Joint Symposium on Mental Health Literacy between the Departments of Psychology from St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), Bangalore, India and Sunway University

Joint Symposium on Mental Health Literacy between the Departments of Psychology from St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), Bangalore, India and Sunway University

The Department of Psychology of Sunway University held a Joint Symposium on Mental Health Literacy with the Department of Psychology from St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), Bangalore, India on 27 November 2018. This was part of a 3-day visit as a follow up to an earlier Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Sunway University and St. Joseph’s College in October 2018, as a joint activity to begin the mutual promise to actively work together on academic and research efforts. The first item on the MOU was to develop academic and cultural exchange and so this visit covered it with a joint symposium on psychology and a cultural presentation.

 


The participants of the Joint Symposium on Mental Health Literacy between Sunway University and St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), Bangalore, India.


Prof Neeta Pereira and Assoc Prof Dr Alvin Ng holding up the Memorandum of Understanding, as designated representatives of each institution.

St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous) is a leading Jesuit tertiary institution in India with a 136-years history. It is affiliated with Bangalore University. In 2017, the college was given a rating of A++ (3.79/4), in the re-accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), which makes it the highest ranking college in India. The Department of Psychology from St. Joseph’s College visited as part of the larger delegation from the college to Sunway University for the 1st International Conference on Business Dynamics 2018 - “Creating Innovative and Sustainable Businesses for Strategic Social Economic Growth” on 26 and 27 November 2018, jointly organised by Victoria University at Sunway and St. Joseph’s College. Details on the conference can be read here: http://www.sjc.ac.in/international_conference.html

Before the joint symposium, the visitors from SJC, led by the Head of Department of Psychology, Prof Neeta Pereira and Assistant Professor, Mr Ninoy Rodrigues, along with 35 students, gave us a wonderful cultural performance on 26 November 2018. The students presented a variety of songs, dances and even a yoyo performance. The performances included a soothing metal tongue drum music, classic Indian songs, a medley of Bollywood songs from 1960s to 2000s, dances from very famous Bollywood movies as well as popular English songs accompanied by Mr. Ninoy Rodrigues as the guitarist. This event ended with a presented by Prof Nigel Marsh on Sunway University’s Postgraduate Research programmes in Psychology. Prof Marsh’s talk garnered a lot of interest from the SJC students.


Prof Neeta Pereira giving an introductory speech at the cultural presentation.


Bollywood dances from the SJC students.


A student from SJC singing traditional South Indian songs


Mr Ninoy Rodrigues, Ms Teo Wei Nie, Ms Jacqueline Gun, Prof Nigel Marsh, A/Prof Alvin Ng, Ms Woo Pei Jun, Dr M.S. Priyadarshini, Prof. Neeta Pereira at the cultural performance.


Prof Nigel Marsh talking about the postgraduate research programmes at the Department of Psychology at Sunway University.

The joint symposium was held on 27 November 2018, where there were two keynote addresses on the topic “Mental health literacy in Malaysia and India” by Prof. Neeta Pereira and Assoc Prof. Dr Alvin Ng. Students from both the institutions presented their research work in both oral and poster formats. In total, there were 10 presentations from Sunway University’s postgraduate and undergraduate Psychology students and 7 psychology students from St Joseph’s College, on various topics related to human performance and well-being. Overall, it was a very successful symposium with many discussions after each presentation, suggesting the need for more collaborations in research between the two institutions.


Prof Neeta Pereira delivers her keynote while A/Prof Dr Alvin Ng looks on.

On 28 November 2018, Prof Pereira and Mr Rodrigues had a meeting with part of the BSc (Hons) Psychology Programme Committee, led by Ms Jacqueline Gun Chin Hun, with members comprising Ms Woo Pei Jun as the Internship Coordinator, Dr M.S. Priyadarshini as the next Programme Leader and Dr Alvin Ng as the Head of Department. The group discussed program matters as well as academic exchange and research collaboration. The hosts brought Prof Pereira and Mr Rodrigues to visit the Psychology labs and various other facilities of the University.


St Joseph’s College academics meeting with the BSc (Hons) Psychology Programme Committee

The delegates from St Joseph’s College stayed the whole week and had time for some sightseeing around Kuala Lumpur and a full day outing at Sunway Lagoon. They were reportedly very impressed by Sunway as a whole, as well as Malaysia. The Department of Psychology is very pleased by this fruitful visit and looks forward to more collaborations with Prof Neeta Pereira and her team in the near future.