty members from the Communication Science, Sociology, and Public Health study programs, actively participates in conducting jumputan batik workshops for women affiliated with the Mutiara Langit Biru Creative House in Medan. This program was carried out on September 23, 2023, as part of celebrating National Batik Day.

Women, who have been traditionally associated with homemaking, are empowered to become creative and efficient while preserving the tradition of jumputan batik.

“Mothers and teenagers recruited for training will acquire the skills to produce jumputan batik, which can be used to supplement the family income,” stated Mazdalifah, a USU lecturer and service team member.

The workshop focused on the ikat technique to create batik using marbles and beads in the tying and dipping methods. Participants crafted their batik motifs by hand, eschewing the use of machines, resulting in unique handmade motifs for each batik produced.

“At present, sourcing materials for batik presents a challenge. We acquire all materials from outside Medan, specifically from Pekalongan, Jogja, and Solo. However, with online sales, these materials are now more accessible,” commented Linda Elida, USU lecturer and Activity Coordinator.

The workshop provided foundational training in essential competencies, as batik-making entails complexity. Participants were still in the learning phase, acquiring skills in creating motifs by tying and understanding the entire process from motif creation, tying, mordanting, coloring, and drying.

Linda Elida, the activity’s coordinator, mentioned plans to organize participants intorncooperative business units. These cooperatives will serve as forums for participants to continue honing their skills and purchasing raw materials for batik-making. Furthermore, the cooperatives will assist those needing business capital, as participants must invest in this skill to generate income.

Upon completing the training, participants took home the batik cloth they had created during the sessions. This activity was intended to instill pride in their work. USU will continue to encourage activities that preserve Indonesian culture while supporting the community’s income, particularly women’s.

#FISIPUSU #USU #UniversitasSumateraUtara #CommunicationScienceUSU #SociologyUSU #PublicHealthUSU

Diamond-drilling tool laboratory opens at Satbayev University

Posted on by Satbayev University

“Diamond Drilling Tool” scientific and production laboratory has been opened at Satbayev University, opened on the initiative and under the scientific supervision of Doctor of technical sciences, professor, academician Boranbai Ratov.

The first tests of the new equipment were carried out at Karsakpai field, where Kanysh Satbayev lived and worked. The equipment for the copper smelter at this deposit was brought from England, from Germany, from the Singer factories and has been preserved to this day. It was at this enterprise that new equipment was tested, which showed very high results and high efficiency when drilling the deep wells. The creators of crowns expect that they will bear fruit in the form of fast drilling, high-quality drilling, saving time and money.

Creating the drilling tools is a complex process that unites industries such as metallurgy and mechanical engineering. Scientists use special equipment to process materials without human intervention. They are also studying the various technologies and alloys to improve the quality of future drill bits.

This is an actual elaboration aimed at changing the situation on the global market of drilling tools and creating domestic analogues for expensive foreign developments. The opening of the laboratory will accelerate the commissioning of abrasive deposits and strengthen the mineral resource base of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Making sustainability a part of university ethos

Posted on by Niamh Ollerton

We are in the middle of a global climate emergency. And although this is a harrowing thought, today, there are innovators, forward-thinkers and activists in universities and business schools using their skills to put in place effective initiatives and strategies to move towards a more sustainable world.

In 2019, more than 7,000 higher and further education institutions from six continents announced that they were declaring a Climate Emergency and agreed to undertake a three-point plan to address the crisis through their work with students.

The three-point plan included committing to going carbon neutral by 2030 or 2050 at the very latest, mobilising more resources for action-oriented climate change research and skills creation and increasing the delivery of environmental and sustainability education across curricula, campus and community outreach programmes.

Higher education institutions making sustainable waves

Kenya’s Strathmore University runs on clean energy and has set up its own 600-kilowatt photovoltaic grid tie system; Tongji University in China has significantly invested in delivering a sustainability education curriculum and encourages other education institutions to do the same; the University of California committed to the system-wide goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2025, while others US universities, such as the American University and Colgate University achieved carbon neutrality by 2019.

