Curtin Malaysia’s Head of Mechanical Engineering conferred prestigious SFHEA award

Miri – 23 February 2021 – The Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department of Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia), Dr. Sukanta Roy, has been conferred the United Kingdom’s prestigious Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) award.

The SFHEA is an international recognition for excellence, leadership, and commitment to professionalism in learning and teaching awarded by Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy), a UK-based organisation dedicated to helping higher education across the world shape its future. It provides insights so institutions can use the foresight, helps enhance organisational performance to deliver sustainable change, develops and connects people, and accredits achievements of outstanding individuals in higher education.

In congratulating Dr. Sukanta on his achievement, Pro Vice-Chancellor, President and Chief Executive of Curtin Malaysia, Professor Simon Leunig, said, “We are very proud that Dr. Sukanta has been honoured with this highly coveted professional recognition following a review by the Advance HE awards panel.

“This reflects his successful engagements across all five areas of pedagogic activities of the UK Professional Standards Framework, his expertise and understanding across all aspects of core knowledge of higher education, and successful engagement in blended teaching practices in mechanical engineering.”

Professor Leunig added that the award was also an acknowledgement of Curtin Malaysia’s commitment to ensuring continued professional development in learning and teaching, scholarship, assessment and related academic and professional practices amongst its academics.

Advance HE confers the SFHEA to experienced staff who are able to demonstrate, impact and influence through, for example, responsibility for leading, managing or organising programmes, subjects and disciplinary areas. Other criteria are the demonstration of experience as mentors of peers and young academics, experience with departmental or wider teaching and learning support, and advisory responsibilities within an institution.

Dr. Lisa Carry, Lead of the Learning Innovation and Teaching Excellence Centre (LITEC) at Curtin University in Perth, also congratulated Dr. Sukanta on his award and commended him for his hard work and ongoing commitment to professional development at Curtin Malaysia.

Advance HE previously awarded Dr. Sukanta with a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) award for his commitment to learning and teaching practices in 2019.

 Dr. Sukanta has been the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Curtin Malaysia since March 2019. Before joining Curtin Malaysia in 2017, he worked in France, at Aix Marseille University from 2015 to 2017 and Ecole Centrale de Nantes from 2014 to 2015, as a Post-Doctoral Fellow under a prestigious Erasmus Mundus Asia to Europe Post-Doctoral Fellowship which he received in 2014.

In 2020, apart from his learning and teaching activities at Curtin Malaysia, Dr. Sukanta delivered a total of 12 keynotes speeches and guest lectures at different universities in India and Malaysia on the recent trends on renewable energy technologies. He also convened the one-week Staff Training Programme on Recent Trends in Energy Conversion Technologies (SSTP-RTECT 2020) at Curtin Malaysia which was delivered by 20 speakers from eight countries to 200 participants from 42 universities, colleges and industries.

“I’m hugely honoured to receive the SFHEA from Advance HE as a recognition for my contributions and commitment to higher education practices at Curtin Malaysia. It is a significant career milestone for me,” said Dr. Sukanta.

Dr. Sukanta also expressed his gratitude to Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Simon Leunig, Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Beena Giridharan, Dean of Faculty of Engineering and Science Professor Tuong Thuy Vu, and colleagues at Curtin Malaysia for their unconditional support of his learning and teaching efforts.

“As an academic, I have always been passionate about implementing blended learning pedagogical approaches in my learning and teaching delivery. I highly appreciate Curtin’s teaching practices which include knowledge sharing sessions with industry experts, community representatives, and experienced academic staff to provide greater student learning experiences,” he said.

In recognition of his active contribution to teaching, research, and leadership, Dr. Sukanta was awarded Curtin University’s Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in 2019 and Curtin Malaysia’s Learning and Teaching Excellence Award in 2020.

Dr. Sukanta Roy recognised for contributions and commitment to higher education practices at Curtin Malaysia.

Dr. Sukanta’s award.