Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) advanced its open science agenda during a recent seminar at Tampere University in Finland.

UMS delegation led by Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation), Prof. Ir. Dr. Rosalam Sarbatly, shared UMS journey in open science adoption, focusing on research data sharing and the related challenges.

Topics covered included open science policy, infrastructure, educational courses, and Open Science Shop 2.0.

Rosalam in a statement noted that, in Malaysia, particularly in the biodiversity-rich state of Sabah, open science is becoming increasingly vital for sustainable development.

“Making scientific research and data freely accessible fosters collaboration to preserve Sabah's unique ecosystems and promotes sustainable agriculture.

“This open approach encourages innovation by allowing researchers to develop solutions tailored to Malaysia’s environmental needs.

“Moreover, open science empowers policymakers to make informed decisions with current data, supporting effective strategies,” he said.

He added that, open science advocates Malaysia to push for robust policies that support data sharing while maintaining data integrity and privacy.

“The seminar, with participants from Finland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, India, and Malaysia, allowed UMS to outline its policies encouraging open science, covering intellectual property rights, copyright, and plagiarism prevention.

“Despite these policies, UMS recognizes the need for a stronger framework to ensure secure research data sharing,” said Rosalam.

Meanwhile, UMS Chief Digital Officer, Prof. Dr. Awang Asri Ag. Ibrahim, highlighted the significance of open science in fostering innovation and collaboration.

“UMS engaged with partner universities at the seminar, exploring best practices and policy frameworks for secure data sharing, addressing the gap between existing policies and their practical implementation.

“UMS's commitment to open science is evident through its active leadership in the seminar.

“While challenges remain, UMS is dedicated to advancing open science in the Asian region. Insights from the seminar will guide UMS's efforts to create a secure and collaborative research environment,” said Awang Asri.

The seminar also featured Dr. Farashazillah Yahya, the Director of the Data and Information Management Centre at UMS, further demonstrating UMS's commitment to open science and secure data sharing, which such involvement underscores the university's readiness to lead in this evolving field.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) is committed to empowering the field of research and study, which includes enhancing and growing its network of relationships with a diverse range of higher education institutions and industry players.

UMS Vice Chancellor, Prof Datuk Dr Kasim Mansor, said the university would continue to explore and seek space and opportunities to expand the field of research, and that it is open to collaborating with others, particularly for research efforts and works, as well as exploring existing and new fields of knowledge.

“Today, we once again expand our efforts in the field of science by collaborating with the Nantong College of Science and Technology (NTST),” he said, adding that the focus is on pushing forward in the areas of research and education.

He said this during the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between UMS and the Nantong College of Science and Technology.

“Both UMS and the Nantong College of Science and Technology have its own capability and ability, thus with this collaboration, I am confident we can produce positive results and impact on the development of research and science,” he said.

He added that the collaboration aimed to improve the quality of field studies that satisfy the needs of the industry as a whole.

“We identified a variety of expertise that can be shared and used for mutual benefit through this MoU.

“In addition, the student exchange efforts can also form a community of students who are knowledgeable especially in terms of culture and understanding new things,” he added.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) continue their joint effort to protect and preserve the various types of mother tongue in Sabah.

This collaboration was made official through a second Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) renewal signing at the UMS chancellory building here on Thursday, which aims to foster productive research and cooperation, expand educational opportunities, and strengthen the indigenous communities and languages of Malaysia, including Sabah.

SIL executive director Dr Timothy Philips said most of the languages in Sabah are considered endangered, partly due to the communities’ small size, but also partly due to a break in the generational transmission of language such as when parents stop speaking the native language to their children which allows them no chance to learn it. Among the languages in Sabah that are very close to going extinct due to these factors are the Dumpas and Bokan.

“One of the things that we can do with UMS is to document these languages. As communities start to realise that they are losing their language, there is a chance that they can recover them through documentation should such a thing occur in the future.

“This has been done in the Maori languages in New Zealand where the languages had started to disappear but they had enough documentation that they were able to revitalise them.

“Now, I would rather see languages rescued before they get to that point but regardless, documentation is always a good thing – it’s good for academics and good for the university to publish about the languages in Sabah,” he told reporters after the MoU signing ceremony.

Timothy said UMS as a premier university in Sabah attracts students from various ethnic tribes who either speak their mother language or their ancestors such as their grandparents do, and these students can be the key resource in instilling the passion of preserving their languages, especially since language is closely tied to culture and to lose it would be to lose a large part of a tribe’s identity.

He said a person’s language embodies everything that is important to them, adding that even when travellers pass through the Kota Kinabalu airport, they are greeted by a beautiful mural depicting people from the dozens of ethnic tribes in Sabah, and anyone who has any experience of the state cannot conceive of a Sabah without its rich variety of peoples and languages, nor should they need to.

“And so, we would like to foster a pride in the language, but not to the exclusion of other languages. When multilingual education is done well, the students can learn more languages and can learn them better than if they just learn in one language, so I see that SIL can help out UMS through its students and its commitment to excellence and research, and we are proud to be working with the university in its efforts to serve the people of Sabah and the nation of Malaysia by helping preserve its languages,” he said.

