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Thoughts from the Magazine Team
ISSUE 10 SPECIAL FEATURE: THOUGHTS FROM THE MAGAZINE TEAM
The publication of all ten issues of the Scienti!c Malaysian (SciMy) magazine would not have been possible without the tremendous e"orts and dedication by the magazine team. In this special feature, we asked our team members to share their experiences of being part of the magazine team.
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This 10th issue symbolises that if we bring together a team of passionate people with similar aspirations for our country, we can achieve what others consider the impossible. #e support that we have received from our readers over the past 3 years, further strengthens our belief and worthiness in our e!orts. We are now more committed than ever to continue educating the general public in science via our magazine, with the help of our growing network of Malaysian scientists globally. #is journey with Scienti"c Malaysian has truly opened my eyes to the power of unity, passion and patriotism, in addition to the genuine friendships that I have built up along the way. I hope that other Malaysians will join us too in this journey towards a better and scienti"cally educated Malaysia.- Andrew Chan
It is crucial to have a platform where scientists can connect and communicate directly. Now, thanks t o S c i e n t i f i c Malaysian, we can enjoy discussing science with other scientists and get in touch with someone working or studying outside Malaysia. #e Issue 10 that you hold today marks a significant milestone to me and our team in continuing our e!orts to connect scientists from all around the world. I am fortunate to be part of an energetic team and feel honoured to work with so many outstanding personalities. I have learned a lot being part of the publicity team. I look forward to our future as we continue to strive for excellence in all that we do. - Boon Chin Tan
To me, the publication of the 10th issue represents a large milestone in the e!ort of individuals who believe in the improvement of the scienti"c culture in Malaysia. Additionally, it foreshadows the continuation of this e!ort for many years to come. I have learned a great deal by being part of Scienti"c Malaysian, particularly learning the ways of working in a team and being part of something greater than myself. I hope to continue to work with Scienti"c Malaysian as one of news editors and use the opportunity to improve myself to greater heights. - Azilleo Kristo Mozihim
It was one of the best decisions I have ever made when I decided to join SciMy Editorial Board two years ago. I get to work with a bunch of extremely passionate, knowledgeable and generous team members. I have learned so much from them in terms of technical skills, language (yes, English!) and the right ethics in producing a high quality online magazine even though we were working on a voluntary basis. On a professional level, I had a chance to collaborate with a researcher whom I got to know via SciMy. May SciMy continue to grow from strength to strength as it celebrates its 10th Issue! - Hooi Ling Lee
When a friend approached me with the idea for Scientific Malaysian, I was intrigued and excited to see what it could become. With a lot of hard work and a very dedicated team, we have reached our 10th issue! We have been privileged to be able to peek into some of the great minds in our scienti"c community and share their thoughts with our readers. #is in turn provides us with the opportunity to connect with one another in this ever-growing community of scienti"c professionals. With this, I hope that we will continue sharing and connecting Malaysia’s "nest minds through our magazine for any more issues to come. - Beatrice Chin Hui Tze
As a contributing writer and editor, I see SciMy from two different viewpoints. Firstly, as a writer I’ve gained immense satisfaction in having my articles widely read. I feel that the initiative to publish the magazine and the research and current events it covers reveals a deep commitment and desire for progress in Malaysia’s science community. As an editor, Issue 10 signi"es a wonderful milestone marking the end of our babysteps and heralding SciMy’s Coming of Age. With your help, dear readers, we’ll continue supporting the future of science communication and research in Malaysia. So do read on, and show your love with comments and suggestions! - Juliana Ari!n