The University of Strathclyde now has its first operationally carbon neutral building, The National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland HQ, which is heated by a new low-carbon, renewable and circular district energy network. As the first network of its kind in Scotland, the University of Strathclyde hopes to inspire others to adopt this technology.

Heriot-Watt University (HWU) is currently developing a Net Zero Community Hub, designed as a physical and virtual hub of inspiration, information and innovation to engage and equip communities with the skills and knowledge required to tackle the challenge of reaching Net Zero.

Charlotte Bonner, a Director for Students Organising for Sustainability noted the importance of the plan in 2019: “Young people around the world feel that schools, colleges and universities have been too slow to react to the crisis that is now bearing down on us. We have no time to lose. We will be calling on those who haven’t yet supported this initiative, to come on board. Of course, the most important element is the action that follows.”

And it is the actions of universities and business schools incorporating green and net zero policies that QS Insights Magazine would like to focus on.

Federico Frattini, Dean of POLIMI Graduate School of Management believes that to create sustainable, impactful organisations, HEIs need to start from building a more conscious and meaningful style to lead organisations. “We need to switch from the idea that businesses are such a technical system designed to maximise some measurable objectives, to a view of organisations as expressive systems where their inner meaning is to give sense to the work of people,” says Frattini.

“Through these sense-making activities, we create energy, engagement, commitment, positive emotions. That is what can unleash the achievement of higher, more expansive purposes,” he adds.

Professor Chirantan Chatterjee, Professor of Economics of Innovation and Global Health (SPRU – Science Policy Research Unit) at the University of Sussex Business School says: “Charity, they say, begins at home, so does net-zero consciousness in HEIs.

“Our research on transitions, adaptation costs, innovation and behavioural responses integrated into the teaching curriculum will be fundamental into living greener lives by our children tomorrow.”

Dr Adrian Ely, Reader in Technology and Sustainability (SPRU – Science Policy Research Unit) at the University of Sussex Business School adds: “Social responsibility, ethical practice and sustainability are at the heart of the Business School. We are a school that cares about improving outcomes for business and other organisations for the benefit of society.

“Our school is a member of the United Nations Global Compact which means we are part of a network of companies across the world who work towards the Global Compact’s vision of creating ’a sustainable and inclusive global economy that delivers lasting benefits to people, communities and markets.’”

As part of the UN Global Compact membership, Sussex signed up to the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative. As a member institution, Sussex incorporates global social responsibility and sustainability values into their teaching and research, working closely with organisations to understand the challenges faced, encouraging debate and innovation to improve policy and practice relating to these issues.

The importance of partnerships in sustainability

Swansea University’s SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC), in collaboration with partners including Tata Steel, is pioneering Active Buildings® which generate, store and release their own solar energy. This includes the Active Classroom®, which was developed in 2016 as the UK’s first energy positive classroom.

Sussex Business School’s Science Policy Research Unit recently partnered with Seoul National University to deliver a tailored Sustainability and Innovation summer programme in collaboration with local sustainable businesses. But why is this important to both partners?

Chatterjee says that South Korea is an “ideal exemplar of Industrial Revolution 4.0 to 5.0 transitions” while keeping in mind sustainability concerns.

“Seoul National University is among the top 30 in the world. Their interdisciplinary cohort of students from across departments brought curiosity into this programme. SPRU has a long history of working with South Korea and being involved with its national innovation and economic development journey.”

POLIMI Graduate School of Management has announced a partnership with the Green Future Project to finance high-impact sustainable projects with the objective to mitigate part of the “carbon footprint” generated by its employees over the course of a year.

“Green Future Project offers the opportunity to finance the regeneration and conservation of natural reserves, the development of renewable energy plants and the regeneration of marine habitats to companies that want to engage in concrete sustainability actions,” says Frattini.

“Sharing common sustainability objectives is what convinced us to collaborate with the Green Future Project. Through this partnership, the school will support the regeneration of the degraded mangrove forest in Marovolavo in Madagascar, the planting of native tree species, the production of clean energy generated by the Tamil Nadu wind farm located in India and forest protection of the Canadé reserve in Ecuador, one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the world,” Frattini adds.

