The Faculty of Business and Management (FBM) from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Puncak Alam Campus has successfully organized the 2nd National Pitching Research Competition (NPRC)-Final stage with the collaboration of the InSPiR2eS International Research Network, a global research network working on research training, capacity building and responsible science. The competition was held on 21st September 2023 through the online Webex platform and FBM FB live. The competition was officiated by the Dean of faculty, Professor Dr. Firdaus Abdullah.
Networking activities between the InSPiR2eS International Research Network and FBM, UiTM began in early 2021, leading to a recent sharing on Pitching Research delivered by Professor Dr. Robert Faff, founder of the InSPiR2eS network, on 19th June 2023 (online webinar). Thereafter, the second National Pitching Research Competition (NPRC) was launched in Malaysia on 1st July 2023. A special coaching session was also delivered earlier by the first NPRC grand winner, Dr. Yvonne Ang on 16th August 2023 to familiarize novice researchers with the pitching research framework.
NPRC 2023 attracted more than 35 pitching submissions from Undergraduate Students, Postgraduate Students and Early Career Researchers across four universities across several Malaysia’s universities (public and private universities). All the pitches submitted, using Professor Robert’s 2-page pitching template, are in the Business and Management and Social Science clusters. All the submissions were forwarded to the appointed academic judges (with similar research interests) to evaluate the entry scripts by adhering to the pitching research framework rubric. Based on the scores provided by the subject experts, the 17 best scripts were selected for the final stage of the competition. In the final stage, the finalists were then examined by a panel of two esteemed academicians, Associate Professor Dr. Norshima Humaidi (FBM, UiTM) and Associate Professor Dr. Rasidah Mohd Rashid (Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation, School of Economics, Finance and Banking, Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) based on their oral presentation and response in a brief two-minute question and answer session.
Dr. Norliza Che Yahya, the Competition Chair remarked that “the competition offers undergraduate students, postgraduate students, and early career researchers from all social science disciplines to participate, communicate, and empower their research ideas through a 2-pages pitching research template, built by Professor Robert Dr. Faff”. This pitching template provides a framework for researchers to effectively communicate their research ideas to an academic field expert in a compelling manner.
Dr. Farehan Omar is announced as the national grand winner of this competition. She will progress to the Global Pitching Research Competition (IGPRC) 2023 scheduled to be held online in December 2023 and be in the running to win AUD 5,000. The NPRC winners of each category are awarded cash prizes and all participants are given an e-certificate for their participation. The list of NPRC winners is available on the competition website (https://fbm.uitm.edu.my/NPRC/). The organizing team is delighted to have organized this event in Malaysia with the co-operation from InSPiR2eS network, and is excited for the future National Pitching Research Competitions in Malaysia.