Wo r k i n g o n the Scientific M a l a y s i a n (SciMy) initiative for nearly 4 years has really opened my eyes on the seemingly endless possibilities of scienti"c journalism in Malaysia. #ere has been a constant $ow of article contributors, interviews with academicians or industrial players, volunteers who wish to join the team and several others who have o!ered a helping hand that have sustained SciMy’s operations till now, all achieved through voluntary efforts without any financial support from private contributors nor taxpayers’ funding. #e initiative is here to stay for as long as possible, and we will continue to improve both the quantity and quality of our magazine as well as working on various collaborative projects with the government, industrial companies and international agencies to help propel Malaysia into one of the key scienti"c hubs in Asia. - Wong Kah Keng
Since the first issue, Scienti"c M a l a y s i a n has been providing a very good avenue for Malaysian scienti"c researchers across the world to share current research information. I joined the editorial team before Issue 9 and I was impressed by the team work and professionalism of the Scientific Malaysian team. Issue 10 marks a new milestone for Scienti"c Malaysian. With the great e!orts being put in by the team, I strongly believe Issue 10 will be one of the best issues of Scienti"c Malaysian, if not the best. - Khai Ern Lee
Before this, I have been involved in dozens of design work re l a t e d t o the corporate world, but my current role within the Scienti"c Malaysian magazine team as one of the illustrators/magazine designers has provided me with an exciting new experience of working in the scienti"c publication "eld. I hope that my work in the magazine will help our readers (especially the general public) get a better understanding of the scienti"c articles and at the same time, improve my ability to express my interest in science through illustrations. - Mohd. Arshad
To p r o d u c e S c i e n t i f i c M a l a y s i a n ( S c i M y ) M a g a z i n e (with a zero budget to date), we keep abreast with scientific literature and developments, check facts and consult with experts, liaise with authors and media partners, organising tasks among team members located on different continents, create original illustrations to convey scienti"c concepts, and the list goes on. All in the name of science. Sure, we learned a lot throughout the 10 issues. Above everything else, SciMy embodies unity, which I believe, is the catalyst for the betterment of society. Bak kata pepatah, “Bersatu teguh, bercerai roboh”. With your support, I hope that Malaysian science could achieve greater heights! - Valerie Soo
When Andrew a p p r o a c h e d me four years ago to write an article for the Scientific
Malaysia magazine, little did I know I would end up where I am now. One article turned into a column, and eventually I became part of the vibrant SciMy team whom I now a!ectionately refer to as my ‘online family’. I thought long and hard about what is the biggest thing I gained from this whole whirlwind journey, and I think it is the connections I have made through Scienti"c Malaysian. Connections not only in the sense of ‘networking’, but also genuine, human connections with people who love the same thing as you do. I am humbled and extremely proud of our achievement pulling o! 10 issues, all through sheer determination and the spirit of volunteerism, and I can’t wait for what this journey has in store for me! - Yi Ling Hwong
This is my 5th i s s u e w i t h S c i e n t i f i c Malaysian - I joined the team right before
Issue 6. During my participation in the magazine production, I have improved my ability to express science through illustrations. Beginning from Issue 8, Scienti"c Malaysian started to express science in infographics which are eye-catching and easy to understand. I am honoured to have the opportunity to contribute my "rst infographic to the magazine. I hope my illustrations not only can entertain the readers but also help them better connect to the articles. - Yink Heay Kong
10 Things About 10
by Chin Pin Wong
To celebrate the 10 th AKKM=G>L@=+;A=FLAÍ;%9D9QKA9F%9?9RAF=!O9K AFNAL=<LGOJAL=9F9JLA;D=9:GMLL@=FME:=JâáAFNA=OG>EQE9L@=E9LA;9D :9;C?JGMF<-F>GJLMF9L=DQ!EMKL;GF>=KKL@9LL@=FME:=JâáJ9J=DQ=N=J HGHKMHAFL@=E9L@=E9LA;K!<G,@9FCKLGL@AKAFNAL9LAGF@GO=N=J!@9N= D=9JFLL@9LL@=J=AK9DGLLG:=<AK;GN=J=<:Q>GDDGOAF?L@=LJ9ADG>L@= FME:=Jâá=N=FA>L@=J=KMDLK9J=KGE=LAE=KMF=PH=;L=<
Illustration: Tom Brown/Flickr
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"e base 10 system that most modern societies use is known as the Hindu-Arabic system. A popular but much debated claim is that the system originates from the fact that we have 10 !ngers [1]. It is generally agreed that the main advantage of using this base is that we are accustomed to using it. In some cases, it turns out to be more useful to use other bases. For example, in mathematics, base e (Euler’s number) often occurs, while computer systems use binary numbers i.e., base 2. Fun Fact: "e Mayan civilisation is known to have used a base 20 system while the Babylonians used a base 60 system (see reference [2]) for more details).