In fact, POLIMI was recently awarded ‘The B Corp Certification’ accolade, making it the first Italian and only European business school to be accredited, demonstrating the business school’s positive impact performance for workers, communities, customers, suppliers and the environment.

“The decision to go through the process was to really test ourselves as a sustainable organisation. We are trying to establish a serious commitment in being authentically a sustainable organisation, authentic in teaching sustainability or teaching impact,” Frattini adds.

Frattini believes business schools and universities cannot teach sustainability if they do not put it into practice themselves, and one of the main reasons POLIMI wanted to aim for B Corp Certification, Frattini says, is because they understand the role that every company will play in building a better tomorrow for everyone.

He says: “Every single business will need to rethink its purpose, putting front and centre the role that it wants to hold in society. And of course, this is even more relevant for us as a school, because we can directly inspire people from different companies to join forces with us on this journey.”

Read more articles like this from QS Insights Magazine, Issue 11.

KATRU students have “Afternoon Tea” with British Ambassador

Posted on by Muhammad Sheraz

The joy of having British tea, British cookies, and British cheese in Astana…!

“It is so amazing to have British tea, British cookies, British cheese in Astana, and that too with the British ambassador at her home. It was like a dream come true,” said Danil Akramov, a third-year student at the Faculty of Economics of the Kazakh Agrotechnical Research University (KATRU) in Astana.

Danil was among the 21 KATRU students invited to the residence of the British Ambassador to Kazakhstan for “Afternoon Tea with the Ambassador”.

Ambassador Kathy Leach invited the participants of a unique event:

“Kazakhstan Student Dialogue: Nurturing SDG Solutions” which was held at KATRU on Tuesday, 28 November with the support of the British Embassy the UNDP, and the FAO.

On Wednesday, December 13, the Ambassador invited the student participants of the event to her residence for ‘Afternoon Tea”. The student loved the invite. They reached the Ambassador’s apartment located on the 30th floor of a newly built building in one of Astana city’s modern districts.

Students used the opportunity to take pictures and film the city from the balcony of the ambassador’s apartment. Ambassador Leach who speaks fluent Russian talked to each student. Students shared their plans, thoughts, and opinions with Kathy Leach in a very friendly, frank, and open way.

Ambassador Leach is an untiring and proactive diplomat who enjoys working with young people for good causes such as protecting the environment.

One example of Ambassador Leach’s enthusiasm for creating awareness and information about the challenge of climate change among the youth was when she decided to personally mentor a team of KATRU student researchers who worked on a research project around one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Ambassador Leach gave a question to her students’ team, ‘Ecosystem Renaissance’, and personally mentored their research work for one month. The other two student teams ‘Food Fighters’ and ‘Guardians of Nature’ were mentored by the officials of the UNDP, and FAO.

TSTE 2023 Editors-in-Chief Face-to-Face Conference on Transportation Economics Successfully Held at Beijing Jiaotong University

Posted on by Shuchen Liu

The Editors-in-Chief Face-to-Face Conference on Transportation Economics of the 11th International Conference on Transportation and Space-time Economics (TSTE 2023) was successfully held at Beijing Jiaotong University from November 27 to December 6, 2023. The conference was organized by School of Economics and Management of Beijing Jiaotong University, and co-organized by Elsevier Group. The editors of seven top journals in the field of transportation economics were present online at the conference to discuss journal publication issues and share their latest research on the theme of “High-quality Development of Transportation”. The conference was held in the form of a ZOOM online conference and simultaneously live-streamed worldwide by Elsevier. With its high-level positioning, cutting-edge themes, rich contents, multi-dimensional interactions and innovative forms of activities, the conference attracted nearly 50,000 participants. Registered scholars, teachers and students came from 413 universities and research institutions at home and abroad including University of Cambridge, Stanford University, National University of Singapore, University of Michigan, Northeastern University, University of Leeds, Ghent University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, The University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, TongJi University, Zhejiang University, Sun Yat-sen University, and so forth.

