Views of the BIDP II (Agri Track) Programme - from the UK, here

18 Dec 2013

December is a strange time – the days are getting very short in the northern hemisphere and always one of the busiest months; end of term, financial year for some, Christmas present and preparation… but a BIDP in Malaysia, I could not say No.

My journey to KL started at Gatwick airport via Istanbul this time, and arrived at ABI in Serdang where I was going to call “home” for the next 3 days. Somehow, there is something magical about 3… this cohort is my third cohort (see below). A few things stood out immediately in the first few moments:

-          A mixed group with a diverse technical background and 

           there is a Chemical Engineer(!);

-          Graduates from around the world;

-          Mix of participants from research institutes and the industry (>50%);

-          And a very responsive and lively group (except around 3pm)

I had made some minor changes to the course, adding a lot more fundamental theories (adsorption, nucleation, crystallisation, drying, etc) but also some practical examples to apply these theories in areas like scaling-up, estimation. I have always argued that this is necessary to truly understand Downstream Bioprocessing and be able to fully appreciate the implications of each model or equation. So a huge thanks for bearing with me whilst going through the derivations. I hope the Jaffa Cakes, After Eights and Haribo sweets (again the magical 3!) helped made it a bit easier and more bearable. As I walked around the class during our exercise and examples, I quickly appreciated that there is a lot of talent around…  and I am very excited about this.

Again, I would have to take my hat off to TalentCorp and HAT for all the initiative and efforts to train our next generation of scientists and engineers who in my opinion, will without doubt be Malaysia’s leaders in the bio-industry sector.

With the class participants outside the classroom

I felt this showed clearly in our last group activity – the role-play where we had:

The Company with a CEO, CTO, R&D Director and Security Head

The Investors with a Buffet philosophy

Local NGOs and Environmentalists

The Government with the PM himself and his trusted cabinet

Scientific & Academic Community – very typical of the Profs

Kampung, spokesperson for the village and chairperson for the Kelab Ibu-bapa (?)

I can only say - you all were fantastic!

On a personal note, I was also able to visit the Putrajaya area and it is fantastic to see the developments in Malaysia, and am always impressed with the progress our country is making. I also had the opportunity to enjoy some very delicious local delicacies, keeping me happy for the next phase until my next visit.

I am now awaiting my return flight to Heathrow via Singapore at KLIA. On a quick calculation, to include transit time, my total travel time for this trip is a total of 35 hrs (!). However, you all made my role as instructor an easy one and truly enjoyable, and all well worth it. 

So, thank you very much!

Do keep in touch and very best wishes in all your undertakings.

                                                                                     Written by: Jerry Heng