Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad (left) visiting the Borneo Marine Research Institute at University Malaysia Sabah.
With Malaysia Prihatin as the theme for this year’s Malaysia Day celebrations and the progressive aspirations of Keluarga Malaysia shows that the country has begun to move towards recovery in terms of health, social, as well as economic growth.
The Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MoHE) continues to instil a sense of caring in Malaysians, particularly among our future generations by conducting translational research to transform laboratory, clinical, and community findings into treatments that will improve our lives through diagnostics, medicines, technologies, and behavioural changes.
Achievements in Translational Research
In the past, the term ‘ivory tower’ was associated with academicians theorising and philosophising paradoxes that were often perceived as too sophisticated for the regular public to comprehend. Over the years, this glamorous notion began to accumulate ridicule – and quite rightfully so. Given the rapid changes happening in the world today, there should be no room for aloofness or disengaging attitudes towards the needs of the ‘real world’. Hence, the irrelevance of armchair research.
Realising the potential of academicians, MoHE has been championing and supporting collaborative research that brings positive impact not only towards academia but also to the government, industries, and communities. The synergistic relationship between these four parties is known as the ‘quadruple helix’, and the beneficial research conducted is known as ‘translational research’.
Blockbuster translational research has been produced by academics all over Malaysia through MoHE’s research grant schemes. For instance, researchers from Universiti Putra Malaysia developed an innovative technology known as PadiU Putra which addresses the need for paddy production due to the nation’s growing population. This technology has also improved the socioeconomic well-being of farmers.
As we commemorate Malaysia Day and the establishment of our Malaysian federation, let us look at some of the research examples from universities in Sabah and Sarawak.
Universiti Malaysia Sabah invented a fast-growing hybrid grouper. The first of such cross-breeding in the world caught the attention of several interested parties from the aquaculture industry which led to its commercialisation.
Another laudable example is Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), which continuously contributes to the community through its Malaria Research Centre’s research on malaria, rabies, and dengue. Aside from that, experts from UNIMAS’ Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation have begun studies aimed at environmental rehabilitation, management, and assessments.
These researches directly correspond to Shift 7 on Innovation Ecosystem of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 for Higher Education.
A researcher at work at the Malaria Research Centre in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.
Translational Research Diversity and Inclusion
Malaysia Day should also be about the celebration of our diverse ethnic groups, languages, abilities and religions and we should also consider this by embracing diversity in research.
Analysts at Clarivate’s Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) considered the topic of diversity in a research context and showed patterns in national and institutional research portfolios with the release of their recent publication, ‘Subject diversity in research portfolios’. The Clarivate report stated that in contrast to retrospective publication citation analysis, which looks back at achievement, research diversity provides a forward-looking picture of the prospects for intellectual, technical, and scientific growth.
There is no better time to address tomorrow’s inclusive education system and research diversity strategy than now, as Malaysia continues to forge new ground and challenge old assumptions in the global community. If Malaysia is to make a big difference, we will need diversity in research, people with diverse abilities, personality types, and backgrounds to collaborate, allowing them to transcend their particular field of expertise into an influential research output. Interestingly, studies have also revealed a correlation between diverse and inclusive teams outperforming homogeneous teams.
We can become better explorers by collaborating with inclusive scientists to build and discover new ways to break down barriers and enhance people’s lives through diversity in research. It necessitates a thorough understanding of the translational spectrum as well as the capacity to operate in an inclusive team as rigorous researchers, system thinkers, domain specialists, process innovators, boundary crossers, and, most importantly, effective communicators!
Imagine how inherently satisfying it will be to observe the potential impact on the science of developing and enhancing lives by an inclusive team of researchers. Translational research has immense potential for innovation and systematic change since it allows for the development of solutions that streamline the process of collaborative research and producing research diversity.
Bridging the Gap between Academia and the Community
German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) established the Categorical Imperative, a moral philosophy that emphasises ‘duty’ and ‘goodwill’ despite our desires or inclinations that we as humans may have to the contrary. In other words, he calls us to carry out our duty objectively and with integrity, without any bias or self-serving that may override our professional judgement. Kant’s view on ethics certainly resonates with our duty as academics.
There have been discussions and debates over the years on issues of research reproducibility, or some scholars prefer to call it replication crisis. Similar conversations and findings have been highlighted in Nature, the world’s leading scholarly multidisciplinary science publication regarding these issues. Adrian Furnham, a former Professor at University College London recently wrote in Times Higher Education probing the need for grant applications among academics to maximise the return of investment (ROI) of the grant award value. Additionally, there is a need for more transparency, objective reporting, replicable research findings and adequate rigour in study design, among others, concerning research grants.
The publication, dissemination, and citation of research findings are key performance indicators (KPI) for the research community, and researchers have traditionally relied on the academic publishing industry and conference circuit for publication, dissemination, and citation. Some argue that this can lead to researchers sharing new knowledge primarily with other researchers rather than with those who need it the most: practitioners, policymakers, and the community.
With these issues in hand, what can we, as researchers and educators do in making translational research a reality? The first step is to include the shift of mindset among researchers. Research grants should not be viewed merely to fulfil our KPIs or as academic kudos. We need to rethink our objectives as researchers by questioning our roles in connecting our work with the community.
We also need to continuously advocate equal importance between the hard science and social science. Covid-19 has provided an excellent landscape to demonstrate the importance of both fields. If the task of the scientist is to come out with antidotes for the virus, then it is generally the job of the social science researchers to create awareness and communicate the importance of getting vaccinated.
Both fields require each other, and this existence of multiple diverse disciplines is what we refer to as research diversity.
Having said that, Malaysia has a lot of untapped potential. Hence, as academics, we need to solidify our principle towards contributing to the greater good. It is time for us to stop hiding behind the veil of ignorance to execute translational research successfully.
Finally, in keeping with the Malaysia Day theme of Malaysia Prihatin and to commemorate the establishment of the Malaysian federation in 1963, let us enliven the aspirations of Keluarga Malaysia in moving Malaysia’s higher education forward, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, ability, or even political affiliation. Selamat Hari Malaysia!
DR FEROZ DE COSTA
DR DIYANA KASIMON
ASSOC PROF DR MONIZA WAHEED
Lecturers
Department of Communication
Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication
Universiti Putra Malaysia
Guest Writers
Ministry of Higher Education