The seven invited editors of the top transportation economics journals were: Karen Smilowitz, editor-in-chief of Transportation Science, professor at Northwestern University; Chandra Bhat, editor-in-chief of Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Professor at the University of Texas at Austin; Nikolas Geroliminis, editor-in-chief of Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Shuaian Wang, co-editor-in-chief of Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Jonas De Vos, co-editor-in-chief of Transport Reviews, Associate Professor at University College London; Frank Witlox, editor-in-chief of Journal of Transport Geography, Professor at Ghent University; Xiaowen Fu, editor-in-chief of Case Studies on Transport Policy, Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

The conference kicked off with the first module of the thematic lecture series from November 27 to December 5, 2023. Six editors gave lectures on “On a causal analysis of factors affecting housing choices”, “On the (in)efficiency of ride-sourcing services towards urban congestion and multimodal mobility”, “Air travel choice, online meeting and passenger heterogeneity – What shall be done for the aviation industry?”, “Prescriptive analytics for logistics and transport system management: state-of-the-art development”, “The perception of travel: from travel satisfaction to perceived accessibility”, and “On the future of urban mobility… Shedding light on cycling in the dark”. For each lecture, two peer discussants were invited to share their comments and reflections after the editor’s presentation. Then, participants were involved in discussing and interaction in the Q&A session. Exciting new thoughts, ideas and insights were generated one after another during the talks and interactions.

On December 6, 2023, the second module of the plenary meeting was held, inviting the seven editors to present their journals and offer suggestions on manuscript submission and publication. The positioning, characteristics, research themes, submission and acceptance status of the seven top journals were clearly illustrated, which helped participants tremendously in selecting relevant journals for submission. The editors gave a number of specific precautions to help participants avoid usual mistakes during the process of submission and revision of the returned manuscripts. All participants, especially young scholars, benefited a lot from the speeches and talks.

The conference was highly praised and appreciated by the editors, peer discussants, and participants. The editors were impressed by the excellent quality and efficiency of the conference organization. The discussants and participants learned well from both the cutting-edge lectures and the speeches on publication issues. Many participants rejoicingly said that they became more confident and better able to submit manuscripts to top journals.

This conference stands out for three more reasons, in addition to being fully accepted by invited guests and participants. First, it can be traced back to a 6-year history of establishing an open, flexible, sustainable, and efficient academic platform for researchers and scholars, with TSTE 2018 starting with the launch of the international conference in its first attempt to establish such a platform. Together with successful experiences and influences of previous conferences, especially the Editors-in-Chief Face-to-Face Conference held from 2021 to 2023, the conference this year has made continuous efforts in consolidating and developing the academic platform by inviting more top journals to join the “the Editors-in-Chief Face-to-Face” event.

Second, Elsevier was invited to co-organize the conference, greatly increasing the international influence of the conference and enriching channels of free academic exchange and communication. Elsevier not only provided global live streaming, but also carried out great promotion supports for this event including social media subscriptions, the conference poster on all Elsevier transportation journal webpages, and emails from Elsevier introducing the conference.

Third, the conference was also an important initiative of School of Economics and Management of Beijing Jiaotong University in its continuous exploration and innovation of transnational, cross-border, and cross-discipline transportation research and teaching. On one hand, it provided the channels and opportunities for the faculty members to establish academic cooperation with senior researchers both from China and abroad. On the other hand, it provided a new attempt for the cultivation of international talents at Beijing Jiaotong University and contributed to the construction of “New-typed Talents” cultivation pattern (i.e., Integration of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies, Integration of Disciplines, Integration of Industry and Academia, and International Connectivity).

The “Editors-in-Chief Face-to-Face” series will keep on going in the future. More efforts will be made to continuously elaborate international academic communication and cooperation platforms, to tentatively establish channels for cultivating young scholars, and to efficiently promote the construction of high-quality transportation systems worldwide.

