Psychology Alumna Glenneze Ong accepted into the very competitive Doctor of Clinical Psychology Programme at University of East Anglia, UK

It is with great pleasure for the Department of Psychology at the School of Science and Technology, Sunway University to announce that its alumna and research assistant at the Sunway Baby Lab, Glenneze Ong Sze Chyen has successfully gained a place on the very competitive Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology at the Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, UK. This is a very good achievement not just for Sunway University as an alma mater, but also for the whole country where Glenneze will contribute to increasing the number of clinical psychologists in the health system.

Glenneze Ong is one of top students from her batch, graduating with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychology with First Class Honours in 2016. She went on to be a research assistant for Woo Pei Jun at the Sunway Baby Lab, conducting various studies on babies’ cognitive functioning.

Glenneze Ong in action together with Woo Pei Jun (seated) at the Sunway Baby Lab.

The Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia is a large, well-established and highly-respected training programme in the UK. Each year UEA accepts a small number of international students onto the Doctoral Clinical Psychology Training programme at UEA with Malaysian students forming the highest percentage of international students on the programme (around 40%). The programme has a unique model whereby it creates opportunities for Malaysian students to return to Malaysia for their final year clinical placements to help them transition back to working in the country. In addition, every year UEA sends a number of UK, Clinical Psychology students to gain experience working in SOLS Health, an NGO in Kuala Lumpur, where Associate Professor Alvin Ng Lai Oon, Head of the Department of Psychology at Sunway University, is an Advisor.

Glenneze came across University of East Anglia when Prof Sian Coker and Dr Paul Fisher were at Sunway University in 2016 to give a talk on the DClinPsy Programme at UEA. She was impressed by the presentation and decided to apply for the programme after consulting with them on the entry requirements. Glenneze then took up the research assistant job at the Sunway Baby in order to gain the additional relevant experience required, as part of fulfilling the entry requirements of the DClinPsy Programme. Her application was shortlisted and following a successful interview, she was offered a place on the UEA Programme, starting October in 2019

Prof Coker, who is the Deputy Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology at Norwich Medical School, commented that “We are delighted to welcome Glenneze to the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at UEA where she will join a vibrant community of international students on our training cohort. We are also pleased to continue to collaborate with our colleagues at Sunway University on a variety of training initiatives”.  Prof Coker is also currently a Visiting Professor to the Department of Psychology at Sunway University from April to September 2019.

Glenneze Ong flanked by Woo Pei Jun and Prof Sian Coker.

Glenneze will be starting her doctoral studies at UEA in September 2019. In response to her successful entry into Norwich Medical School, this was what Glenneze had to say:

“It truly is an honour and privilege for me to be accepted into the UEA ClinPsyD programme. Becoming a clinical psychologist has been my aspiration from the very beginning of my tertiary education, hence I am deeply grateful to be given the opportunity to pursue my doctorate studies at UEA. I am also extremely appreciative to my family and friends who have been my greatest support system throughout my pursuit for a career in clinical psychology. Upon the completion of my doctorate training, I hope to become a well-learned and skilled clinical psychologist who will be able to make a positive impact in my client’s mental health and emotional wellbeing. I also look forward to contributing to the mental health initiatives and mental healthcare services in Malaysia.”

Glenneze was also very appreciative of her experience at Sunway University, that led to her being inspired to further her studies in the mental health field of clinical psychology. She reported her experience at Sunway to be very fruitful and valuable in turning her aspirations into a reality. She went from being a student to a research assistant who has grown immensely as a person and a learner – with contributions from dedication and support of her lecturers. Glenneze recounted:

“What started out as merely a small seed of interest in the human mind, thoughts and behaviours were later nurtured and cultivated into a passion for clinical psychology. Learning subjects such as Behaviour Modification and Abnormal Psychology from field experts gave me insight into the real-world mental health settings, by which greatly fuelled my passion to pursue a career in clinical psychology. I’m glad that my learning opportunity did not just stop upon the completion of my Bachelor’s Degree, but continued on as I began working as a research assistant at the Sunway Baby Lab, under the supervision of Ms Woo Pei Jun. Through my work at the Baby lab, I was given the opportunity to work with children from various developmental stages ranging from infants to pre-schoolers, and to conduct research studies focusing on a wide range of topics such as face perception, tone perception, word learning and implicit bias. Working with a knowledgeable and experienced researcher such as Ms Woo has been a rewarding experience thus far as I have learnt to develop both my research and professional skills. All the knowledge and skills that I have obtained throughout my time at Sunway University, I believe they have become a significant launching pad in preparing me, not just for my postgraduate studies in clinical psychology, but also for life beyond my education. With that, my alma mater, Sunway University, shall always be held dearly in my heart.”

Associate Professor Dr Alvin Ng, Head of the Department of Psychology expressed his delight in Glenneze’s acceptance into the UEA programme as it is a positive development for clinical psychology in Malaysia. Dr Ng is himself a clinical psychologist and is keen to have more mental health professionals in Malaysia given the critical shortage of qualified ones in the country to deal with the rising mental health issues in society. He said that Glenneze would be able to come back to the country equipped not just with clinical and advanced research skills but also leadership qualities that are trained in the UEA DClinPsy Programme. He hopes that more Malaysians are able to receive Doctoral training in clinical psychology to contribute to the development of better mental health services in the country, together with other mental health professionals such as psychiatrists, counsellors and marriage and family therapists.

Since 2015, academics in the Department of Psychology at Sunway have been collaborating with colleagues in Department of Clinical Psychology at University of East Anglia Norwich (UEA), to try to address some of the unmet need for highly trained clinical psychologists in Malaysia. Sunway University has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of East Anglia dedicated to training and research collaborations which has been successfully employed to underpin this collaboration (see link: https://university.sunway.edu.my/blog/university-east-anglia-encouraged-active-collaborations-department-psychology-sunway-university). This achievement by Glenneze Ong adds to the existing success in this collaboration.  

We wish Glenneze Ong Sze Chyen all the best in her pursuits to be a clinical psychologist. The Department of Psychology is extremely proud of her achievements and is very happy to have her as an alumna.