KUCHING: Associate Professor Dr Ida Fatimawati Adi Badiozaman from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus (Swinburne) has been selected as the winner of the United Nation (UN) Women 2020 Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards for the Community and Industry Engagement Category.
Dr Ida, 41, briefly shared that she is the winner for the Malaysia region, while the regional one it will be announced on Dec 15.
“I am both immensely grateful and humbled to be selected as the winner for Malaysia for the inaugural award,” she told New Sarawak Tribune on Tuesday.
She said her research endeavours and community engagement over the years through Swinburne University have given her a very important platform to both address and shed light on many issues of access and equity in Sarawak.
“Winning this award means I can bring awareness of the plights of women in Sarawak,” she said.
She said there is a lot more that can be done to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community.
“I am proud to say that Swinburne Sarawak has become the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) signatory. I hope to see more businesses and organisations embrace the WEPs to achieve gender equality,” she said.
Based on Swinburne Sarawak’s official website, Dr Ida is currently the Head of School of Design and Arts for the Faculty of Business, Design and Arts.
She graduated from the University of Malaya (UM) with Honours in Bachelor of Education, majoring in Teaching of English as Second Language (TESL) in 2002.
She went on to pursue her MA in TESOL (Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages) degree in Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand before spending two years teaching English and English Literature in a residential school in Kuching.
In 2012, Dr Ida obtained her PhD in Education (TESOL) from Massey University, New Zealand. While undertaking her PhD, she worked at two tertiary institutions namely International Pacific College and Professional and Continuing Education (PaCE) in Massey University.
She was also a tutor for the Licentiate Diploma and Certificate in TESOL (Trinity College London), specialising in academic writing papers.
While, Dr Ida’s current research interests cover teacher education, academic identity and student engagement in higher education.
Her recent publications included “What sustains the novice teacher: The role of goal fusion” (2019); “Rethinking English language education in Malaysia: navigating rhetoric and reality’ (2019) and ‘Students’ perception and use of English in higher education institution” (2019).
Meanwhile, on the award, the UN Women 2020 Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards is a joint programme by the European Union and UN Women.
It is aimed to encourage, value and recognise the efforts of individuals and businesses that promote gender-inclusive business cultures and the achievement of gender equality in the Asia-Pacific, guided by the WEPs.
It is also the first-ever awards given by UN Women in the Asia-Pacific celebrating gender equality champion in today’s business world.
The award will recognise initiatives in the various categories namely Leadership Commitment, Youth Leadership, Gender-inclusive Workplace,
Gender-responsive Marketplace, Community and Industry Engagement and Covid-19 Action.
This year the award received more than 400 applications from 17 countries. And all winners will be celebrated at the prestigious Regional WEPs Award ceremony on Dec 15.