Timothy stressed that SIL’s collaboration with UMS is not just an academic exercise as the ultimate product of linguistics is to strengthen the languages to be used in language development not only through oral literature but also written literature.

He said for example, by using linguistics, they can transform a basically unreadable language, such as the Samai language in West Malaysia which has 26 vowels, into a readable one by creating new alphabets or symbols to denote certain sounds which fit the language, where as soon as one knows how to pronounce a word, they know how to write it, and vice versa.

Timothy also noted that there are features in Malaysian languages that have not been found anywhere else on earth, such as in Sarawak which possess a unique aspirated voiced plosive, or several languages in West Malaysia which has something called in-copy fixation – a type of reduplication where a piece of the end of a word is taken and then in-fixed at the beginning of a word, as opposed to usual reduplication which normally occurs at the beginning or end of a word where part of it is repeated.

“Hence, we need to be more concerned about indigenous languages. According to the Sarawak Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in March last year, four tribal languages by Sarawak ethnics are now extinct, namely Seru, Pegu, Bliun and Lelak. We should prevent such an incident from happening in Sabah,” he said.

Meanwhile, UMS vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Kasim Mansor said the second renewal of the MoU represents a significant milestone in UMS and SIL’s ongoing and steadfast partnership.

Kasim said the anticipated areas of collaboration including joint supervision of postgraduate students, engagement of invited SIL examiners for postgraduate programmes and the delivery of invited lectures to enhance the academic experience for their students and faculties alike, and some of the languages or ethnics to be involved in this endeavour include Kadazan Dusun, Bajau, Rungus and Sungai, adding that it is also important to delve deeper into these languages so that they can provide the youth with the knowledge on them they would not be able to obtain otherwise.

He echoed Timothy’s concern on several ethnic languages in Sabah, in which there are more than 43 overall in the state, which face risk of extinction, especially in this newer generation which does not utilise its mother tongue in daily conversations, pointing out the need for more concerted efforts to preserve these languages such as through carrying out researches, implementing related programmes, or documentation including the publishing of dictionaries of ethnic groups here akin to existing Kadazan Dusun ones.

At the same time, he lauded SIL Malaysia for its efforts to catalogue and research the numerous indigenous languages and dialects as well as the incidence of language chance, with examples of its recent initiatives include the proposal of a process for profiling language vitality across the state and a study into the effect of language shift on the indigenous language spoken by the people of Pulau Banggi.

“Together, UMS and SIL will continue to empower individuals and communities through the preservation and promotion of language and culture,” he said.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), through the Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition (FSMP), has established a collaboration with the Dietetics and Catering Department of the Sabah State Hospital to share expertise in enhancing meal menus for dysphagia patients.

Dr. Aizul Azri Azizan, a lecturer from the FSMP Food Service Program, explained in a statement that dysphagia, a condition where patients experience difficulty swallowing due to factors such as aging, stroke, cancer, and others, is commonly reported among the elderly in the country.

“This makes Malaysia at risk for dysphagia, as it is expected that 20 percent of the population will be elderly by 2056.

“Therefore, through this collaboration, UMS and the Dietetics and Catering Department of Sabah State Hospital will strengthen dysphagia menus based on the International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiatives (IDDSI) framework, which provides preparation guidelines and testing methods used worldwide in managing dysphagia patients.

“This initiative also ensures that hospital menus align with clinical interventions and prescriptions provided by medical and speech therapy professionals based on their assessments,” he said in a statement during a recent visit by the Sabah State Hospital Dietetics and Catering Department to FSMP.

Aizul added that through the collaboration between academia and industry, sharing resources and expertise could improve the quality of health food services by providing IDDSI-compliant dysphagia diets in hospitals across Sabah.

“The implementation of IDDSI has not been carried out in any health facilities in Malaysia, making this effort a significant step forward in dysphagia management in the country.

“Thus, FSMP UMS is honored to continue contributing and collaborating with the Dietetics and Catering Department through the sharing of expertise and resources for the implementation of IDDSI in all hospitals in Sabah,” he said.

Meanwhile, Norafizah Mohd Nordin, Head of Dietetics and Catering Expertise, stated that the implementation of IDDSI in Sabah demonstrates the state’s commitment to improving patient nutrition intake in hospitals while ensuring the food texture is safe for consumption based on clinical needs.

“This collaboration also aims to enhance the food preparation skills of hospital staff in government hospitals to plan and prepare diets that comply with IDDSI specifications.

“Studies have shown that food waste for dysphagia patient menus, such as pureed diets, could reach 68 percent, indicating the need for serious attention to ensure that dysphagia patients’ nutritional treatments are improved,” she said.

Also present at the working visit were Heads of the Dietetics and Catering Departments, Dietetics Officers, and Assistant Food Service Officers from both the west and east coast zones of Sabah.