Curtin Sarawak and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology looking into collaboration

Miri – 21 May 2015 – Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) and Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne or Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), a technical university specialising in engineering and technology, have agreed to explore possible collaboration.

This follows a visit by the head of the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Curtin Sarawak’s Faculty of Engineering and Science, Associate Professor Sharul Sham bin Dol, to the Swiss institute where he met Senior Research Fellow Dr. Giovanni De Cesare.

Dr. Sharul said both institutions of higher learning are keen to promote their respective research works, particularly in the area of turbulence and hydrodynamics research, as well as initiate a research student exchange programme.

He added that his meeting with Dr. De Cesare was a very fruitful one as he was able to promote research activities at Curtin Sarawak, particularly in the area of fluid dynamics.

During his visit, he toured the Hydraulic Constructions Laboratory at EPFL’s Civil Engineering Institute, School of Architecture, Civil and Environment Engineering.

The laboratory has 15 research and technical staff and about 30 PhD students who are studying sediment transport mechanisms in torrents and rivers; assessment of design floods and security of hydraulic schemes; eco-morphology of river networks and confluences; hydraulic schemes; physical and numeric modelling; waterpower and dams; and erosion of fissured media due to high velocity jets.

According to Dr. Sharul who is setting up the Turbulence and Energy Research Laboratory at Curtin Sarawak, the visit gave him valuable insights into how an active research laboratory should be developed and managed.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked EPFL second in the field of engineering and technology while QS World University Rankingsand Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked it second in the same field for the 2014 – 2015 rankings.

Meanwhile, Curtin University, of which Curtin Sarawak is its largest international campus, had 19 subjects featured in the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject, including chemical engineering ranking in the Top 100, electrical & electronic engineering in the Top 150, and civil engineering, computer science & information systems, environmental sciences in the Top 200 worldwide. Curtin was also awarded five stars overall in the 2015 QS Stars University Ratings.

The Hydraulic Constructions Laboratory at EPFL.

Dr. Sharul working at the laboratory.