KUCHING, Dec 8 — An associate professor from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus (Swinburne Sarawak) has won the 2020 UN Women Malaysia WEPs Award for the Community and Industry Engagement Category recently.

The winner, Assoc Prof Dr Ida Fatimawati Adi Badiozaman, is the university’s Head of School of Design and Arts, in the Faculty of Business, Design and Arts with the university.

According to her biography found at Swinburne Sarawak’s website, her current research interests cover teacher education, academic identity and student engagement in higher education.

Her recent publications included the ones entitled ‘What sustains the novice teacher: The role of goal fusion’ (2019), ‘Rethinking English language education in Malaysia: navigating rhetoric and reality’ (2019) and ‘Students’ perception and use of English in higher education institution’ (2019).

"Dr Ida graduated from University of Malaya (UM) with Honours in Bachelor of Education, majoring in TESL in 2002,”

 "After spending two years teaching English and English Literature in a residential school in Kuching, she went on to pursue Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MA TESOL) degree in Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand,” said her biography on the website.

News about Ida receiving the award was confirmed by Swinburne Sarawak officials today.

Ida obtained her PhD in Education (TESOL) from Massey University, New Zealand in 2012 and while undertaking her PhD, she worked at two tertiary institutions: International Pacific College and Professional and Continuing Education (PaCE) in Massey University.

Ida was also a tutor for the Licentiate Diploma and Certificate in TESOL (Trinity College London), specialising in Academic Writing papers.

The UN Women 2020 Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards by United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (also known as UN Women) is the first awards initiative in the region to recognise exemplary business practice for gender equality.

It is aligned to UN Women and UN Global Compact’s Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) which is a set of seven principles guiding businesses to become more gender-responsive across their value chain.

The WEPs Awards presents a unique opportunity for individuals and companies to get recognised and make their efforts to advance gender equality visible amongst their customers, employees and partners and inspire others to take action.

The UN Women 2020 Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards will recognise initiatives in the categories such as Leadership Commitment, Youth Leadership, Gender-inclusive Workplace, Gender-responsive Marketplace, Community and Industry Engagement and Covid-19 Action.

Applicants from China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam will have the chance to be recognised in the National WEPs Awards in November as part of the wider initiative by the European Union-funded project known as WeEmpowerAsia of UN Women.

All applicants, including National WEPs Awards Winners, will have the opportunity to be selected as Asia-Pacific regional winners and celebrate in the larger Regional Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards. — Borneo Post