Curtin Sarawak offering engineering PhD studentships

Miri – 13 August 2015 – Three PhD studentships for students interested in and capable of conducting advanced research study are now available from Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak).

The PhD studentships leading to the award of PhD degrees are being offered by the Civil and Construction Engineering Department of Curtin Sarawak’s Faculty of Engineering and Science.

They provide an exciting opportunity for academically able students to participate in a research project entitled ‘Development of a Sustainable Industrialised Building System Using Cold-Formed Structural Steel’.

Funded under the Curtin Sarawak Research Institute (CSRI) Flagship Research Grant scheme, the research project covers areas such as the performance of cold-formed steel trusses, cold-formed steel decking profile for composite slabs and cold formed steel composite sandwich wall panels, each of which will form a PhD thesis topic.

PhD students working on the project will be placed under the supervision of a group of academics headed by Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Science Associate Professor Ir. Lau Hieng Ho.

The group also consists of Dean of the Curtin Sarawak Graduate School Professor Marcus Man Kon Lee and academics from the Department of Civil and Construction Engineering including Department Head Dr. Tang Fu Ee, Associate Professor Muhammad Ekhlasur Rahman and Dr. Charles Kwet Shin Loo Chin Moy.

Dr. Andrew Whyte, Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at Curtin University’s main campus in Perth, Western Australia, will also be part of the group.

Each of these studentships will include tuition fees and a monthly stipend of RM2,000 for a period of three years. Candidates must hold at least an upper second class honours degree in civil or mechanical engineering and successful applicants must be enrolled as PhD candidates at Curtin Sarawak.

Interested candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible, indicating on their application forms their preference of thesis topic. The deadline for applications is 1 September 2015.

Curtin Sarawak is considered one of the best institutions for engineering in the country and is rated Tier 5 (Excellent) for its engineering programmes under the Malaysian Qualification Agency’s discipline-based D-SETARA rating system. It is also rated Tier 5 in the overall SETARA ratings of Malaysian higher education institutions.

Curtin Sarawak’s Faculty of Engineering and Science is committed to the continual enhancement of teaching and research and the pursuit of excellence in everything that it does, including providing innovative engineering solutions and applications of engineering technology that benefit communities, and contributing to the advancement of scientific knowledge and understanding.

Anticipating significant growth in student numbers and research activities in the coming years, Curtin Sarawak has embarked on a new phase of expansion which includes the development of a new building to house the Faculty of Engineering and Science, as well as a BioValley Research Centre in collaboration with the Sarawak Ministry of Industrial Development.

For further information on the studentships, contact Associate Professor Ir. Lau Hieng Ho at 085-443 303 or email lau.hieng.ho@curtin.edu.my. To apply for admission to the PhD degree programme, download the application form available at www.curtin.edu.my/R&D/HDR/download/GS-Admission-HDR.pdf.

Cold-formed steel used in the construction of building roofs.

Curtin Sarawak’s new Faculty of Engineering and Science building scheduled for completion in 2016.