Sunway Students receive Merit Awards at the 3rd Malaysian Psychology Conference

Two Sunway University students received merit awards at the 3rd Malaysian Psychology Conference held at the University Tunku Abdul Rahman in Perak on the 23rd of November. Raymond Tang and Puvessha Jegathisan both received the awards for papers they presented based on their undergraduate Honours degree research projects written in conjunction with their research supervisors, Jacqueline Gun and Chee Kwan Foong, respectively.

Students and staff from Sunway University’s Department of Psychology who attended the conference

Raymond’s paper entitled ‘Predictors of sexual experience: Comparison between Christianity and Chinese religion’ was based on data compiled from a larger project designed by Gun which was supported by an Internal Research Grant from Sunway University. While, Jegathisan’s paper entitled ‘Factors influencing attitude towards seeking professional psychological help among Malaysians (Klang Valley)’ was based on data collected from 300 Malaysians living in the Klang Valley.

A total of 11 students from the Department of Psychology gave oral presentations and a further four students did poster presentations at the conference. The majority of the presentations were based on the students’ research projects for their Bachelor of Science (Hons) Psychology degree offered by Sunway University and validated by Lancaster University in the UK.

Raymond Tang and his research supervisor, Jacqueline Gun

Associate Professor Dr Alvin Ng Lai Oon also presented a plenary paper at the conference. Dr Ng’s paper entitled ‘Stories from psychological science: Making theories relevant in daily life’ was delivered to an overflowing auditorium of audience. The applause at the end of his presentation gave ample testimony of the audience’s appreciation of Dr Ng’s use of humour to engage and inform his listeners.

While the Research Supervisors actively coached their students on writing their submissions, Dr Ng together with Dr Lin Mei-Hua, Senior Lecturer, were involved in the time-consuming process of reviewing submission papers months before the conference was held.

Puvessha Jegathisan

Professor Nigel Marsh, Head of Department of Psychology from the Faculty of Science and Technology at Sunway University, had a week prior to the actual event day organised a 3-hour pre-conference practice session where all the student presenters could receive feedback from him and their peers. The presenters reported that they found the practice session very useful and had made them much more confident. Learning from their supervisors on how to present the results from a year-long research project in a 20-minute conference paper was a positive experience for the students and that has given them an additional important skill to take into the workforce.

Professor Marsh had five of his students presented papers at the conference.

The Sunway Psychology Club, a very active student club, was also instrumental in ensuring that its members were informed and encouraged to attend the conference.

The 3rd Malaysian Psychology Conference was organised by the Psychology Heads of Department Council. The Council was formed in 2010 by Departments of Psychology from eight private universities in Malaysia, including Sunway University. One of the main aims of the Council is to hold the national conference so that not only can academics from different universities meet to share ideas and research findings, but also to provide an opportunity for students to present papers based on their research projects yearly. For the vast majority of students, the conference was their first experience in presenting conference papers.

More than 70 students and seven staff from the Sunway University Department of Psychology attended the conference by buses arranged by Dr Ng.

Overall, Sunway University had a strong representation not only in numbers of students attending but also in the number of students presenting at the conference. With students receiving awards for their presentations, it demonstrates the high quality of research being conducted in Sunway University’s Department of Psychology.