Curtin representatives from Australia and Malaysia visit industry partners to foster collaboration in energy transition

Miri – 19 May 2023 – The Director of the Curtin Institute for Energy Transition at Curtin University in Perth, Professor Peta Ashworth, accompanied by Professor Ir. Ts. Stephanie Chan, Head of the Chemical Engineering Department at Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia), recently visited the offices of Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd (Sarawak Asset) and Shell Malaysia Berhad here to foster collaboration in energy transition.

On hand to receive them at Petronas Carigali (Sarawak Asset) was Zubaidi bin Abang Amhari, General Manager of Petronas Carigali (Sarawak Asset), and other disciplinary heads.

During their meeting, they discussed the importance of energy transition, challenges faced in the energy sector, as well as potential collaboration between Curtin and Petronas Carigali (Sarawak Asset) in research and capacity development.

Meanwhile, at Shell Malaysia Berhad, Prof. Ashworth and Prof. Ir. Chan met with Business Transformation Lead Byron Sim, Geologist Advisor Dr. Timothy Goodall, and Senior Production Geologist Olumide Ayeni.

Among the topics of discussion during their meeting were challenges of the energy industry in energy transition, and potential partnership with Curtin and the Institute for Energy Transition in the transition process.

In both meetings, Prof. Ir. Ts. Chan introduced Curtin’s new energy engineering course, which received favourable responses from both companies. All agreed that the course is very relevant to the energy industry, particularly in regards to energy transition and its preparing students for the future energy market.

Following the visits in Miri, further visits were made by Prof. Ashworth and Prof. Ir. Ts. Chan in Kuching, to Sarawak Energy Berhad and PETROS, where they were joined by Curtin Malaysia’s Pro Vice-Chancellor, President and Chief Executive Prof. Simon Leunig.

In their meetings, they discussed energy transition, the new energy engineering programme, and scholarship opportunities for energy engineering students at Curtin Malaysia.

At Sarawak Energy Berhad, they met with Group Chief Executive Officer Datu Haji Sharbini bin Suhaili and General Manager of Corporate Communications Pieng Tajang.

Meanwhile, at PETROS, they met with Chairman Tan Sri Datuk Amar (Dr.) Hamid bin Bugo, Senior Vice-President for Corporate Strategy Abang Arabi bin Abang Narudin, and Senior Vice-President for Sarawak Resource Management, Anyi Ngau.

The Bachelor of Energy Engineering, which is expected to be launched at Curtin Malaysia by Semester 1, 2024, focuses on aspects of Energy in Transition such as enhancing energy efficiency, reducing fossil fuel use in energy generation, opening new geo-energy opportunities such as geothermal and hydrogen systems, systems engineering, environmental compliance, sustainable energy, and conventional renewable energy technologies.

Course delivery will be in accordance to the Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) Initiative. The CDIO Initiative is an innovative global educational framework that stresses engineering fundamentals set in the context of conceiving, designing, implementing and operating real-world systems and products to produce the next generation of engineering leaders.

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