The number 10 is an even number. Fun Fact: Humans subconsciously assign genders to numbers. People see even numbers as feminine while odd numbers are seen as masculine. Two psychologists at Northwestern University, Galen Bodenhausen and James Wilkie, conducted a series of experiments and found that foreign names and faces of babies tagged with an odd number were more likely to be classi!ed as masculine while those tagged with an even number were more likely to be classi!ed as feminine. For more details, see reference [3]. 10 is the sum of the !rst 3 prime numbers. A prime number is a positive integer greater than 1 that has no positive integer 3 divisors other than 1 and itself. Examples of primes are 2, 17, 541 and 179,424,673. Prime numbers are an important area of research in mathematics. One of the most important results related to prime numbers is the Fundamental "eorem of Arithmetic which states that every positive integer can be uniquely written as a product of primes. Fun Fact: This unique factorisation of primes plays an important role in public key cryptography which is the basis of computer security. One of the main reasons why we use this for encryption is because it is incredibly di#cult to !nd the prime factorisation of very large numbers, even with the aid of computers. For more details, see reference [4].
10 is the 4 th triangular number. Triangular numbers are numbers that can be represented as a triangle of discrete points as below:
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Generally, we study n-gon numbers, for example square numbers and pentagonal numbers. Fun Fact: Fermat’s Polygonal Number Theorem states that any positive integer is a sum of at most 3 triangular numbers, 4 square numbers, 5 pentagonal numbers and n n-polygonal numbers [5].
510 is also a tetrahedral number. "e n-th tetrahedral number is the sum of the !rst n triangular numbers. 10 is the 3rd tetrahedral number as 10 = 1 + 3 + 6. "e numbers correspond to placing discrete points to form the shape of a tetrahedron just like we did above for the triangular numbers. Fun Fact: "ere are only 5 numbers which are both triangular and tetrahedral namely 1, 10, 120, 1,540 and 7,140 [6].
6
10 occurs in the 6 th row of Pascal’s triangle. Pascal’s triangle is a number triangle whose rows consist of the binomial coe#cient. "e triangle can be built as the following: Begin with 1 at the peak and build the following rows to have one more number than the one above to form a triangle. Every number (except the peak) is the sum of the two numbers above it. "e !rst few rows of Pascal’s triangle are as below:
The “shallow diagonals” of Pascal’s triangle sum to Fibonacci numbers
"e SI pre!x denoting a factor of 10 is deca– or deka–. Fun Fact: A 10-sided regular polygon, i.e. a decagon, can be constructed using a 7 straightedge and compass. Straightedge and compass problems date from Greek antiquity and are still of great interest today as they have links to much deeper mathematics. For a solution to how one might construct a decagon using a straightedge and compass, have a look at the following video https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=KGOp_NBXcUw
Apart from the binomial numbers, Pascal has many other interesting patterns e.g., the second diagonal contains the natural numbers, the third diagonal contains the triangular numbers and the fourth the tetrahedral numbers.
One can construct a polygon inside a triangle which has an area that is 1/10 th of the area of the triangle. Take any triangle and divide 8 each side into 3 equal parts. Connect each dividing point to the opposite corner using straight lines. "e area of the polygon that forms from the intersection of these lines in the centre of the triangle is 1/10 th of the area of the triangle (see !gure below):
"e sum of the shallow diagonals (see the next figure) form the Fibonacci series. For more interesting patterns which one can get from Pascal’s triangle, see [7]. Fun fact: Although Pascal’s triangle is named after Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician in the 17 th century, it had been described 500 years earlier by a Chinese mathematician, Yanghui [8].
