Cream of the crop: Sultan Abdullah sharing a light moment with the recipients at Istana Negara. — Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah conferred the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Scholarship (BYDPA) 2023 on 11 students of higher learning institutions at Istana Negara.
Six recipients were awarded a scholarship to pursue a doctorate, while five others for the Master’s degree (research) level.
Five recipients will continue their studies abroad, while the other six have and will continue their studies at local research universities this year.
The students who received scholarships at the PhD level are Wan Nur Hanisah Wan Noor Azam Shah, 31, who is pursuing her studies in Machine Learning at University College London (UCL) and Muhammad Nasri Nasehir Khan, 24, in Environmental Science at Universiti Sains Malaysia.
The rest are Izzati Izyani Japar, 25, (Mathematics and Statistics, UCL); Chia Yuh Cai, 28, (Genetics & Heredity, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia); Siti Saffa’ Shaharuddin, 28, (Islamic Finance, International Islamic University Malaysia) and Wong Whui Dong, 25, (Nanotechnology, Universiti Malaya).
The recipients of the Master’s degree programmes are A. Thenesh, 25, (International Law, Harvard University); Nurul Juliana Syafinaz Abu Sopian, 25, (Veterinary Immunology, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)); Nurul Najwa Asip, 25, (Food Technology, UPM); Faten Hanani Muhamad Hakimi, 26, (Earth Sciences, UCL) and V. Yashvinnie, 24, (Immunology, King’s College).BYDPA is a prestigious scholarship that was introduced in 2006.
To date, 198 individuals have received sponsorship for studies in the fields of Economics, Law, Science and Technology, as well as Islamic Finance.
Also present at the ceremony were Public Service director-general Datuk Dr Zulkapli Mohamed and its Human Capital Development division director Jamalulail Abu Bakar.
Johor-born Thenesh expressed gratitude to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for the scholarship, adding that it has motivated him to return and serve his country upon completing his studies.
Wan Nur Hanisah, who is from Bukit Mertajam, Penang, said the scholarship will ease her financial burden to continue her PhD studies abroad.
“This is a great trust for all of us and I am determined to foster collaboration between UCL and the industry in the future,” she said. — Bernama
