By DayakDaily Team
MELBOURNE, Aug 27: Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus (Swinburne Sarawak) will develop a research and development (R&D) centre in Kuching focusing on renewable energy as well as high-tech avionics sectors such as aviation, satellites, and drones.
In a Sarawak Public Communication Unit (Ukas) report, Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the site to house the new research centre will be identified soon.
He said the research centre would be instrumental in allowing the university to fully focus on research to explore new methods for energy distribution.
“The Federal government has identified Sarawak as a place to launch satellites, and these satellites are related to aerospace.
“So, coming to this campus, we see the raw materials used in aviation, such as drones, aeroplane components, and other components that must have strong and light materials, including composites.
“We will go back to discuss because we want to specialise in the campus in Sarawak to do energy research and turbine technology,” he said.
He said during an interview with Ukas after leading the Sarawak government delegation to the Swinburne-CSIRO National Industry 4.0 Testlab in Clayton, Victoria in Australia today.
Abang Johari added that his side will collaborate with the university in Australia to get teaching staff to enable the research centre in Kuching to operate.
“I see that the teaching staff is at the main campus (Hawthorn), which we can share with Sarawak educational institutions in the knowledge-sharing programme.
“We also need to deal with other universities. For example, from an aerospace point of view, maybe we can get involved with NASA in the United States,” he explained.
According to the Premier, sharing this new knowledge is important because Sarawak has the advantage of having renewable energy to produce these new materials.
In this regard, he said both universities in Sarawak and Australia will hold a student exchange programme at the PhD level for 18 months.
“We can have a PhD student programme—a year and a half in Kuching, a year and a half here (Australia),” he said.
He also emphasised the importance of students mastering the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), which is the key for Sarawak to master new technologies in the future.
Sarawak State Secretary, Datuk Amar Mohamad Abu Bakar Marzuki; Deputy Minister for Energy and. Environmental Sustainability Sarawak, Datuk Dr Hazland Abang Hipni; Swinburne Sarawak’s Board of Directors chairman, Datuk Amar Jaul Samion; Sarawak Financial Secretary, Dato Sri Dr Wan Lizozman Wan Omar; chief political secretary to the Sarawak Premier, Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman; and Yayasan Sarawak director Mersal Abang Rosli were among those who accompanied Abang Johari during the visit. — DayakDaily
