KUALA LUMPUR: Science, technology and innovation (STI) cannot progress by working in silos as it needs the cooperation of industry players and research institutions, says Chang Lih Kang.
The Science, Technology and Innovation Minister (Mosti) said this after presenting the awards to the recipients of the National Young Scientist Award (ASMN) 2025 for five categories namely biology, physics, chemistry, engineering and medicine.
“The award is an annual initiative whereby we recognise young scientists, and through this award we hope to connect them with industry professionals and research institutions. So the aim of the award is cooperation.
“Young scientists have an important role not only in the field but play a bigger role as they have the motivation and courage to come up with scientific analysis. This helps to spear the STI ahead in the country,” he told reporters here on Thursday (Nov 20).
This year, recipients of the ASMN 2025 were Assoc Prof Dr Goh Hoe Han from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in biology, Ts Dr Puvaneswaran Chelvanathan from UKM in physics, Prof ChM Dr Mohd Hazwan Hussin from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in chemistry, Assoc Prof Dr Chua Jia Xin from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) in medicine and Prof Dr Ong Wee Jun from Xiamen University Malaysia in engineering.
On the awards, Chang said that it was considered a high achievement among young scientists to get the necessary recognition.
“We will look at the suitability of their projects. If they have submitted any applications with us, we can look at how to fund their projects as well as research and development (R&D),” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Chang said the ministry also wanted to ensure that awardees have the opportunity to present their research results at international forums such as the International Conference on Environment and Life Science (ICELS), International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research for Sustainable Innovation (ICMRSI) or Sci4Life Conference 2025.
On the ongoing STI Programme l00³, he said the 2025 Cycle 2 was currently underway, involving 217 scientists and 217 schools as a continuation of efforts to strengthen science, technology, engineering, and mathematics interests and skills among the younger generation.
“We don’t have any competition but the programme is aimed to pique the interest of students. So far, the responses have been encouraging, as such, we will continue our efforts,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Chua said the award motivates her to strive more, especially in bringing advanced technology to Malaysia and to make therapeutic antibodies more affordable.
This she said, would allow Malaysian cancer patients to have access to the advanced therapy.
“My background is making therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and I am making antibodies in a very niche area. So in the past, I was able to show that the antibodies I generated had managed to bind with cancer cells and kill them directly.
“One of the antibodies I made previously in the United Kingdom has been licensed by a pharmaceutical company to bring into the clinics, and to see whether we can save cancer patients,” she said, adding the award by the government showed support for young scientists in translating research.
For Dr Mohd Hazwan, the award motivates more young scientists to produce advanced and high-impact research.
“My research focused on green technology producing anti-rust from biomass resources. I had used palm oil waste, which has not been used by others.
“Together with the help from Mosti and the Higher Education Ministry education fund, I have managed to translate my research into a prototype. Right now, it is at the pre-commercialisation stage,” he said.
The National Young Scientists Award is held in recognition of the outstanding achievements of young scientists under 40 in the fields of STI.
This year, they received the highest number of nominations throughout the ASMN, with 86 in total.
