VIRTUAL TOUR
2024
10 JanUCSI University sets new research records
KUALA LUMPUR: UCSI University is acknowledged by the Malaysian Book of Records as the first university in Malaysia to publish in the prestigious Harvard Data Science Review.
Launched by the Harvard Data Science Initiative and MIT Press, the Review is a top-ranked peer-reviewed journal that serves as an authoritative outlet for professionals and academics in the burgeoning field of data science.
The record comes after UCSI academics led a five-man research team that published a paper titled Critical Data Challenges in Measuring the Performance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Solutions and the Role of Big-Data Analytics.
UCSI was represented by Assoc Prof Dr Mehrbakhsh Nilashi, Distinguished Prof Dr Ooi Keng Boon and Prof Dr Garry Tan Wei Han. The trio lecture at UCSI’s Graduate Business School and Dr Nilashi stands out as the paper’s principal author.
To cap things off, Prof Ooi and Prof Tan are also recognised as the first Malaysians to publish in the Review.
Thanking UCSI and his co-authors for the support, Prof Ooi said that the research team analysed how sustainability metrics are tracked and identified areas of improvement.
“The UN SDGs have been a hot topic since 2015 and if we want to achieve the goals by 2030, we need to understand the viability of the metrics that are currently used,” he said. “Big data aggregation is crucial in the effort and we postulated this in our paper.”
UCSI vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir said that the achievements reflected the University’s ever-growing emphasis on high-impact research.
“Publishing in a top journal affiliated with Harvard and MIT is no mean feat,” she said after the Malaysian Book of Records certification ceremony.
“These records show that our academics are capable of driving consequential research. We are delighted with the recognition and I am sure that this will spur our students and staff to do more.”
UCSI is one of Asia’s best private universities in the QS World University Rankings 2024. Classified in the world’s top 1%, it is ranked in the top 300.