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10
Fun Fact: "is result is known as Marion’s "eorem as it was proven by Marion Walters, a university professor. "ere is a generalisation of this result called Morgan’s "eorem which was proven by a high school student, Ryan Morgan [9].
10 can be written as the sum of two squares i.e., 10 = 1 2 + 3 2 . "e question of which integers, n, can be represented as the sum of two squares is a very classical problem. "ere are many variants of this problem: such as the study of the Pythagorean equation, namely the study of which squares, “z 2 ” can be written as the sum of two squares, i.e. z 2 = x 2 + y 2 . Fun Fact: One of the most well-known problems of this type is Fermat’s Last "eorem, which states that the equation z n = x n + y n has no integer solutions for n > 2 and x, y, z ≠ 0. Pierre de Fermat was a well-known French mathematician who scribbled down this theorem in the margin of a book in the 17 th century and claimed that he had found proof but did not write the proof down as well [10]. It took 300 years before anyone found actual proof, and that proof uses many modern mathematical concepts. You can !nd the (non-technical) story of Fermat’s Last "eorem in the book Fermat’s Last "eorem by Simon Singh.
Last but not least, the Scienti!c Malaysian Magazine celebrates its 10 th issue here. Let us wish it a googol (10 100 ) more fantastic issues! Fun Fact: "e search engine Google comes from a misspelling of the word ‘googol’. "e founders were looking for a word which would represent the indexing of huge amounts of data and was about to use the term ‘googol’ but was misspelt when registering the name of their domain [11].
REFERENCES
[1] Ifrah, Georges, "e universal history of numbers: From prehistory to the invention of the computer, Translated from the 1994 French original by David Bellos, E. F. Harding, Sophie Wood and Ian Monk, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 2000. [2] http://bit.ly/1K7xUc3 [3] http://bit.ly/1Eg9b4v [4] http://bit.ly/1Fg4FDK [5] http://bit.ly/1JfGmbm [6] http://bit.ly/1ILrCh3 [7] http://bit.ly/1uFqg00 [8] http://bit.ly/1DRCdpq [9] http://bit.ly/1ySnqfg [10] http://bit.ly/1fbYlNm [11] http://stanford. io/1HYfTNS
“I Heart Mathematics” photographed by Daybis©/Flickr https://www.!ickr.com/photos/daybis/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHIN PIN WONG is currently doing a DPhil in Mathematics at the University of Oxford. She believes that women have the ability to do mathematics just as well as men but are often hindered by social preconceptions and patriarchal work environments. Find out more about Chin Pin at http://www.scienti!cmalaysian.com/ members/wong/
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For a fairly young nation, we have already had several impressive scienti!c successes: we have sent many scientific expeditions to the wintry Antarctica, tracked down and fought the deadly Nipah virus[1], and even sent an angkasawan to the outer space. Plus, we have even managed to clone the thorny beauty, our beloved D24[2].
by Mamduh Zabidi
Photo: Horacio Lyon / Flickr
These achievements notwithstanding, there are still much to do to become a significant contributor of scientific knowledge at the world stage. As a developing country, our notable scienti!c discoveries are understandably still limited. To improve the socio-economic well-being of the people, construction of Photo: NASA / Flickr Photo: Nicola Sapiens De Mitri / Flickr basic infrastructure and nation building have taken precedence over investing in the advancement of science and technology. Now, as we are trying to make the leap from a middle-income to a high-income and developed nation, the development of our scienti!c capability has become more important than ever; it needs to be at the same trajectory with, and even sustain, our economic growth. At the same time, science should also transform the way our society thinks.
In this continuation section, I o%er my own personal opinions on avenues to improve our incipient Science !eld.