Chula Unveils Living Plant Museum, Learning Hub on Botany to Combat Global Boiling

Posted on by Chulalongkorn University

Our world has moved from “Global Warming” to “Global Boiling” due to the steadily rising temperatures. Preparations to deal with climate change are therefore an urgency to prevent Thailand and the world from becoming at risk.

Chulalongkorn University’s Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, is equipped with the knowledge on various types of plants and fully staffed by knowledgeable faculty members, researchers, students, and experts who are ready to apply their insight to figuring out the solutions to the current global boiling. The Department of Botany opened the Living Plant Museum at the Glass House, Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, with Prof. Dr. Bundhit Eua-arporn, Chulalongkorn’s President, Prof. Dr. Narin Hiransuthikul, Vice President for Strategic Monitoring and Assessment, Planning, Budgeting and Well-being, and Prof. Dr. Polkit Sangvanich, Dean of the Faculty of Science, along with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thanuttkhul Mongkolaussavarat, Director of the Science Society of Thailand Under the Patronage of His Majesty the King, Mr. Kampol Tansujja, President of Nong Nooch Botanical Garden Pattaya, Ms. Nantawanchaya. Phachit Praphan, President of Herb4You Co., Ltd. and World Green Plus Co., Ltd., and Mr. Thanathip Sitprasert, representative of Boonrawd Brewery Co., Ltd., attending the opening.

The Living Plant Museum is a permanent exhibition displayed in the Glass House next to the Mahamakut Building, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University. Not only is this a place where plants with botanical significance are kept, it also is a venuie for an exchange of knowledge between faculty members, experts in various fields of botany, and the public who have close experience with nature in each region. The place forms a network of knowledge and understanding that is passed on to the new generation that is eco-conscious, as well as offers lifelong learning to cope with climate change. The exhibition features the “Innovation for Seedlings with High Survival Rate” developed from Mycorrhizal Inoculum bred with rubber seedlings and ratchapruek tree to increase the survival rate of trees amidst the volatile climate conditions.

Prof. Dr. Bundhit Eua-arporn, President of Chulalongkorn University, said, “Chulalongkorn University has announced its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 and net zero emissions by 2050. Therefore, we must encourage the Chula community to take responsibility for climate change. One strategy that we’ve been continuously employing is the application of research and innovations in Chulalongkorn to creating social change that will drive society towards becoming a low-carbon society. One area which we emphasize is the development of green urban space and the restoration of forest ecosystems. Faculty members and researchers at the Faculty of Science, specifically the Department of Botany, and our network partners are working tirelessly to cultivate new knowledge, research, and innovation to respond to the Global Boiling situation as warned by the United Nations. We have gathered the knowledge and stored it in the Living Plant Museum, which, from now on, will be a living lab to foster lifelong learning for Thai people to help us deal with future issues and find better solutions for global environmental problems.”

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sehanat Prasongsuk, Head of the Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, said that the Living Plant Museum is considered a lifelong learning source where we teach students, conduct research on plants in an evaporative cooling system, and display a permanent exhibition on the diversity and evolution of plants in living conditions. The museum, a glass house with the area of 464 sq. m., contains at least 200 types of both domestic and foreign plants displayed in 6 exhibitions, namely an exhibition on the diversity of plants in the rainforest or tropical rainforest, an exhibition of drought-tolerant plants, an aquatic plant exhibition, a Pteridophyte plant exhibition, an exhibition on bare seed plants, and an exhibition on the evolution of flowering plants. Our aim is for the new knowledge and innovation generated in this museum to help solve environment, economic, and social issues. Recently, we have an innovation for seedlings with high survival rate developed using Mycorrhizal Inoculum Technology by Assist. Prof. Dr. Jittra Piapukiew, a lecturer at the Department of Botany, Faculty of Science. Dr. Jittra has been studying mycorrhizal fungi for over 20 years, beginning with research on the diversity of fungi in the Nan forests and developing into the production of mycorrhizal inoculum mixed in the soil for planting seedlings of rubber trees, increasing hte survival rate of the trees in volatile climate. Chulalongkorn University has passed on the knowledge to the communities and over 3,000 rai of forests in Saraburi and 7 other provinces. In addition, apart from the trees’ survival, many edible wild mushrooms also emerge, such as barometer earthstars, head man slender Caesar, Greencracked Brittlegill, and the Sickener, creating economic value and thus motivating the locals to sustainably conserve the forest.”

