Newly-extended Newton-Ungku Omar Fund paves way for greater UK-Malaysia science collaborations

The banners were up, halls were ready, agenda ready to run. This is it – the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund Open Day, the Fund’s landmark event in Malaysia.

The UK and Malaysia are strong partners in various fields – science and innovation collaborations under the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund banner being one of them. Since its inception in 2014, the Fund has been playing a vital role in growing the capabilities and capacities of Malaysia’s scientific community. Established as a joint partnership between the Malaysian and British governments, the Fund allows local researchers the opportunity to collaborate with research partners in the UK, working on projects that address specific issues helping to tackle the global challenge of climate change and sustainability.

Working together with 10 Malaysian and 10 UK delivery partner organisations, the Fund has initiated more than 250 collaborations, involved 55 research institutions and more than 300 researchers/scientists, alongside not less than 50 industries. These collaborations gave rise to 15 knowledge transfers, 39 publications, and 60 people trained in science communication.

This is no small feat for the UK’s partnership with Malaysia. Malaysia is one of the most active of the 18 Newton Fund countries, with one of the highest averages in respect of the quality of applications.

The Open Day event brought all of these achievements together. To add the icing to the cake, both the Malaysian and UK governments formally announced the extension of the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund from 2019 to 2021 with up to 50% increase in committed funding and resources from both countries. This announcement was jointly made by Prof. Emeritus Tan Sri Zakri Abdul Hamid, Malaysia’s Science Advisor to the Prime Minister, and Her Excellency Vicki Treadell, British High Commissioner to Malaysia.

Moving forward, we can expect a greater push for larger-scale research calls, innovation-focused activities and capacity building activities that support Malaysia’s development agenda.

It is also in this spirit that the Weather and Climate Science for Service Partnership (WCSSP) was launched during the Open Day. Communities in Malaysia are regularly affected by floods. This new science partnership between the UK Met Office and National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) Malaysia, Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia), National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM), and Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) Malaysia aims to understand more about Malaysia’s severe weather, and to protect lives and livelihoods in this country and the region.

Activities under the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund are diverse. As well as meteorological science, approximately £4.6 million worth of research grants were awarded to 12 winning collaborative projects under the ‘Bilateral medical and health research in non-communicable diseases’ programme. Funded by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia and Medical Research Council UK, this two-year programme marks a huge step forward in the quest to tackle non-communicable diseases especially prevalent in Malaysia such as cancer, diabetes and obesity.

Throughout the day, we networked with academic researchers, small-medium enterprises, and current Fund recipients as we participated in a series of talks, workshops and showcases by the Fund’s Malaysian delivery partners and successful awardees. We picked up skills on ‘How to write a good international collaboration proposal’, learnt about managing intellectual property, and were briefed on new funding opportunities.

It was 5pm. The crowd was thinning, booths were packing up, banners being pulled down. Our hard work had paid off. The Open Day was a success with more than 400 people walking through our doors, information shared, and new skills learned. More importantly, it was the effective joint effort with and between Malaysian and UK delivery partners that contributed to the accomplished aims of the Open Day – to increase awareness on the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund, to deepen engagement with stakeholders and to showcase its successes to garner further support moving forward.

The event video can be found on UK in Malaysia Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bhckl/videos/1390426927699583/