TWO USM PhD STUDENTS WIN POSTER AWARDS AT RIKEN SUMMER SCHOOL 2026

Two PhD students from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) won Best Poster Awards at RIKEN’s Summer School in Wako, Saitama, Japan.

Nor Syafiqah Azmi from the Institute of Nano Optoelectronics Research and Technology (INOR) won in the Engineering category, while Chin Ken Fui from the School of Physics won in the Physics category.

Both students are currently conducting their doctoral research at RIKEN under the International Programme Associate (IPA) exchange scheme through the collaboration programme, the USM-RIKEN Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Advanced Sciences (URICAS).

The awards were presented during the two-day event held from 10 to 11 September 2026. The RIKEN Summer School brings together young researchers from various countries and research fields to share their work through short presentations and invited talks.

The winning posters and their research teams are:

Nor Syafiqah Azmi
Main supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Norzaini Zainal (USM) and Dr. Hideki Hirayama (RIKEN)
Title: Surface stabilization of high temperature annealing of aluminum gallium nitride layer for ultraviolet light emitting diodes

Chin Ken Fui
Main supervisors: Dr. Muhammad Rabie Omar (USM) and Dr. Isao Watanabe (RIKEN)
Title: Predicting and interpreting unmeasured muSR time spectra using Kolmogorov–Arnold networks

The awards recognise outstanding presentations that clearly explain complex scientific research to a diverse audience within five minutes. Presenters were judged on their ability to make their work understandable to scientists from other disciplines while maintaining technical accuracy.

This achievement highlights the talent, active participation, and confidence of USM student researchers on the international stage.

The programme was also attended by USM students Nurul Athirah Md Zaidi and Wong Ru Shen from the Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine, who are also IPA students at RIKEN.