Apart from the opening of the museum, the Department of Botany also organized the sustainable development activity “Planting Seedlings to Combat Global Boiling” by preparing 107 rubber seedlings from the innovation for seedlings with high survival rate project to be planted in the community, and a planting activity of “space ratchapruek trees” that have been chosen for the Asian Herb in Space (AHiS) project under the collaboration of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and partner agencies.

The Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, invites you to join a campaign to fight against global boiling by donating to fund the operations of the “Living Plant Museum” and support the teaching of the Department of Botany. For every 1,000 baht donated, you will receive 1 “seedling for global boiling” from the research and development of seedlings with high survival rate using Mycorrhizal Inoculum Technology. The first 1,000 donors will receive 1 Fight Global Boiling bag via a QR code or  https://forms.gle/WoreutYF8FLuQC3k9.

For the full release and more images, please visit: https://www.chula.ac.th/en/news/144729/

Thammasat student wins first place for designing ‘MECHAIR’, a chair for Gen Z

Posted on by Thammasat University

Phanwira Ngaoprasert, a 3rd year student in Interior Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University received the 1st prize with the work, “MECHAIR” from the 1st Futuretech Design Talent Award 2023, a furniture design project for GEN Z under the concept of flexibility in use, environmentally friendly, reflecting identity, with convenience and technology. Over 20 institutions submitted their entries to the contest organized at the FUTURETECH Showroom.

The Story Behind ‘MECHAIR’

MECHAIR derived from the concept of Origami, the art of paper folding and inspired by taking diagrams from leaf shapes into designing a portable chair that is flexible for Gen Z. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic that causes many people or organizations to work from home and encounter problems that need to be stuffy working in the room and not socializing.

MECHAIR provides you the flexibility to work anywhere, whether on the skytrain or in the middle of a meadow in a park. It adds more options to work, making the life of the user more inspirational. It also has a folding function and supports comfortable portability with a glimpse of fashion in mind.

The Uniqueness of ‘MECHAIR’

The highlight is the shape of the chair derived from the diagram of the leaf combined with a folding technique based on the art of origami. This makes the work unique and flexible to use, and supports a variety of functions that include folding, carrying, and sitting with up to 3 types of adjustment: upright position, reclining position and taken as an extra chair.

MECHAIR helps users sit more comfortably and can be carried to sit and work outside the home, not feeling stuffy working only in a square room. In addition, the chair is made from PET plastic, a recycled material. This makes this furniture unique in terms of saving the world as well. Currently, MECHAIR is in the experimental stage where testings are undertaken in order to ensure the meeting of the needs of GEN Z according to the initial concept prescribed.

“I feel so proud of myself. Thank you to my friends, family and professors who have been mentoring and encouraging me in creating the work. In addition, supplementary knowledge has also been added by the committee, as well as friends and seniors from other universities who participated in the contest. This makes my design perspective more open and more open to comments,” said Panwira Ngaoprasert.

EdUHK Professor Keith Ho named as Highly Cited Researcher for 6th consecutive year

Posted on by eduhk

Professor Keith Ho Wing-kei, Acting Head of the Department of Science and Environmental Studies, has been named in the 2023 Highly Cited Researchers list released by Clarivate Analytics. This is the sixth consecutive year Professor Ho has been named on the list, which charts the world’s most influential researchers. Those on the list have demonstrated exceptional performance by producing multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citation for their field. In 2023, only 6,849 researchers in 20 research areas, across multiple fields and from over 67 countries and regions, have earned this exclusive distinction.

Professor Ho was also named among the top 2% most-cited scientists in the world in the latest annual list published by Stanford University. He ranked 43rd in 2022 out of nearly 39,000 physical chemistry scholars, demonstrating the high citation rate and significant impact of his research output.

The full 2023 Highly Cited Researchers list can be found here.