1) Reduce bureaucracy and paperwork
It goes without saying that red tapes distract scientists from their real job, which is to make discoveries and educate the next generation, scientists and nonscientists alike. Formalities and forms should be reduced to the bare essentials, be it in government agencies, universities or even in industrial sectors. We also need to !nd a system that works e#ciently and stick to it; constantly changing it will only drain energy, cost and patience.
Other than to become mills for scienti!c discoveries, universities (especially public ones) are built to educate. Academic rules are needed to have some semblance of structure. But excessive regulation only hampers real education: little educational value can be gained from insistence on strict formatting requirements of a thesis or report, for example. Writing a hefty thesis, which is unlikely to be read again in the future, is not always the most worthwhile of e%ort. Most real science happens in the lab or in the !eld; unnecessary meetings and rhetorics should be limited. be avoided. Rather than regarding each other as sworn enemies who should be triumphed over, members from di%erent labs should be treated as colleagues. Expertise should be shared, so should equipment and the responsibility of their maintenance.
Among Malaysian corporate entities, it is not unusual for a company to have single-ethnic make up - a re&ection of how our society is still !nding its way to truly accept each other in entirety. But science is a team enterprise that demands creative approaches, which in turn requires a diversity of people with di%erent ways of thinking. Our unique racial fabric is a rare resource that can be readily tapped into. We need to embrace our diversity to give our scienti!c endeavors the deepest and broadest talent reservoir to draw from. Quality talent can be found everywhere, and di%erent people bloom di%erently.
We need to work together, and recruit the best people. A house which is divided against itself cannot stand; neither can a house of cards.
2) Dispose of parochial politics
If not managed properly, competition within the nation could become ruinously unhealthy, even destructive. Multiple teams working on the same projects should
3) Increase publicity of science
Our local news channels provide too little airtime for new scienti!c development, locally and globally. Monumental events related to science such as the
announcement of the Nobel Prize, the launching of On the other hand, a di%erent pot of money should be international space missions and important laboratory earmarked to !nance high-risk-high-reward endeavors breakthrough are typically only mentioned in passing, in basic sciences. Take for example the sequencing of if at all. Case in point: the completing of the palm organisms endemic to our geography, which happens oil genome sequence by our own scienti!c team on to be my !eld of interest. "e resulting genome our home soil - published in Nature recently[3,4] assemblies could enable the discovery of potentially - was not covered by most Malaysian newspapers. unique genetic elements with high commercial value. "is re&ects the grim reality of the indi%erence of Another example is the isolation of compounds our media, and hence, our society towards scienti!c from our &ora and microorganisms that could have development. therapeutic potential. For obvious reasons, data that comes from these projects need to be safeguarded for Such news need to be creatively packaged into media our national interest. Several labs, including Malaysia pieces which are easily consumable by the general Genome Institute, have already been instituted to public. Typical of a developing society, religious and work on this kind of blue-sky ventures. social polemic would understandably ensue. But this is a maturing process that is worthwhile for our Central to these two themes are the focus on the society to undergo. Such a phase would unshackle relatively unexplored and colonisable scientific the society from being immured territories through leveraging in misunderstanding and incomprehension, and then “Science is a team advantages unique to our country, for example our rich biodiversity, hopefully release itself and march in the right direction. enterprise that where there is little competition from developed countries. "is 4) Prioritise scienti!c funding demands creative may mean that we would not tackle the more ‘sophisticated’ For a middle-income country, money is a scarce resource approaches, which scienti!c problems or produce papers of high impact factors. in almost every sector. Our scienti!c endeavors are funded in turn requires a However, it will help build and sustain our scienti!c capacity. mainly by taxpayer’s money; commercial scientific funding diversity of people 5) Learn from our neighbours is yet to be commonplace. "e worthiness of a scienti!c project with different ways "is could be a thorny subject. It surprises me how little we has to be judged before investing our ringgits in it, e.g., repeating of thinking” have learnt from our nextdoor neighbours - Singapore a