The winners of the International Association 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 Dato Joseph Salang Gandum, Deputy Minister of Information, Communications & Culture at the Anak Sarawak Appreciation Award gala dinner on 24th November 2012, held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK).
Five 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. I am proud to see Sarawakians taking a positive step to expand their horizons and build international professional networks to prepare them to bid for international conferences in the future.”
“Our aim with this award is to encourage potential new bidders to actively participate in attending international conventions and in turn, 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.
Scholarship Winners 2012 with SCB Board of Directors
The award winners for 2012 are:
1. Dr. Ong Puay Hoon
President, Dyslexia Association of Sarawak
Conference attending: Rendez-Vous 2012: Community Participation in Education, Research and Service
2. Dr. Ting Choo Yee
Associate Professor, Multimedia University (MMU), Cyberjaya
Conference attending: IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics
3. Mr. Kang Chia Yang
Lecturer, Politeknik Mukah Sarawak
Conference attending: International Conference on Computer, Electrical and System Sciences, and Engineering (ICCESSE)
4. Mr. Joseph Ramanair (ABSENT WITH APOLOGY)
Senior Lecturer, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
Conference attending: 10th Asia TEFL International Conference
5. Dr. Khong Heng Yen
Senior Lecturer,Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak (UiTM)
Conference attending: 61st International Congress of the Society for Medicinal Plants and Natural Products Research (GA) 2013
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 from SCB, the marketing arm of the State Government in promoting Sarawak as a MICE 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/
