Sunway University’s Department of Psychology to collaborate with University of Western Australia - a World's Top 100 University

Sunway University’s Department of Psychology to collaborate with University of Western Australia - a World's Top 100 University

In January Sunway University’s Department of Psychology played host to a delegation from the Faculty of Science of the University of Western Australia (UWA). According to the most prestigious university ranking system, the Academic Ranking of World Universities, UWA is ranked at number 93 in the world.

The delegation from UWA included Professor Tony O’Donnell, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science; Professor Andrew Page, the Faculty of Science’s Associate Dean Research and a Professor in the School of Psychological Science; and Lauren Mainwaring, the Faculty of Science’s Student Experience Officer. The UWA delegation was accompanied by Julie Hsu, UWA’s Regional Manager for Malaysia and Brunei.

 


The UWA delegation at Sunway University (L-R): Julie Hsu, Prof Andrew Page, Prof Serguei Demidenko, Lauren Mainwaring, Prof Tony O’Donnell, Assoc Prof Dr Alvin Ng and Prof Nigel Marsh.

A meeting was held with staff from Sunway University’s School of Science and Technology, including the Dean, Professor Serguei Demidenko; Associate Dean (Research), Professor Nigel Marsh; and Head of the Department of Psychology, Associate Professor Dr Alvin Ng Lai Oon. The focus of the meeting was on opportunities for collaborative teaching and joint degrees at the postgraduate level. During the discussions it became apparent that UWA’s innovative Master of Business Psychology would be the ideal starting point for this collaborative venture. This is a postgraduate coursework degree and Dr Ng, who is also a UWA alumnus, commented that Sunway University’s Department of Psychology had already established that there was considerable demand from industry in Malaysia for such a programme.


Prof Andrew Page presenting his seminar on “Improving Mental Health Outcomes with New Technologies”

 

Following the meeting Professor Page gave a presentation entitled “Improving mental health outcomes with new technologies”. The presentation described the results from a research programme conducted by Professor Page and colleagues which demonstrated the effective use of technology to enhance clinical decision-making and thereby improve the prediction of health outcomes. Professor Marsh noted that as well as his established expertise in treatment evaluation, Professor Page was notable as a co-author of one of the standard reference textbooks in the field of clinical psychology training.

 


Prof Page answering questions from the audience.

 

Associate Professor Dr Lin Mei-Hua joined the group for a business lunch at Sunway University’s Athanor Restaurant, where she described her research programme on leadership and trust within organisations. Dr Lin, along with Psychology colleagues Dr Michelle Lee and Dr Priyadarshini Srinivasan, has successfully secured a series of research large grants from the Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development to support the research programme. Their programme has some overlap with research activities at UWA which focus on leadership in industry. Dr Ng noted that this provides another opportunity for linkage between the two Psychology Departments.

 


Professors Tony O’Donnell and Andrew Page pose with the audience after the seminar.

Overall the meetings provided some very concrete outcomes and directions for further development. Dr Ng noted that Sunway University’s Department of Psychology was very much looking forward to collaborating with both the School of Psychological Science and the Business School at a World Top 100 University.