previously published or similar for example - despite their close project is a serious no-no. Prudent (obviously), yet proximity, how we readily let our talent go southwards, smart spending will guarantee the highest return for and their international stature in many scienti!c our investment. I see a possible two-pronged approach, !elds. A direct way of harnessing their expertise in parts of which we have already undertaken. various areas is to set up meaningful collaboration across the Strait. Depending on the !eld, their research On one hand, we tackle scienti!c questions that are institutions could also be attractive places for our directly exploitable, commercially viable, and whose scientists to receive training. By doing this, we could importance is easily explainable to the public as they avoid sending them to Europe or the US, and money have obvious signi!cance to our local context. "is saved could be used for something else. "is might approach has been pursued by our old bastions of sound naïve, but I genuinely believe that if we move research, such as Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) away from our suspicions, political or otherwise, that work on our golden crop palm oil, and Malaysian we could rope in their superior scienti!c prowess to Agricultural Research and Development Institute expedite our cause. (MARDI) on a variety of other important agricultural resources. Still, other things are harder to address. We are net users of scienti!c reagents and equipments. Our scientists’ Another example is the University of Malaysia funds are at the mercy of distribution companies and Terengganu, a clear indication of the government’s unfavourable exchange rate. Established Malaysian commitment to develop our capabilities in marine scientists abroad, who could contribute to the local sciences, given our huge water resources and long scienti!c community with their experience, probably coastlines. Government grants such as the Flagship would not return home without the right incentive. Programme of Ministry of Science, Technology and And these are just two of the many issues facing us. Innovation (MOSTI) prioritise related research themes such as biodiversity and the development of Luckily, most of these issues could bene!t from a commodity crops. change of mindset of our society. Indeed they are
tough to address, but we are not outright hopeless either. Our causes should be forti!ed with political will, capital and power. We need strong leaders with science background to project and champion our scienti!c interests. Finally, we can always use a real hero or two, who will easily boost publicity among the public.
We already have some silver linings. In most of our universities, science and engineering subjects are already taught in English - in the face of increasingly sti% global competition, even universities in France, Austria and Germany o%er postgraduate science degree programs in English. Our younger generation, inspired by the First National Angkasawan Programme, are not afraid to dream big: it is not uncommon for kids nowadays to dream to become scientists or astronauts.
"e Science and Mathematics curricula at our schools are now rigorous and importantly, more hands-on. "e younger generations (which in my view already display bold creativity) are poised to enter and contribute in various scienti!c disciplines quite soon. Good structure needs to be in place to secure our precious talent pipeline, enabling them to contribute to our scienti!c advancement and further our nation’s progress.
I might sound a little like a fatalist, but realistically speaking, our level of science might still not be on par with developed countries come the year 2020. But if we continue to be optimistic, work towards being rid of destructive practices, make the right decisions and keep on working hard, there is still time to make signi!cant progress.
Infobox by Kong Yink Heay
Perhaps by that time we won’t fare too bad after all.
Disclaimer: "e views presented here belong solely to the author, and do not represent the views of his current or previous associated institutions.
REFERENCES
[1] Chua et al. (1999). "e Lancet 354: 1257–1259 [2] Shaari et al (1985). Teknologi Buah-Buahan (Malaysia) 1(1): 1-4 [3] Singh et al (2013). Nature 500: 340–344 [4] Singh et al (2013). Nature 500: 335–339
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MAMDUH ZABIDI lived in the United States for his Bachelor’s degree, during which he studied neurons in the slimy Aplysia slug. He worked for several years at CARIF, during which time he also !nished his Masters at University of Malaya.
Mamduh dreams of the day when most Malaysian kids have read at least one of Isaac Asimov’s science !ction before they !nish high school (for the record, even he actually hasn’t read any). He looks forward to see the day when Malaysian religious scholars communicate new fatwa’s in terms of statistical signi!cance. He would love to see Malaysian kids to be preoccupied with coding their own Apps on their parents’ iPads, when they are not outdoors exploring the Nature like he once did.
