To all Muslims - Wishing you and celebrating with you the joys and warmth of a blessed Ramadhan. May the divine blessings of Allah fill your life with peace, happiness, and success!
Last month was the month for communicating research in national and international conferences. I enjoyed every moment that I spent during the conferences, especially during IACCP and ICAP. It was such an enriching experience for me as a professional among a community of psychologists and scholars around the globe. So, here are some brief reviews/comments of what I can conclude from my participation in the conferences.
1 Global Education Systems Day 2010 (Theme: Higher Education: Current Issues and Challenges)
Date and Venue: 11 May 2010 Elizabeth Burchill Building 68, Monash University
Presentation Type: Oral research paper and poster
Title: Higher Education in Malaysia: Current Issues, Challenges and Hopes.
My review/comment:
As I was one of the organising committee for year 2010 GESD, I am proud to say that the event went well. In fact, it was much better that GESD2009 because of the number of participating countries and presenters for this year event. Last year, I presented on 'Introduction to Malaysia Education System' in collaboration with Haslina dan Marlina. This year, the Malaysian team comprised six members - Me/Rafidah, Haslina, Norzila, Siti, Marlina & Noh - but only four were physically present. The other two were still in Malaysia during the event day. It was a day that I learnt about higher education systems in 11 countries! A good break for a diversion of thought...
I'm in action....ready...steady...GO!
During tea break - eating and posing!
2 MERC Annual Conference 2010: A Research Odyssey Date and venue: 2 July 2010 Faculty of education, Monash university
Type: Individual oral paper
Title: Journeying towards becoming a multiculturally competent counselor: From practice to research and vice-versa.
My review/comment:
This is the third time that I participated in MERC. Again, as I was one of the organising committee for this annual conference of MERC, I am proud to say that it went very well. The materials - program proceeding, the CD, the name tag, the conference bag - were much better in quality and appearance than the previous MERC conferences. I'm glad that I was involved and I'm glad that I made this contribution to the faculty. Indeed, MERC has helped me survive as a PhD student since I transfered my candidature from Melbourne Uni to Monash on April 2008. I hope other students feel the same way too about MERC. Will I be able to participate in MERC Annual Conference next year? Hmmm....
(Below) - I met some delegates from Malaysia too.
3 XXth Congress of the International Association for Cross Cultural Psychology (IACCP)
Date and Venue: 7 – 10 July 2010 The University of Melbourne, Australia
Type: Individual research paper [presented]
Title: Malaysian counselors engaging with culture and diversity in counselling culturally different clients
My review/comment:
So, looking at the above pictures and some others that I took during the IACCP, I am confident to say that IACCP was awsome! A truly amazing and enriching experience for me. I met a lot of researchers and scholars from other countries around the world. I treasure every moment that I spent away from my data analysis. I also attended a workshop which highlighted the importance of developing a culturally-relevant assessment for mental health problems with clients/patients from different cultures. I even spoke with David Matsumoto and Walter Lonner, whose work that I cited in my literature review chapter. I hope to participate in iaccp again. Insya-Allah.
My husband and I attended ICAP2010 and we both presented our current work-in-progress based on our PhD research.
Meeting and posing with delegates from Malaysia (UMS).
Looking more like a 'student' rather than a 'professional psychologist' - Who cares?
Two key individuals from Counselling Psychology Division - Fred Leong (USA) and Bob (Australia)
Date and venue: 11 – 16 July 2010 Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia Type: Individual oral paper [presented]
Title: A national survey of multicultural counseling competency in Malaysia: preliminary analyses
MCEC even has a special place for Muslims to pray...! Awesome, eh? I posed there too with some friends.
This is the 'venue' where I presented my brief oral paper. It's just a sound-proof cubicle!
5 International Congress of Applied Psychology 2010 (ICAP2010)
Date and Venue: 11 – 16 July 2010 Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia Type: Brief oral presentation [accepted]
Title: Professional counsellors’ experiences and perceptions of multicultural counseling in Malaysia: A qualitative examination
My review/comment:
What can I say about ICAP? At first I thought that IACCP was big enough but ICAP was bigger and better! Just imagine this, 3,400 participants from all kind of Applied Psychology background and from 67 countries around the world came for the conference. And, the scientific program comprised 3,223 presentations including Addresses from leading scholars around the globe! I felt so small and yet so proud of being one of the community members of applied psychologists, representing the counselling psychologist community from Malaysia. I am thoroughly humbled and inspired! ICAP2014 on 8-13 July 2014 - I've saved the dates already and Paris, France...please wait for my first visit!
Both my presentations went well. The only problem was I didn't get as many feedbacks as I anticipated. I was very disappointed with the chairperson of my oral presentation because she didn't manage time well during the plenary session presentation. So, as the last presenter for the session, I didn't have much time to present and worst, I had no feedback at all from the audience! Sigh...
The food and the conference venue were excellent. Both were prepared to cater for the needs of culturally diverse people. Well done MCEC!
6 The 5th International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
Date and venue: 2 – 5 August 2010 Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
Type: Virtual presentation [accepted and declined]
Title: Multicultural counseling in Malaysia: How do Malaysian counsellors respond to power differential issues in the counseling context?
My review/comment:
I regret to inform you that I couldn't participate in this conference because of time-constraint and financial issues. Till next time.
7 The APS College of Counselling Psychologists (Vic) State Conference 2010
Date and Venue: 12 November 2010 Treacy Conference Centre, Parkville, Melbourne
Type: Individual oral paper [accepted]
Title: Barriers and challenges in the practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia
No comment yet!
Overall, I enjoyed myself tremendously by participating in those conferences. I learnt a lot too not just about people/all kind of psychologists and their work, but I learnt how to better manage my research too. I became so motivated to finish and complete my study so that I can prepare better papers for upcoming conferences and journal publication!
