KUCHING, 30 November 2013: The winners of the International Convention Scholarship Award now in its fourth year, were announced by Mr. Mike Cannon, Managing Director of the Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB) and presented by YB Dato’ Sri Dr Muhammad Leo Michael Toyad Abdullah Chairman of SCB and YB Datuk Haji Talib Bin Zulpilip, Assistant Minister of Tourism Sarawak at the Anak Sarawak Appreciation Award gala dinner on 30th November 2013, held at the Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA).
Six scholarship awards, each valued at RM 10,000, covering travel, accommodation, association membership and convention registration fees were presented to recipients to enable them to attend an international convention of their choice.
Mr. Mike Cannon commented, “I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the award winners. These talented Sarawakians have taken a positive step to build international professional networks — networks that will help in winning more international conference bids for Sarawak in the future.”
“Our aim with this award is to allow and encourage potential new bidders to actively participate in attending international conventions and represent Sarawak – in other words, to be convention ambassadors. As a result, they can showcase the benefits and opportunities that come from networking at these conventions. It is important for Sarawak to develop its own association base with active members,” he added.
Winners were selected by a judging panel consisting of representatives of SCB who shortlisted the finalists based on written applications and interviews with selected applicants.
The award winners for 2013 are:
1. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Voon Boo Ho
Lecturer, University Teknologi MARA Sarawak
Conference attending: 2013 International Conference on Materials, Architecture and Engineering (Beijing, China)
2. Dr. Hamrila Abdul Latip
Lecturer, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
Conference attending: International Conference on Economic and Social Sustainability 2013 (Tokyo, Japan)
3. Dr George Ngui Kwang Sing
Lecturer, Swinburne University of Technology (Sarawak Campus)
Conference attending: The Fifth Asian Conference on Education, ACE 2013 (Osaka, Japan)
4. Dr. Caesar Dealwis
Lecturer, Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak (UiTM)
Conference attending: FEL XVIII 2014 Foundation of Endangered Languages Conferences (Location TBC at Ottawa, Canada event in 2013)
5. Brian Loh
Postgraduate, Swinburne University of Technology (Sarawak Campus)
Conference attending: 9th International Conference on Information, Communication and Signal Processing (Tainan, Taiwan)
6. Ms Chua Lee Chuan (ABSENT WITH APOLOGY)
Lecturer, Institut Pendidikan Guru (IPG) Kampus Batu Lintang
Conference attending: International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED) (Stockholm, Sweden)
Mr. Dylan Redas Noel, Director of Research for SCB commented, “The winners were selected based on the quality of submissions and feasibility of the conference rotation and its scope of programme. Furthermore, the award winners were very passionate and dedicated in their work and this award will further encourage them to consider bidding for conventions to Sarawak”.
The International Association Convention Scholarship Award is an initiative of SCB, the marketing arm of the State Government in promoting Sarawak as a Business Events destination. SCB’s primary role is to assist meeting planners to present competitive bids, develop new meetings, maximize delegate attendance through delegate boosting and develop tailor-made incentive proposals.
“The quality of applications and increased number of applicants this year has made the awards very competitive. We are glad to see so many new applications come through. We hope that this will encourage more Sarawakians to take up the challenge and send in their application for next year,” he added.
The International Association Convention Scholarship Awards are open to all residents of Sarawak over 18 years of age from educational institutions, private companies or Government Departments, or students of tertiary institutions with support from their University or College. They must either be existing members of non-profit or Government associations or eligible to join. The selected convention must rotate among different destinations and fulfil the criteria to be hosted in Malaysia.
For more information of The International Association Convention Scholarship Award and how you can enter for 2013, please visit our website at: http://businesseventssarawak.com/special-programmes/international-association-convention-scholarship-award/