He believes Malaysia needs to, and will, ful!ll her great potentials. Find out more about Mamduh by visiting his Scienti!c Malaysian pro!le at http://www. scienti!cmalaysian.com/members/mamduh
by Dr. Alicia Izharuddin
One of the films that best allegorises the experience and purpose of pursuing a PhD degree is the sublime 2012 documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi directed by David Gebb. Jiro, regarded by food critics and fans alike as the world’s greatest sushi chef, has spent decades mastering the art of preparing the best rice and !sh for sushi. "e !lm succeeds in portraying Jiro’s doggedness and passion that drove his initially unrewarding process of learning. After 50 years of learning - and Jiro is still learning - he is the master of something quite specialised, respected by the greatest of connoisseurs.
In many ways, Jiro’s journey into sushi-making is much like that of pursuing a PhD. It belongs to WŚŽƚŽ͗ŇĂnjŝŶŐŽĚŽƚĐŽŵͬ&ůŝĐŬƌ the ‘old world’ of apprenticeship; you don’t just get a degree after some years that signi!es you as an expert. Rather, the end of the apprenticeship heralds a new beginning of more hard work and few rewards. It’s not about the money, but about the endlessness of inquiry and curiosity.
Getting a PhD - What Does It Really Mean?
For the general populace, the idea is chie&y quantitative: it seems to be better to have more academic quali!cations. While the boost in social sta- tus that comes with possessing a PhD may be an attractive (but short term) incentive, the oppor- tunities for sustaining such a status through em- ployment may sometimes be elusive in Malaysia.
Current trends in Malaysia, however, appear to be unconcerned about job scarcity. Instead, there has been a big push towards producing more PhD hold- ers. "e Malaysian government’s quantitative ap- proach to PhDs is manifested in the uniquely named MyBrain15 programme[1], which aims to produce 60,000 PhDs by 2023. While this approach is ex- cellent in boosting access, it is chie&y quantitative, mechanistic, and may be driving PhD holders o% a cli% into the abyss of potential unemployment.
So far, the MyBrain15 programme appears to progress as going to plan; those enrolled are mostly already a#liated with Malaysian universities. Upon completion of their studies, they will rejoin their employer armed with the talismanic title ‘Dr.’. "is transition up the grade scale may facilitate those already within the university, but it is a closed-door policy for PhD holders who are not funded by MyBrain15. Furthermore, job vacancies for doctorate holders in Malaysian universities are less forthcoming about job description and salary scales. Despite this, competition for coveted full-time appointments is sti%.
Findings from a recent survey conducted by Scienti!c Malaysian[2] has found that over 73% of Malaysian PhD graduates in the sciences wish to pursue a career in academia, with almost 60% of them fairly con!- dent that they will be successful in doing so. "e sur- vey reveals personal snippets of ambition and sheer optimism that characterise the reasons why respon- dents stay on to do a PhD. Some respondents believe there are plenty of jobs in industry and Malaysian academia, much like those in developed countries.
However, the employment trend for PhDs in de- veloped countries is rather grim. In the US, UK, and Australia, the job market bottleneck for quali- !ed PhDs has been described as a crisis[3]. In more alarming terms: there are too many scientists[4] and not enough jobs. "e Royal Society in the UK found that only 3.5% of science PhD graduates remain in long-term academic employment. Fewer than 0.5% eventually become professors. In Australia, only 1 in 8 of such graduates[5] get the research job they desire. Su#ce to say, respondents of the Scienti!c Malaysian’s survey who wish to go abroad for work will bene!t greatly from studying these trends.
