September 25, 2012, by Fraser
Outstanding Young Malaysian Award for UNNC academic
Dr Alain Chong from The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) has been named winner in the academic category of the Outstanding Young Malaysian Award 2012.
Assistant Professor in Information Systems at Ningbo’s Nottingham University Business School (NUBS), Dr Chong joins an illustrious list of past winners including Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh and Olympic badminton silver-medallist Lee Chong Wei.
Dr Chong said: “I feel humbled and honoured to be selected as one of the Outstanding Malaysians of the Year. I will continue to work hard and hope that I can serve as a good example to young Malaysians who aspire to join the academic field.”
Service to humanity
The awards recognise young people who excel in their chosen fields and are sponsored by Junior Chamber International (JCI), which is one of the biggest non-political youth service organisations in the world.
When making their decision, the judges factor in research work – 32-year-old Dr Chong has published over 70 journal articles since completing his PhD in 2008 – but he doesn’t think that is why he won.
Dr Chong said: “The key consideration is how we exemplify the principle of Junior Chamber International: ‘Service to humanity is the best work of life’.
“When I was in Malaysia, I was involved in various projects which aimed to improve computer literacy among children and the elderly. This included teaching children maths and English using multimedia and interactive software. I love research which involves understanding people’s interaction with computer applications.”
Inspiring future academics
“Besides my research, one of the most exciting things about my job is that I get to meet great young minds every day. Students at The University of Nottingham Ningbo China are focused, motivated and intelligent.
“Knowing my job is to inspire my students to widen their horizons, search for knowledge and to contribute to their society is what makes me go to work with a big smile.”
Dr Chong was born in Britain, raised in Malaysia and now works at the University’s Ningbo campus – and so exemplifies The University of Nottingham’s global reach.
Prior to joining UNNC, Dr Chong was a postdoctoral research fellow at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Dr Chong is the editor in chief of International Journal of Services, Economic and Management and editor of International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management and International Journal of Network and Mobile Technologies. He also services on the editorial advisory board of Online Information Review and editorial review board of the Journal of Computer Information Systems.
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