Notwithstanding this grim state of a%airs, PhD grad- uates (with teaching, supervision, and administrative
experience plus multiple publications) who have the university rankings have their limitations[7] but resilience and determination to apply for at least 50 such a refusal speaks volumes of the lack of engage- positions in academia, will eventually get a job though ment by Malaysia’s most established universities with not necessarily what they had expected or desired. the discourse of higher education on a global level. Meanwhile, there is no new data on how long gradu- ates stay employed in Malaysian academia, includ- Poor command of English[8] (and the apparent lack ing those who will become professors. Will the PhD of will to improve) has been cited as an obstacle to bottleneck found in the US, UK, and Australia exist producing high impact research in Malaysian universi- in Malaysia? If the survey’s respondents are generally ties. "is is a curious conundrum worth investigating: positive about their job prospects, what makes Ma- why is the level of English deemed poor in Malaysian laysia di%erent from the other countries mentioned? universities despite being one of the most spoken and written languages in the country? To be fair on aca- Academia or Industry? demics, the practice of writing is di#cult, a skill that Post-PhD employment is characterised by a shortage has to be developed and mastered over a period of of permanent positions, but with more short-term time. "at crucial period is the time spent during the contracts as full or part time re- search associates or postdoctoral “Current trends in doctoral training and supported by on-campus departments specialised research fellows and sessional lec- turers. "ere are certainly alterna- Malaysia, however, in academic career development. tives to the traditional academic appointment. Some PhD hold- appear to be Research in Malaysia is also largely hidden from public purview. "e ers, exhausted by the demands of an academic lifestyle, take anothunconcerned about job mystique of research could have a more damaging e%ect on Malayer route into professional consulting in higher education and scarcity. Instead, there sian academia and industry than good. It conceals the tax-paying international development, or politics; Angela Merkel and Manhas been a big push public from appreciating the impact of research. Opening up Mamohan Singh are a few examples of world leaders with a real PhD. towards producing laysian academia to scrutiny by independent auditors of universi"ere is a view that working in more PhD holders” ties will reveal a range of weaknesses beyond those conjectured industry after completing one’s here and in reports elsewhere. doctoral studies constitutes a ‘failure’. "is view is not an unfounded one; the PhD is essentially a "e linear progression of academic attainment in highresearch apprenticeship to train an individual in er education needs to be dismantled for a more &uid the rigours of scholarship and the art of survivand qualitative understanding of what the PhD is for. ing in academia such as networking and manage"e PhD may be talismanic and its bearer may enjoy ment. If the endpoint of such an apprenticeship the social capital it brings. But in these highly comis not about producing original and exciting repetitive times, many will question the value of spendsearch, what was the point of slogging through 4 ing years in the wilderness of academia as a novice to 6 years of poverty and exploitation as a student? researcher. When confronted by the criticisms of the length and value of the PhD, it is comforting to take Suggestions have been made in the UK on preparrefuge in the grit and wisdom of Jiro the sushi chef. ing PhD graduates for employment in industry and elsewhere outside academia. Transferable and ‘real REFERENCES world’ skills developed during one’s doctoral training [1] https://biasiswa.moe.gov.my/MyBrain15/v2/ are always useful in other skilled professions; such as [2] http://www.scienti!cmalaysian.com/groups/ administration and management (through seminar, scienti!c-malaysia-support-group/forum/topic/careerconference and workshop organising), communicaexpectations-survey/ tion skills (via presentations, teaching, and supervi[3] http://goo.gl/IhqIPO [6] http://goo.gl/rUUz5H sion), and fundamentally, research abilities (in analy[4] http://goo.gl/7wMwID [7] http://goo.gl/2l3fgI sis, writing, and data processing). It is easy to overlook [5] http://goo.gl/0sXl7A [8] http://goo.gl/Iyq5gH these broad valuable skills when the doctoral training is assumed to produce scientists who are only exABOUT THE AUTHOR perts in narrow and highly specialised knowledge. DR. ALICIA IZHARUDDIN has a PhD in Gender Studies from the School of Oriental and African Research in Malaysia Studies, University of London. She also holds a !rst "e news that two top Malaysian institutes[6] have class bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology from declined to be assessed by the 2014-2015 Times Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Find out more Higher Education global university index does not about Alicia at http://www.scienti!cmalaysian.com/ bode well for early career researchers. Indeed, world members/aliciaizharuddin/
